Fall 2025 · Design Research Methods · Community SolutionsUC Black History Tour


Created in Spring 2021 at the University of Cincinnati, the digital tour was developed by Sandy Chan, Raya Fitch, Killy Kilgallon, Liz Killius, Rocky Jones, Aaron Rapach, and Darby Smith in Dr. Anne Delano Steinert’s African American History in Public course.

This semester, we used human-centered design and community input to imagine an unapolagetic, accessible, and interactive on-campus version of the UC Black History digital tour.






The Digital Tour
 PocketSights Tour

We started by reviewing the tour’s 22 stops and quickly realized we’d only have time to properly design one of them by the end of the semester.

The stops ranged from stories of police brutality and harmful actions by UC students or administrators, to the achievements of notable Black students and staff.

     
     











Defining the Problem
We identified our broad problem space as white supremacy, then specified it down to a more realistic and actionable problem definition:

“The UC Black History Tour is an experiential design project of rotating triangular totems that unflinchingly reveal UC’s Black History—making it visible, accessible, and connected to the present.”




Sam DuBose + The Irate 8We chose to focus on stop 20, which shone light on Samuel DuBose’s murder by UC policeman, as well as the student activist group that formed shortly afterwards; the Irate 8.