Kick Out The Jams: A Tribute to Detroit is an exhibit and marketing solution that brought together elements of design research, composition, and execution for an upcoming Smithsonian exhibition. This project in particular brought together my ability to not only tell the story of Detroit as a city, but also educate the general public about its rich history and how that history transcended the people, culture, and built environment.  

In order to really address what made Detroit a hub for so many music icons, I first had to breakdown how each historical period fueled each musician. For example, the music of John Lee Hooker, a historic blues artist in Detroit during the early 1960's, was based on his experiences working for the Ford Motor Company. His droning, gritty chords and gruff melodies were fueled by sounds taken from his time on the assembly line. By giving insight into what inspired each musicians unique sound, I began to piece together the very fabric of Detroit itself: a city predicated on its tough, resilient, and ever-hopeful inhabitants and their blue collar upbringings. 

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From there, I was able to walk individuals through each decade of Detroit's music scene and tell the stories of the musicians who lived during these times. In terms of collateral, I produced a exhibition guide that helped back-up the exhibition and its narrative, a mock-up of a billboard and a mailer for individuals, schools, and organizations interested in this event, and a site map used to breakdown wayfinding at the exhibition.