Translating Place Identity into Transmedia Communication Systems: Communication Design Process and Methods

The paper discusses the role of Communication Design in promoting cultural heritage and enhancing local identity. It deals with the need of designing communication systems able to increase people's understanding and engagement with a given place. We argue that a communication strategy able to leverage on both tangible and intangible aspects of place identity leads to a more mindful tourism consumption, and it is a means to strengthen citizens' sense of belonging as well. To this aim, we highlight the importance of blending cultural information with technologies and languages to make the exploration of a place more accessible and meaningful. Specifically, our research focuses on the contribution given by “immersive languages” to strengthen the relation between human and environment. Here, great emphasis is put on the transformative function of design that lies in the ability of translating and transferring intangible elements into digital products and communication systems. As an example of this translating process, the paper present a didactic experience with a class of MSc students in Communication Design. They were asked to design transmedia communication systems for exploring the city of Milan through literary paths. Every transmedia system aims to represent the specific point of view of an author and the context in which he lived and worked. The main project goal was to create a complex mixing of media, languages and medium, in order to engage users on different channels, foster the exploration of the city and support the development of new knowledge about its identity. The paper will describe each step of the design process focusing on approach and methods adopted to foster and nurture the projects development