By Cassandra Balentine
Transit graphics are often purchased by big brands to promote a marketing message. However, the Cool Science project and the National Science Foundation (NSF) understand print’s potential.
Through a combination of science, art, and print, Cool Science utilizes the advertising space on city transit buses to engage K-12 students in learning about climate change while simultaneously educating the community on the topic in an easily digestible format—bus graphics.
Cool Science is a collaboration between the University of Massachusetts (UMass) Boston, UMass Lowell, the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, University of Kansas, and the Kansas City Art Institute. It is funded by the NSF.
Cool Science
An intergenerational program, Cool Science aims to engage students, mentors, teachers, parents, and the general public from New England and the Midwest with the science of extreme weather through a statewide K-12 student art competition. Students and mentors are encouraged to develop a visual work of art that address one of three challenge questions about extreme weather. Winning entries are printed and displayed on local, regional buses in KS, MA, and MO.
The concept started in 2011 when UMass Lowell professors David Lustick and Jill Hendrickson Lohmeier hosted the Carbon Smarts Conference, an event designed to explore the use of out of home media (OOHM) to spread awareness on climate science.
“We conducted a seven year pilot in Lowell, MA. Then we received funding from the NSF allowing us to scale up the project to Worcester and Lawrence, MA as well as Topeka, KS; Kansas City, KS; and Kansas City, MO,” says Shanna Thompson, program manager, Cool Science.
The Cool Science pilot focused on advertising spaces inside and outside of buses as well as posters at main bus terminals at the Lowell Regional Transit Authority.
“The idea was that if these spaces were so effective at selling products and services to the bus riders and pedestrians, why not use the spaces to help people learn more about science,” shares Thompson.
To participate in the competition, K-12 artwork, artist statement, and the Artwork Competition General Release Submission From are submitted electronically or by mail. Young artists create images that are 22×7 inches with a one-inch border all the way around the picture. The completed size of the poster is 24×9 inches.
Cool Science works with Jeff De Innocents from Stone Jetty Marketing & Design of North Reading, MA to put the pictures on templates that are scaled to bus-size images.
To place the artwork, Cool Science collaborates with the advertising firm ATA Outdoor for MA. In KS and MO it is Adsposure. “They donate the interior space for the placards and we purchase the exterior space for the queen-size posters. They print the placards and ‘skins’ for the outside,” notes Thompson.
Placards are about 11×22 inches. Outside images vary based on the bus but are approximately 28×88 or 30×108 inches.
Since its inception, Cool Science has accepted approximately 5,000 entries. “We receive a few hundred each year. Six winners are selected in MA and six in KS,” says Thompson.
Placards are placed on the inside of the buses for three months, and two winners each month are honored on the outside of a bus in the Spring.
Learning Aids
The power of print and OOHM goes beyond advertising. In this example, Cool Science leverages the creativity and curiosity of young students to educate larger communities with the help of wide format graphics.
Nov2024, DPS Magazine
