Project Resound in Rio Allowed Brazilian Designer to Experience Making a Difference

All during Manuella Schorchit’s Service Design studies in college and university, she believed design could change lives.

Being a Project Resound team member in Rio de Janeiro confirmed she was right.

While a student, she met Project Resound founder Louis Baker, who invited her to help organize, plan and serve as a key team member on a project in Rio.

For the first time, she was able to see an opportunity to use design as a transformation tool. “When Baker invited me, I thought it was a creative opportunity to actually utilize design to actively change lives,” Manuella said.

The Rio project was unique for Manuella because she learned new things about the city in which she lives. Brazil and Rio de Janeiro are huge and can be completely different from North to South or from one neighborhood to the next.

One of Manuella’s lasting memories was a visit to Rio’s Baton Favela, a poverty stricken neighborhood where life can be a struggle. There, members of Descalados – a group of musicians who tell the story of their experiences and perception toward life with a positive spin – told Project Resound attendees about the histories of the favela communities, several of which were rivals

Project partner Agencia, Redes Para a Juventude (The Network Agency for Youth) encourages communities to work together. “Even people from extremely different backgrounds, who never thought they could go into each other’s neighborhoods, can come together and create something amazing.”

Manuella was tasked with partnering with the budding musicians to create innovative solutions to their branding and marketing needs. The goal: to help them achieve a successful launch into the wider music scene.

Manuella said it was the immersion of the project that she admired most. “The immersion of the project gave us a deeper connection, and the experience of changing people’s lives, by helping them to see the path to success,” she said. 

She offers two words of advice for future Project Resound participants, “Be prepared!” She added, “When participating in a project like this there’s a lot of information to gather, there are also a lot of people from all over the world working together, so be prepared to jump in and to be inspired!”