EDRAite of the Month - Sarah Shuster-Tucker

Sarah Shuster-Tucker March 2015

Sarah Shuster-Tucker RGI International, the conduit that led me to EDRA’s doorstep, is based in Cleveland, Ohio, where I work in Marketing and Creative Development. We design and build spaces for both corporate clients and organizations, with the goal of not simply communicating brand messages in physical space, but enlivening brand values by catalyzing behaviors and perceptions through design. In my role, I interpret research for our designers during the conceptual phase of a project. At the end of the process, I use research anecdotes to enrich and substantiate our marketing stories.

My first EDRA conference, last May, was an enormous highlight of my personal and professional year. More recently, I’ve provided support in the 2015 initiative to enhance EDRA’s web environment. With “fresh eyes on EDRA,” the RGI graphic design team, Seunghae Lee (a fellow EDRA member of Oregon State University), and I audited the website to identify opportunities to improve the user experience and compellingly represent the EDRA brand online: the authentic story of who we are, what we do, and why it’s important. Stay tuned for opportunities to contribute!

The most valuable benefit of EDRA membership has been, for me, immersion in its community of warm, creative, curious, and highly intelligent members. The work that we do is not always easy to communicate or promote outside of our organization, and yet it so profoundly and beautifully advances human wellbeing. By coming together, we create opportunities to expand our work’s influence in the world.

In the spirit of collaboration that EDRA so powerfully manifests, I invite you to reach out! Please email me to connect, share ideas, and explore new collaborations. In particular, I’d enjoy discussing new frontiers in academic and field collaboration, the use of action research in the design field, and how by designing infographics, designers can better interpret, internalize, and promote design research. sarah@rgi-intl.com