Candy’s developing quite a portfolio of projects that toe the line between art and service (with a little social commentary thrown in for good measure) Her most recent work for GOOD Magazine invites neighbors to meet each other thanks to the Please Disturb/Can I Borrow? placards included in the most recent issue.
What I love most about this is how it takes the sharing behavior we’ve become all-too-comfortable with online and challenges us to bring it back to real-world situations.
One side says, Please Disturb! and allows you to list the things you have to loan (an extra ladder, salad, ammo, etc.) The other side says, Can I Borrow? and you can list the stuff you need. “Our neighbors have a lot of resources, skills, and odds and ends that we can share, borrow, and trade,” says Candy. “Think of it as an invitation or a low-tech status update for your front door.”
If you’re into this sort of thing, definitely check out her previous work visualizing the laws governing New York City Street Vendors and these flash cards demystifying NYC Tenants’ Rights.
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.
I love the idea of a map customized for what’s important to *only* you. The illustration style is perfect. I’m also a huge sucker for the giant blue whale which was my favorite place to hang out as a child. That and the dinosaur room. Check out the large version here.
This is a sign from the window of a local shop in Park Slope, Goldy and Mac. I love seeing local businesses pushing people online in an effort to get more of them into the store.
Years ago, we spec’ed out some stuff to be built on the dodgeball platform that would empower local businesses to build what were essentially local + mobile loyalty programs: your pub is empty at 5pm on a Sunday? Quickly send out a text message to all your fans (“Come by before 7pm tonight and get half priced drinks!”) It looks like Goldy + Mac has found another way to approach this. Tying this to real-time mobile alerts is just a short step away. Good stuff.
Imagine all the cool apps you could build on top of this.
Judging by the upcoming potential budget cuts and slashed lines, I don’t see something like this in our MTA’s future. Sniffle.
… basically this is the type of data that drives the signs you see on the L train ("Next Train: 25 minutes"). Now imagine building this into an iPhone app or something so whenever you are standing over a subway station (GPS!) the phone can tel you whether it’s worth going in and paying the $2 (vs. you sitting around waiting 45 mins for the next train)…. or your phone buzzing with an SMS before you leave your apt for work / airport/ night out letting you know the F train is on fire / delayed 20 minutes / etc
Carlo Longino of MobHappy has a quick post about a grill he saw at Lowe’s that came emblazoned with a 1-800 number providing the customer with a feature-by-feature voice walkthrough of the grill in question.
While not the sexiest application of mobile technology, it’s nice to see companies getting hip to using the mobile phone as a tool rather than merely a communication device.
Ever since Blade Runner, I’ve always found myself a bit spellbound by buildings-as-displays. Boing Boing Gadgets Links to a great gallery showcasing a variety of them, letting vote for your favorites.
The Chanel store in Tokyo is really awesome:
(By the way, I applaud them for completely bypassing the over-the-top Vegas treatment alltogether)
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I maintain a more traditional blog, covering a wide range of topics over at www.alexrainert.com.
I'm a husband, new father & owner of a lovably neurotic vizsla. Obsessed with information, design, emerging tech, sports & food. Years ago I co-founded dodgeball.com and I'm currently head of product at foursquare.
