Making it understandable

Questions from the RISD course Making It (Healthcare Reform) Understandable. Photo courtesy of Lindsay Kinkade

Last week I spent a few hours with a classroom of RISD students who were struggling with a question I often ask myself- how to make health care reform understandable?

But unlike me, these students were working with more than sound and words. Projects ranged from a collection of hand knitted stocking caps representing the different types of people who might use the health insurance exchange to a board game riffing on the “Game of Life”- you start your life as uninsured, insured, or self insured and pay for the health emergencies that come accordingly.

Local designer Lindsay Kinkade heads up the course, mixing lessons in visual representation with the actual facts of health care reform.

I wrote about this course last year, but this was my first time actually interacting with the projects.  I left feeling incredibly energized and excited. Here’s hoping these efforts continue outside of the classroom.

Students present their final projects today.  Can’t make it to the final critique? You can look at photos of their progress or check out the course blog here.