Parting with money is rarely easy, but students with the ASU School of Design are trying to make it entertaining at the very least.
The students have been working with Vestar, the development company in charge of the nearby Tempe Marketplace, and the Tempe Community Foundation to create an interactive way for people to donate money, said Emily Bond, spokeswoman for Vestar.
The designs are slated to be unveiled Monday and will be part of the Marketplace, a new shopping, entertainment and dining venue opening Sept. 28 on the northeast corner of Rural Road and Rio Salado Parkway.
"We have had nine different concepts [from the design students]," she said. "They range from a guitar to a plinko type system."
Plinko is one of most popular games on the game show "The Price is Right," where contestants place a disk into the top of a vertical peg-filled board.
The donation receptacles will be interactive much like the giant piggy bank at Pike's Place in Seattle, Bond said.
Designing the receptacles is great experience for students because it gives them the opportunity to work with various development companies, said Arlene Chin, a member of the current Tempe Leadership class and ASU Undergraduate Student Initiatives.
Tempe Leadership is the group within the Tempe Community Foundation that ASU students and Vestar worked with and is dedicated to the wellbeing of its community, Chin said.
The group wanted to create something in order to give back to the community, she said.
"We decided on a piece of artwork that collected money," Chin said. "We also wanted it in a public place, and Tempe Marketplace is going to be huge."
Vestar had a similar project in mind for Tempe Marketplace, Bond said.
"When we started discovering each other's needs, it just so happened that the projects we were working on for Tempe Marketplace went hand in hand," Bond said.
The designs will be more than just creative ways of collecting donations, Bond said.
"[The donation receptacles] will be iconic features that symbolize not only the [Tempe Marketplace] itself, but the community of Tempe as well because it tells a story about giving back to the community," Bond said.
Donated money will go to various nonprofit organizations and programs in Tempe to benefit all kinds of human services, Chin said.
Portions of the Tempe Marketplace, such as Harkins Cine Capri open as early as June, with the official ceremony to take place on Sept. 28 this year, Bond said.
Officials from the design school were not available for comment Thursday afternoon.
Reach the reporter at: kyle.snow@asu.edu.
