Brownfields Assessment Project

Summary

What's a Brownfield?

The National City Brownfields Assessment Project is an initiative of the SDSU Center for Regional Sustainability (CRS) in collaboration with the National City community to locate, assess, inventory and plan for reuse possibilities of brownfields in National City. As part of the design brief, CRS requested a branded campaign centered around community outreach with an emphasis on inclusion and collaboration as well a refresh for the typography and lock-up of the Brownfields Assessment Project logo.

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Process

Centering Community

National City has a majority Latino and Asian population, and is disproportionately affected by environmental racism. Due to zoning laws not coming into effect until after settlement and industrialization had taken place, many residences are adjacent to heavy industry and abandoned sites that formerly or currently are contaminated. Because of this proximity between housing and industry the residents of National City are at higher risk of developing health problems than those elsewhere in the county.

The challenges of this project included balancing the amount of information delivered to the public through the design, moving away from alienating academic language towards a more casual and friendlier tone, making sure to be clear on the intentions and limitations of the Brownfield Assessment Project, while also emphasizing the need for community input and mutual collaboration between SDSU and National City community members. Other considerations included the use of multi-lingual support in choosing typography and in the use of messaging, and creating a graphics system that is accessible for reuse to a non-designer.

Process

Centering Community

National City has a majority Latino and Asian population, and is disproportionately affected by environmental racism. Due to zoning laws not coming into effect until after settlement and industrialization had taken place, many residences are adjacent to heavy industry and abandoned sites that formerly or currently are contaminated. Because of this proximity between housing and industry the residents of National City are at higher risk of developing health problems than those elsewhere in the county.

The challenges of this project included balancing the amount of information delivered to the public through the design, moving away from alienating academic language towards a more casual and friendlier tone, making sure to be clear on the intentions and limitations of the Brownfield Assessment Project, while also emphasizing the need for community input and mutual collaboration between SDSU and National City community members. Other considerations included the use of multi-lingual support in choosing typography and in the use of messaging, and creating a graphics system that is accessible for reuse to a non-designer.

Solution

Inspired by the City

The main call to action text is hand-lettering that takes reference from protest and activism posters, and street art and murals both of which are prevalent in Latino and Asian visual culture. As part of accessibility for future use, this system of hand lettering encourages play and allows for continuous collaboration and evolution of the voice and form of the campaign.

The city grid for National City was used as the main graphic element that contains text blocks and images of peoples and places, with image and text occasionally breaking out of the grid. The spaces serving as opportunities for envisioning possibilities.

Solution

Space for Everyone

Throughout, the imagery chosen was specifically focused on helping the community visualize within the project, helping to inspire people into action for the future and sake of their families and communities.

Messaging was simplified to encourage engagement with the campaign, prioritizing avenues of contact, interest and further participation. The typography chosen for the subheading and body text was chosen for its friendly and fun feeling but also because of its multilingual support.

The logo typography was simplified to two different lockups for use in a variety of formats whenever required. The bottom portion of the logo includes the possibility of adapting the logo to specific location and project, adding the possibility of expansion and reuse in different cities.