Design

Empowering Urban Youth:
Providing constructive environments for girls' personal growth

I collaborated with fellow Design grad Aliya Baptista to investigate after-school community settings in the Pittsburgh urban area. We discovered an after-school program for girls aged 10-18 run by Earthen Vessels Outreach, an organization with a mission to "build social, racial and economic bridges to connect communities, organizations and people for the enhancement and transformation of East Pittsburgh."

After some additional scouting, my partner and I concluded the design issues of EVO's program could act as a case-study for all similar programs, at least regionally. Because of this, we created a structural solution—a set of guidelines—that could be fine-tuned for different programs.

  • Design problems—some wicked—tackled and targeted by our guidelines include:
  • Lack of resources (due to funding)
  • Limitations created by spatial layout
  • Fluid organizational hierarchy and stability
  • Orchestrated activities lacking long-term meaning

Process


Additional resources

Interim project presentation:

  • Project details:
  • Fall 2010, Carnegie Mellon University
  • Class: Social Impact by Design
  • Instructor: Bruce Hanington
  • Individual contributions:
  • Literature review
  • Historical analysis
  • Secondary research
  • Contextual observations
  • Concept ideation/generation
  • Presentation design and production
  • Video animation
  • Tools used:
  • Adobe Illustrator CS5
  • Adobe After Effects CS5


  • Next project

Web sites are my fave. I follow a routine of including the client in the brainstorming and ideating process (no surprises). Ask me more about my Web design process, because I love talking about it.

veroniahansen.net
texastravesty.com
dawsonfilms.net
newmovementtheater.com/