s
design
Neighborhood Design Project
PROJECT SPECS
2019, 6 weeks
MY ROLE
Graphic Designer
PROGRAMS
Ai CC, InD CC, Photoshop
TAGS
Poster / Application Rebrand, Design Museum Everywhere (Boston)
OVERVIEW
Neighborhood Design Project is a collaboration between the City of Cambridge’s Department of Human Services and Design Museum Boston. The 14-week program guides teens in learning problem-solving strategies and design skills necessary to create innovative solutions to big problems. It also calls to attention the importance of community partnership, and the collaboration desired to achieve lasting changes.
AUDIENCE
The three target groups are:
» the 14-15 year old teens that reside in the Cambridge area
» the 14-15 year old teens that reside in the Cambridge area
» the advisor / mentors that provide project guidance within the program
» the parents of the teens
GOAL
The goal is to:
» create a visual that will intrigue teens (main target audience) in applying to the design program
» create a visual that will intrigue teens (main target audience) in applying to the design program
» non-gender biased to attract more boys to the program
» simple / minimal but requires an explosion of colors
» include QR code interactivity
DELIVERABLES
The deliverables required were a revamped application, new postcard and poster design.
GUIDE
PROCESS
Old Design
![]()
Exploration / Research
![]()
Elements
While researching what teens liked these day, I realize that many are adept to social media. This made me think about the features on those platforms and how I can transform a visual language to connect it to the program.
For this project the approved visual was an emulation of Facebook / Instagram-live’s “love bubbling” feature. As the users give likes to the creator, there is a rising bubble of hearts that fill the screen, and I thought: what if that was done with houses instead?
![]()
![]()
Exploration / Research
While looking for inspiration on what would attract a teen’s attention, I explored other teen programs and their take on designing an appealing poster. I found many that were illustrative and bursting with color (a couple of samples below), but to harmonize the design in fitting the perspectives of all three target categories, the decision to depart from illustrations was unanimous. The posters and application also required a much simplier composition since there was an abundance of content to accommodate the paper size.
Elements
While researching what teens liked these day, I realize that many are adept to social media. This made me think about the features on those platforms and how I can transform a visual language to connect it to the program.
For this project the approved visual was an emulation of Facebook / Instagram-live’s “love bubbling” feature. As the users give likes to the creator, there is a rising bubble of hearts that fill the screen, and I thought: what if that was done with houses instead?
RESULTS
And after demonstrating versions and creating iterations with the Design Museum Boston team for the City of Cambridge’s Department of Human Services, using feedback to fuel the iterations, here are the final approved version!
![]()
![]()
