Irvington is a historic neighborhood on Indianapolis’s near eastside. In November 2007 a group of experience design students were approached about developing a solution to the problems facing Irvington. At this point the local plasma center and the influx of donors were blamed for the petty crimes and overall unwelcoming atmosphere in Irvington.

Using this as a starting point, our group began researching the context of Irvington and the plasma center. This research included studying the history of Irvington, the effects of Plasma centers on nearby neighborhoods, observation of Irvington, and interaction with residents and others who interact with Irvington.

As a result of our research and findings we decided the root cause of petty crime in Irvington was neither the plasma center nor its donors. Instead, we discovered three weak points in the infrastructure of Irvington: 1) visitors to the area did not know they were in Irvington,
2) the community of Irvington did not have a common goal, 3) Irvington was not utilizing their rich history. Our final deliverable was a proposal to the community council of Irvington outlining our research, the redefined problem, and our proposed solutions.