Engaging cyclists with art on Atlanta's BeltLine

My goal for this project is to incentivize cyclists to engage with art along Atlanta's BeltLine — a rails-to-trails project spanning the perimeter of Atlanta — in order to enhance the experience of both cyclists and pedestrians with the implementation of a color-coded cycle path. I am currently working with the Arts & Culture department of the BeltLine to bring this idea to fruition.   

Stage One: Discovery

The discovery stage included intensive research on what needed to be improved on the BeltLine with regards to art. This involved gathering data and becoming familiar with the situation through observation and analysis. 

Stage Two: Planning

During the planning stage, I came up with two main concepts for the client to choose from, with the goal in mind of incentivizing cyclists to interact with art. The first is the creation of a cycle lane with color-coded stickers that indicate where art is located on the BeltLine. The second concept is a sticker souvenir incentive, where upon locating art on the BeltLine, members of the Relay Bike service can use their account to unlock stickers for every corresponding piece of art. 

Stage three: Create 

The client's preferred concept was social bikes & stickers. 

Concept progression and creation: My idea initially started out with wanting to create a cycle path on the BeltLine. However, I wanted to narrow my demographic so that I could find a surefire way to get cyclists involved with art on the BeltLine, because with a simple sticker on the cycle path, there is no guarantee that a cyclist will dismount their bike and walk all the way over to the side of the pathway to look at a piece of art for five seconds. 

This is where my idea, Stickers for Social Bikes comes into play. Stickers for Social Bikes allows members of the Relay Bikeshare service to collect stickers that are available near permanent pieces of art near the BeltLine. 

The sticker design was watercolor-focused to emphasize the presence of an outdoor art gallery, with pieces of art situated among the lushness of the BeltLine. 

The map card, placed at each Relay Bike station, denotes the locations of stickers for each permanent piece of artwork. 

This rendering of the sticker house was completed in Solidworks and incorporates the basic mechanisms used on a Relay Bike to allow the user to unlock stickers near each piece of permanent artwork. The sticker houses consists of a keypad, touch screen and a solar panel that powers the two components.