December 2009

Candy Chang is back with another beautiful project demystifying legalese for a particular group of people, in this case, street vendors in New York City. She’s created a visually stunning booklet that attempts to clearly communicate policies the that will ultimately determine how vendors can make their living in the city.

It makes me so happy to see design continue to infiltrate the city at a municipal level. Who knows, maybe someday we’ll even have some super awesome manhole covers like they do in Japan. Dare to dream, right?

Here’s some more background on the project:

Six pairs of sunglasses, five hand bags, and countless hot dogs, biryani, falafel, and dumplings: these are but a few of the things Candy has consumed thanks to New York City’s 10,000+ street vendors. It wasn’t until recently, however, that she realized how much drama they have to endure to make an honest living. As part of Making Policy Public, Candy collaborated with The Street Vendor Project and the Center for Urban Pedagogy (CUP) to research, compile, and design this guide to street vending in New York City. Many vendors are being fined $1000 for little things like parking their cart too far away from the curb, not “conspicuously” wearing their vending license, and other rules buried in the City’s regulation book full of intimidating jargon that would make even the most patient person cry. This guide helps clarify the rules through diagrams and minimal text in English, Bengali, Arabic, Chinese and Spanish, so NYC’s diverse vendors can understand their rights, avoid fines, and earn an honest living.

You can check out more info and plenty of more pictures here

PS: If you haven’t already, be sure to check out the marvelous work she did for NYC Tenants’ Rights.

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