Summer Design Studios 2026 | Week 1: IDENTIFY
Every great design starts with a great question. This summer, our 40 teen interns are spending six weeks moving through the design process step by step, culminating in real service projects that address real needs in our city. Week one is all about IDENTIFY: choosing a problem worth solving, understanding it inside and out, and figuring out whose voices need to be part of the solution.
So what does it actually look like to "identify" a design problem at DownCity Design?
Turns out, it looks a lot like doodle relays, cardboard rocket ships, and community organizations all over Providence stopping by to pitch their toughest challenges to a room full of teenage designers. Here's a look into Week 1 of our 2026 Summer Design Studios!
Before our interns could tackle real-world design challenges, it was very important that we created a welcoming environment in which new and returning students alike could feel comfortable working together as a team. Between rounds of the Pulse Game, a few line dancing sessions, and other icebreaking activities, our teen designers started building the trust and communication skills they'll lean on all summer long!
To get comfortable with the design process itself, our interns also jumped into what we call design challenges — hands-on, low-stakes, high-creativity projects that let them experiment before any "real" client work begins. Design/Build kicked us off with building detachable rocket ships out of cardboard, splitting into different teams to test ideas about structure, space, and function. Creative Change warmed up with a doodle relay before diving into an Alphabet Typography challenge, in which they collaged paper shapes into a collaborative typeface.
One of our favorite parts of the IDENTIFY phase — and honestly, one of our favorite days of the whole summer — is Client Pitch Day. Every year, we invite community organizations to pitch their real design challenges directly to our interns. It's one of the clearest ways we put youth voice at the center of our programs: the interns don't just get assigned a project, they get to hear directly from the people affected by the problem and decide what resonates. This year, six incredible community organizations joined us to share their challenges:
Tides Family Services / George N. Hunt School
Prior to Pitch Day, our interns spent time researching each organization ahead of time, digging into their missions and challenges so they could walk in with sharp, informed questions to ask during the presentations. Our teen designers used what they learned to reflect on which potential service projects excited them the most, and held an anonymous vote to decide on their four final clients: two for Design/Build and two for Creative Change.
A huge thank-you to everyone who took the time to present to our students this week! We loved learning about your work and thinking through how our young designers can help you serve the community even better.
Check back next week to find out which four organizations our interns chose as their final clients, and get a first look at week two: EXPLORE.
