What communication designers can learn from participatory artistic fieldwork

St Lukas University College is uniquely located in Brussels. It is situated in the political heart of Europe, and more specifically in Schaerbeek, a very colourful neighbourhood standing in sharp contrast with the European district nearby. As college coaches, we focus on intercultural and interdisciplinary discovery and learning as the main driving forces for social understanding. In 2009 we initiated NEXTDOOR, a platform to explore and stimulate, in an educational context, the social engagement with and intercultural participation in the multi-ethnic urban society of the Brussels Brabantwijk (Kint, Tomico & Ferwerda, 2011). Workshops and lectures focus on social integration issues in this area, located near the Brussels North Station. This paper argues for a more experience-based interaction, with the design of a visual narrative influenced by an artistic concept and participatory interaction developed in a specific local context. The paper explores the way approach and societal experience of an artist working in an intercultural neighbourhood as his specific artistic habitat can stimulate and trigger designers focused on visual communication and narration. It elaborates on the concept of public space and its social implication. In addition it discusses how designers can be inspired by cultural values obtained through the process of neighbourhood participation under artistic guidance and how they can translate these values and qualities in the design of culturally identified communication systems for an intercultural context.