Group Project is the collaborative practice of designer and educator Jimmy Luu (opens jimmyvanluu.com) and strategist, writer, and producer Ryan Menefee. (opens ryanmenefee.com)

Arts · Audience Research & Strategy

Group Project partnered with The Contemporary Austin to update their understanding of the audiences they serve today and audiences they wanted to reach in the future. We lead a rich data- and information-gathering process that included intercepts with on-site visitors, primary survey collection, in-depth audience interviews, and secondary analysis of Austin’s demographic and development trajectories to define four audience segments.

For each audience, we identified critical barriers to their awareness, perception, and engagement with the arts in general and The Contemporary Austin specifically, and crafted a communications strategy to speak to those audiences in the language they each understand. This audience research and strategy led to The Contemporary Austin adopting an audience-centric mindset, updating their mission, and articulating institutional values for the first time in their history.

Education · Custom Publication, Branding, Exhibition

We partnered with Carnegie Mellon School of Architecture to create a graphic identity system that would work for both a 250-page publication and large scale exhibition celebrating a year of student work across all levels in the School. We worked closely with exhibition designers (the architecture studio Means + Methods) to activate multiple floors of an entire building.

Education · Digital Collections Ecosystem strategy

Group Project partnered with the Penn Libraries Leadership Team to prepare and facilitate a two-day summit where attendees addressed a number of issues spanning digital collections and repositories, including workflow issues and unmet opportunities for the Libraries.

Group Project, working with a small team of co-organizers, interviewed ~35 stakeholders in preparation for the hybrid in-person/remote summit, which helped Penn Libraries to better articulate the assets in its digital ecosystem, understand existing workflows and roadblocks, and to prioritize solutions to these roadblocks. This included a roadmap with assigned owners, and Penn Libraries continues to use these artifacts to guide their prioritization and progress.

Music · Art Direction and Design

Group Project partnered with Grammy-nominated New York-based saxophonist, arranger, composer, and educator Lakecia Benjamin (opens in a new window) to visually express the feel of her new album through photography, packaging, and motion for streaming.

Non-profit · Advocacy Playbook

Group Project partnered with CLOCKSS and APTrust to develop a Digital Preservation Advocacy Playbook for Academic Libraries. This Playbook consists of adaptable materials to help digital preservation practitioners make their case to the people who control budgets, staffing, and institutional priorities.