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[The Vendor Power! poster breaks down NYC's rules and regulations for street vendors. Photo courtesy of Making Policy Public]
Much to the chagrin of many graphic designers, the most effective and skilled examples of their trade often exist within the field of advertising, where the profits reaped from consumption dominate the end product. But when the rare opportunity does arise to use graphic design for the public good, the results can be inspiring and just as effective.
By bringing together advocates and designers to create informational fold-out posters, the Center for Urban Pedagogy’s (CUP) “Making Policy Public” project illustrates and elucidates complex policy issues for the average person. CUP has released a total of six posters on issues ranging from immigration rights to the juvenile justice system. Rather than taking a hard stance on most issues, the posters serve to educate the public about the policies that currently exist, emphasizing their impact on communities and personal lives.
Although hard copies of the posters are for sale through the website, PDF versions are available for free online. While CUP is a New York-based organization that deals largely with local issues, the posters are nevertheless an inspiring example of how we might use graphic design to teach ourselves and our communities about the often nebulous world of public policy.
The Levi's Workshop on Valencia Street [Photo Credit: flickr user thepostfamily]
Nestled among artisan manufacturers and freshly ground coffee, the Levi’s Workshop at 580 Valencia Street continues the Mission’s tradition of craft through a community print shop. This bold artistic enclave merges the pop appeal of the storefront with the patience of the printmaker. The wide windows and old signs from a past laundromat make the shop feel accessible to the general public. However, the workshop also exudes a level of intimacy because of the printing studio set-up, traditionally a place for artists to perform their craft in solace in order to achieve a certain degree of precision required in printmaking. With the Levi’s print shop, the social and individual identities of the creative process merge together in this space, creating an inspiring place for a range of artists.
The Valencia pop-up shop houses classic letterpress machinery, screen-printing design and setting type, encouraging respect for the artisan and craftsman, while also providing a crucial service and education for artists in San Francisco. The term “craft” can sometimes be associated with a kitschy aesthetic, invalidating the art instead of recognizing it as an indication of a practiced skill. This was most notably exemplified when the former CA College of Arts and Crafts updated its name in 2003 to the CA College of the Arts. Part of the name change of this well-respected art school was the concern that a school for “arts & crafts” would not be taken seriously (craftsmen not being as valued as they once were during the Industrial Revolution and Arts and Crafts Movement). The Levi’s Workshop restores the positive definition of the artisan through a shop that caters both to the experienced printmaker, but also to the wanderer who happens to walk by.
In line with Levi’s current ad campaign, creation merges with community through a series of events and workshops hosted at the print shop. The workshop has laid out a series of collaborations with local businesses and community groups to create original artwork and inspire design. On August 20 in conjunction with Alice Waters and Future Farms, the Levi’s Workshop launched a second Edible Schoolyard event to launch their book Farming 2050. This space creates a community, while also preserving the artisan printmaker and aiding those businesses that are looking to support local printing.
This print shop is just one of many artisan shops in San Francisco that promote community, while also establishing small businesses that keep this city vibrant. The time is ripe for a return to the roots of meaningful communication and respect for the process of production. Roll up your sleeves, get to work and press on.
With just under a year in operation, San Francisco’s “data liberation” website, DataSF, has inspired some compelling visualizations. One person who has actively taken advantage of this website is flickr user Eric Fischer. This past week he introduced an animated graphic that caught my eye.
While it may take a few views to deduce, this animation shows a full day, starting and ending at 3 a.m., with each of the days layered on top of each other. Wanting to know even more about the process, I figured I would reach out to him to get his thoughts. In an email conversation with Fischer, he revealed that he wrote a program to filter the DataSF files by both minute and hour, and then plotted each of the points. He then converted the set of images into a movie file.
According to Fischer, “there is actually no base map that it is overlaid onto -- where streets are visible in the animation, they are visible just because Muni vehicles have passed along them.” To him the results speak to the relative regularity of service. A route like the 108 Treasure Island, if viewed in isolation, seems to confirm his assessment.
I was also intrigued as to what other type of data Fischer wished he had access to, and what would inspire more creative output. According to Fischer, “as great as real-time data is, I wish sources of it like NextBus would also make records of the past available, since often it is more interesting to find out what has changed over time than what is happening right now.”
If you enjoyed his animation, explore some of Eric Fischer’s other work on flickr.
"Locals vs. tourists" [Photo Credit: Eric Fischer]
"Geotaggers' world atlas" [Photo Credit: Eric Fischer]
Hayes Valley Farm [Photo Credit: flickr user edibleoffice]
Urban farming events are plentiful right now in San Francisco. Here's a summary of this week's line-up:
SPUR Young Urbanists: Conversations on Urban Farming To what extent can we support a community’s food and health needs through urban farming? With Shakirah Simley of Slow Jams, Brooke Budner and Caitlyn Galloway of Little City Gardens, and the San José-based Village Harvest.
When: Tuesday, July 20, 6-8pm Where: SPUR Urban Center (654 Mission St.)
Mission Community Market The Mission Community Market opens for its first farmers market, where people from the community celebrate the Mission district's unique identity, support local emerging businesses, and hold youth and arts programs in a safe and beautiful public space.
When: Thursday, July 22, 4-8pm Where: 22nd and Bartlett St.
FRESH screening The San Francisco Public Library presents an advance screening of FRESH (watch the trailer), which brings together some of the big names in the sustainable food movement like Michael Pollan, Joel Salatin, and Will Allen. The presenters will talk about a series of events and volunteer opportunities that will coincide with the October release of the film in the Bay Area.
When: Thursday, July 22, 6 pm Where: Koret Auditorium, SFPL Main Branch, 100 Larkin (at Grove)
SF Underground Market A market and a live show - all rolled into one. Think a farmers market, but at night, with music and drinks.
When: Saturday, July 24, 11am to midnight Where: SOMArts, 934 Brannan St.
Golden Gate Bridge, circa 1933 [Photo via Historypin user megscannell]
Beyond simply serving as tools to express our knowledge of our physical surroundings, maps have frequently served as an artistic medium, allowing for the expression of biases and acting as a platform for storytelling. Since the start of the 21st century, online mapping services, led by Mapquest and more recently Google, have focused less on creativity and more on accuracy in attempting to map the planet. Google’s Street View took this one step further, placing photographic evidence in the context of the map. A new service, introduced by Historypin, is bringing back the creative side of map making.
In collaboration with Google, Historypin allows users to geotag their photos and place them on the online map. This type of crowdsourcing is not new, as it has previously been employed by flickr. Where this website truly differentiates itself from previous geotagging endeavors is by allowing the user to incorporate the date of the snapshot and an explanation of the image. Another feature allows you to place the historic image alongside the street view image, an interesting way to note changes to the location over time.
I stumbled upon a recent photo upload that captures the construction of the Golden Gate Bridge (top) between 1933 and 1937. The user who uploaded the photo speculates that the photo was taken in the middle of that period, because both towers have been erected, but the roadway has yet to be built. In reading the photo description, you also learn details about the origin of the photo (in this case it was discovered in her aunt’s garage), but the photographer remains a mystery.
Sutro Baths, circa 1936 [Photo via Historypin user megscannell]
Another photo awaiting more detail (above) shows the S.S. Ohioan run aground outside the Sutro Baths in 1936. Today, the former site of the Sutro Baths looks much more like a modern ruin. Looking at this picture I was struck by the temporary nature of our built environment, and the permanence of our natural surroundings.
With this freedom to narrate a map of our photographic history also comes great responsibility. Just as with Wikipedia or any other site dependent on user-generated content, Historypin must successfully balance storytelling with fantasy. Where the service excels, however, is in its recognition that a city is not simply made up of streets and parks, but also includes a narrative fabric, one that is too frequently forgotten.
At a SPUR lunchtime forum yesterday, President of the Times Square Alliance (TSA) Tim Tompkins spoke about the evolution of Times Square over the past several decades. For decades, New York fought the uphill battle of making Times Square cleaner, safer, and more inviting, only to find themselves with a new set of challenges: the area has become so popular, particularly with tourists, that the sidewalks and plazas had far exceeded capacity, and locals worried that the area was losing its New York identity.
Tompkins talked about a range of initiatives the TSA undertook to make Times Square better able to handle its famous foot traffic while strengthening the area’s New York identity, from widening sidewalks and putting in art installations to building an award-winning, wedge-shaped structure on Duffy Square combining the TKTS half-price ticket booth with bleachers that, day and night, have a view to some of the most dynamic people-watching in the world. Tompkins also discussed when, as a stopgap measure before more permanent seating was installed, he decided to put 376 lawn chairs in a newly expanded pedestrian space. The surreal results raised eyebrows and garnered national media attention; when, at the end of the summer, replacements finally arrived, the lawn chairs were converted into an art installation, a microcosm of the dynamic balance between pragmatism and playfulness the TSA has struck in keeping Times Square an intriguing spot that’s still very genuinely New York.
Thanks to the Great Streets Project for organizing this great event!
SPUR members toured the Mission Armory, the 200,000 square foot Moorish Castle Reproduction completed in 1914. From it's completion until 1976, the Armory was used as a National Guard facility, and later joined the National Register of Historic Places.
The drill court, spanning nearly an acre, served not only as a military training facility, but also as boxing arena, and hall for social events for the City's national guardsmen. Future use as a community space will be managed by The Armory Community Center (TACC).
The interior space contains 160 rooms grossing 190,300 square feet. Decor ranges from utilitarian to the more decorative, as seen in the Main Entrance Hall:
Filming By CyberEntertainmnet, Inc, which acquired the Armory in 2006, occupied many areas of the Armory, sadly restricting the SPUR visit. Tours conducted by employees of CyberEntertainment are offered the 2nd Friday of the month. For more information, please visit: http://www.sfarmory.com/
In an interview with DC Velocity, Norm Mineta, President Bush's Secretary of Transportation and a Democrat from San Jose, provides some fantastic insight into the challenge facing our new DOT chief.
Mineta stresses the increasing inadequacy of the federal gas tax. Set at 18 cents per gallon since 1993, total receipts have decreased with inflation and improved fuel economy. The federal transportation account is deeply in the red. He reveals that Bush personally vetoed his propsal to index the gas tax to inflation when he first came to the USDOT.
The alternative? Mineta recommends a vehicle miles traveled tax, as does the National Surface Transportation Infrastructure Financing Commission. The National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission concurs, providing a very thorough analysis of funding options.
This matters for San Francisco, of course, but not as much as you might think. Federal funds account for just one fourth of the money we spend on transportation in the Bay Area.
Thanks to Streetsblog SF for the tip.
