✨K.I.T. Keep in Touch✨

Challenge: Create a Digital Tool for Daily Affirmations

Spring 2023

Keep in Touch (K.I.T.) with your truest self and all the wonder life holds. K.I.T. curates daily affirmations that are ‘passed’ to you like a note from a kindred spirit. Keep them close,just for you, or share far and wide. Read. Listen. Carry them with you. You never know what will unfold. Pass it on. @kit_notes

 
 

ROLES:

Research | Synthesis | Strategy | Concept x Journey Mapping | Identity & Visual Design | Stop-motion Animation | User Interface (UI) Design | Validation Testing | Interactive User Experience (UX) Prototype Design x Build

TOOLS:

Miro | Adobe Creative Suite: Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, XD

DELIVERABLE:

Mobile App

TIMEFRAME:

3 Months

 
Cover image for Our Philly Park project app
 

💚 Our [Philly] Park 🌳

TIME. TOOLS. TRANSFORMATION.

Centering & Uplifting Philadelphia Parks’ Volunteers


Fall 2023 – Spring 2024

Philadelphia relies heavily on unpaid care labor to maintain our system of more than 200 neighborhood parks. Across the poorest big city in America, recent budget cuts of 20% ($12.5M) have deepened disparities in park maintenance, services and programming. These gaps are filled by the goodwill, energy and devotion of thousands of residents who pitch in to help improve, or simply maintain, their neighborhood park.

  • Behind photos of smiling neighbors planting trees, widespread confusion, disillusionment and burnout among longtime volunteers threatens this ‘invisible’ infrastructure. They report frustration with cumbersome bureaucracy, outdated systems and the absence of on-site park staff. Administrative tools related to coordinating, reporting and requesting support from city partners are inconsistent and inefficient. Communications among volunteers and with Parks staff is primarily done through rudimentary methods: phone, email, and text. Exchanges get buried or lost, causing delays and dead ends. While these experiences result in lost time, they also contribute to cynicism and breakdown of critical relationships between volunteers and city partners.

    The lack of efficient, volunteer-centered communications systems means administrative tasks are disproportionately time-consuming—pulling folks away from the park, their group’s mission and the activities they find to be most rewarding. This imbalance leaves little time or energy for recruitment and onboarding of new volunteers which is essential for the sustainability of organized, future-focused stewardship of Philadelphia’s parks.

 

PROJECT SUMMARY:

Deep dive [or skim!] the project’s thesis book

FOCUS:

How might we reduce the administrative burden on Philadelphia’s neighborhood park volunteers by streamlining support and communication channels within the Park Friends Network?

PITCH:

I am building a tool for Philly’s Park Friends volunteers in the form of a mobile app, which will streamline and strengthen coordination and support channels between volunteers and city partners.

ROLES:

Research | Synthesis | Strategy | Concept x Journey Mapping | Identity & Visual Design | Stop-motion Animation | User Interface (UI) Design | Validation Testing | Interactive User Experience (UX) Prototype Design x Build

TOOLS:

Otter.ai | Google Docs | Figma | Adobe Creative Suite: Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign | Collage | Illustration

DELIVERABLE:

Mobile App & Asset Management System

TIMEFRAME:

9 Months