Graphic & Layout Designer
Communications design, branding, community resources
Empowering Communities Through Design Innovation with the Hackable Cities Toolkit
THE OPPORTUNITY
An international cohort of Parson’s Strategic Design + Management Masters program in New York City, guided by teacher and facilitator, Cecilia Tham, was presented with the opportunity to re-imagine the neighborhood of L’Eixample Dreta in Barcelona, Spain.
THE CHALLENGE
Unfamiliar with the neighborhood, and unable to spend the necessary time in Barcelona to become a part of the community, we, as a collective, recognized that a framework for
re-imagining a community could not be imposed but instead would need to be embraced by the individuals residing, working, and playing there daily.
THE SOLUTION
Hackable Cities is designed as a step-by-step design-led process to help people in neighborhoods across the globe re-imagine their local communities, re-invigorate their locale, protect what is important to them, and empower them to make the changes they desire.
The Hackable Cities Toolkit is the result of extensive research and fieldwork intended to address neighborhoods and communities that lack identity. It’s intended to support people to affect and communicate positive change of their urban environment.
Originally developed from a series of strategic recommendations for the district of L’Eixample Dreta in Barcelona Spain, Hackable Cities is now an open-source framework that invites global collaboration and has been translated into multiple languages. A hybrid design strategy was employed to create a framework for both “software” aspects such as urban renewal strategy, graphics, signage, branding and digital media, and “hardware” implementation such as regulation policy. The design team behind the toolkit has a strong belief that people can collectively empower communities for their own wellbeing, to identify, celebrate, and communicate their distinctiveness by implementing this framework.
As the team’s Graphic Designer, It was my job to visually layout and present the information in The Hackable Cities Toolkit in an easy-to-understand and applicable format. I developed multiple styles of information presentation including the use of flow charts, case studies, small profiles, and infographics. The Hackable Cities Toolkit went on to win the Communications Design Award in the Design for Well-Being Awards Competition in 2014, a testament to the quality of how the information was laid out and stylized in the toolkit.
The Hackable Cities Toolkit remains relevant, downloaded, and used as a resource in urban planning papers almost eight years later, demonstrating its enduring influence on community-driven urban development.
Look back: Lifecycle Marketing Personas
What’s next: Freelance Projects