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DESIGN
LIBRARY
A collection of objects, projects, news, methods of thinking and more that relate to our mission, vision, and values.
Click the photos for more information!
5 C's of Community Planning
Complete, Compact, Connected, Complex, and Convivial
Growing Home
A USDA-Certified Organic and non-profit urban farm in the Englewood neighborhood of Chicago.
We Rise Together Grants
Grants aiming to revitalize areas of South and West Chicago.
Today's Vibe Keychains
Music can help explain and pinpoint feelings our words just can't express.
These key chains are meant to be inter-changeable and can be scanned in spotify to access particular songs that help describe how the user's day is going.
The two-word affirmations help to express this feeling in a condensed form. The portability and size of the keychains make it seen by others who can scan the QR code and connect via music or "the vibe" of the day.
These were 3D printed at the Art + Design Digital Output Lab and hand painted by Cindy Phung.
These key chains are meant to be inter-changeable and can be scanned in spotify to access particular songs that help describe how the user's day is going.
The two-word affirmations help to express this feeling in a condensed form. The portability and size of the keychains make it seen by others who can scan the QR code and connect via music or "the vibe" of the day.
These were 3D printed at the Art + Design Digital Output Lab and hand painted by Cindy Phung.
The Available City
"...an ongoing exploration of the City of Chicago’s ownership of 13,000 vacant lots as an opportunity to impact an area twice the size of the Loop through the lot—the smallest increment of the city grid. Considering the city-owned lots as a set, The Available City proposes a publicly accessible collective space system in which each city-owned lot has potential as a surface element—a softscape, hardscape, or small building by a local nonprofit organization or the city—in that system, while those adjacent to privately owned vacant lots have additional potential to provide volumes of collective space within buildings on 2–5 lots. Those buildings receive more footprint and square footage allowances than zoning permits through the provision of publicly accessible volumes of collective space within the building with a surface area that equals, if not exceeds, the area of the city lots. The Available City is thus an urban proposition comprised of up to 13,000 local effects."
Personal Manifesto
The thing that holds us back is our fear of failure. The fear of what happens after that moment is internalized, churns inside of you, and eventually cuts away at you with each new opportunity for failure. That fear then consumes our actions and inhibits growth or change. Instead, you are rooted and unable to tackle opportunities head on.
Take that fear and use it to fuel your adrenaline. Growth is taking that plunge— It’s accepting the good and bad outcomes but still pursuing the future. Come to accept the feedback from your failures and use them as building blocks for your next draft. Nothing is a one draft wonder; not even computers are capable of that.
If you’re gonna fall, learn how to brace yourself.
Use that momentum to rebound and grow. Take those successes and failures and use them to shape your next move. Encourage yourself to ask questions conducive to your growth. What’s not working? Which direction would you like me to go in? How can we come to an agreement? Tackle your clients head on. Do they know what they want? How can you help them find what they want? Push and move forward. If you fall, rebound and turn it around.
But growth is not only focused on what you can do for others, but based on what you can do for yourself. How can you design something that both you and the client will be proud of? What can you do to design to your ethics?
Growth also means advocating for your decisions and adapting them to the task at hand. Think on your feet, research solutions, do your own planning and come prepared to prove your point at the next meeting. Where can you give and negotiate? Where do you need more information?
Fear is natural, but you must discern whether it’s a fear you can explore.
Exploration leads to growth and comfort in the knowledge and confidence you have built up over time. Fear is the lack of confidence in yourself to handle a situation at your best.
So feel that fear, let it rile you up and use that momentum to dive in head first. Ask questions, learn what you have to learn in order to set yourself up for success. By the end of it, you’ll have grown and become confident in not only your choices as a designer, but in the choices you make on a daily basis. earn, explore, and navigate through your encounters to fuel your growth and experience.
Take that fear and use it to fuel your adrenaline. Growth is taking that plunge— It’s accepting the good and bad outcomes but still pursuing the future. Come to accept the feedback from your failures and use them as building blocks for your next draft. Nothing is a one draft wonder; not even computers are capable of that.
If you’re gonna fall, learn how to brace yourself.
Use that momentum to rebound and grow. Take those successes and failures and use them to shape your next move. Encourage yourself to ask questions conducive to your growth. What’s not working? Which direction would you like me to go in? How can we come to an agreement? Tackle your clients head on. Do they know what they want? How can you help them find what they want? Push and move forward. If you fall, rebound and turn it around.
But growth is not only focused on what you can do for others, but based on what you can do for yourself. How can you design something that both you and the client will be proud of? What can you do to design to your ethics?
Growth also means advocating for your decisions and adapting them to the task at hand. Think on your feet, research solutions, do your own planning and come prepared to prove your point at the next meeting. Where can you give and negotiate? Where do you need more information?
Fear is natural, but you must discern whether it’s a fear you can explore.
Exploration leads to growth and comfort in the knowledge and confidence you have built up over time. Fear is the lack of confidence in yourself to handle a situation at your best.
So feel that fear, let it rile you up and use that momentum to dive in head first. Ask questions, learn what you have to learn in order to set yourself up for success. By the end of it, you’ll have grown and become confident in not only your choices as a designer, but in the choices you make on a daily basis. earn, explore, and navigate through your encounters to fuel your growth and experience.
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