Megan Braley Design

Megan Braley, M.I.D. Industrial Designer, Researcher and Communications Strategist 832.661.9837 mkbraley@gmail.com

This brief portfolio includes four client-based design projects and one case study. Thank you for your time and consideration.

For more examples of my work please go to www.meganbraley.com

Yale Urban Resources Initiative The Urban Resources Initiative (URI) is a not-forprofit university partnership with Yale University that began in 1991 with the mission to foster community-based land stewardship, promote environmental education, and advance the practice of urban forestry. URI is closely affiliated with the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, and has a number of programs available to New Haven’s residents.

TreeHaven 10K In 2009, URI partnered with the City of New Haven to create the TreeHaven 10K Campaign, which aims to plant 10,000 trees throughout New Haven by 2014. URI hopes to plant 5,000 trees on public lands, and 5,000 trees on land held by homeowners.

This ambitious five-year project will provide local employment opportunities, restore a diminishing tree canopy, and improve urban quality of life, among other benefits.

Engaging New Haven’s Residents The participation of New Haven’s residents is critical to the success of this campaign, because residents own the largest percentage of New Haven’s tree canopy. When I began working with URI in early 2011, Colleen Murphy-Dunning, the Director of URI, explained to me that the majority of requested trees came from neighborhoods surrounding Yale, and that she was interested in creating educational and outreach materials for New Haven’s low-income communities.

At the beginning of the project, I discussed the design method of ‘storytelling’ with Colleen, and explained how it would be useful in encouraging residents to request a free tree.

Storytelling As a Form of Persuasion Stories create an emotional connection that is more likely to engage and persuade residents to request a tree, as opposed to explaining the environmental impact of trees solely through scientific data and percentages. Together we created a narrative to explain the impact street trees have on New Haven’s waterways, and the positive impact residents make simply by planting a tree. I then created a series of illustrations to bring the narrative to life.

Residents are asked to call URI or fill out a request form online, but the final outreach tool also includes a detachable large postcard that can be mailed in as well.

Free Trees Planted on Your Street!

Sound like something you want to be a part of? Order a free tree from URI and commit to watering the newly planted tree.

To request a free tree fill out this form, or order online via www.cityofnewhaven.com/Sustainability/ Take_Action/Request_a_Tree.asp We employ, educate, and pay youth and adults in need of job training and experience to plant your tree.

This versatile format ensures that all residents will have the opportunity to request a tree for their yard.

Name:

Place First Class Postage Here

Urban Resources Initiative 195 Prospect Street New Haven, CT 06511

Address: Email: Phone #:

Questions? Call URI at (203) 432-6189, Email uri@yale.edu, or visit yale.edu/uri

Climate Change and The American Southwest Educational Poster Series from Gray is Green: The National Senior Conservation Corps

1

Climate Change and The American Southwest Educational Poster Series from Gray is Green: The National Senior Conservation Corps

The U.S. Desert-Shrub Ecosystem is Changing

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Southwest Temperatures Are Rising Rapidly

This diagram shows the extent of the United States’ Desert-Shrub Ecosystem, reaching from close to the Canadian border to Mexico, where it merges with the Mexican Desert-Shrub Ecosystem.

Great Basin

Mojave

Sonoran Chihuahuan

The Four North American Deserts The largest of the deserts is the Great Basin Desert, extending east of the California border to Salt Lake City.

The other deserts are the Mojave, the Sonoran, and the Chihuahuan Desert, which is expanding north from Mexico, deeper into New Mexico and Texas.

Temperature Change (�F per century): -4

-3

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Rate of Temperature Change by State and Region, 1901-2008 Data provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Climate Data Center (www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/ncdc.html)

The United States Has Warmed at Nearly Twice the Global Rate

Source: http://clminternship.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/DSCN0441.JPG

The Mojave Desert

Source: http://www.sheltoweehikes.com/IMG_0922.jpg

The Sonoran Desert

Source: http://www.edupic.net/Images/Biomes/tonto_desert138.JPG

The Chihuahuan Desert

Source: http://lh4.ggpht.com/_ynz-PpOfY1Y/SB4HOfsoyEI/AAAAAAAAAdo/LUwJOIz6U9Q/P3210395.JPG

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Rising World Temperature

1901-2009 trend: +1.25°F per century 1979-2009 trend: Surface: +5.05°F per century UAH: +4.00°F per century

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Earth’s Surface 1910

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Lower Troposphere (measured by satellite) UAH 1950 1960

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1980 1990

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Data Source: NOAA, 2010

Temperature anomaly [°F]

The Great Basin Desert

Temperature anomaly [°F]

Rising U.S. Temperatures 3

3 2

1901-2009 trend: +1.28°F per century 1979-2009 trend: Surface: +2.93°F per century UAH: +2.30°F per century

1 0 -1 -2 -3 1900

Earth’s Surface 1910

1920 1930

1940

Lower Troposphere (measured by satellite) UAH 1950 1960

Year

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1980 1990

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Data Source: NOAA, 2010

Gray is Green A project of the Natural Resources Defense Council Gray is Green is an environmental education, action, and advocacy organization for senior citizens, currently based out of North Haven, CT. When I started working with the organization in late 2010, they were undergoing a major transformation. They were in the process of merging with the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) in New York City, and were concerned that they would lose their identity. I am helping Gray is Green redesign their outreach materials, so that they can re-engage their audience and recruit new members.

Designing for Senior Citizens The organization develops tools for senior citizens who are often overlooked by environmental conservation groups. Gray is Green recognizes that seniors have significant political and financial leverage.

However, while the organization’s resources are directed toward people over the age of 65, many of the organization’s existing resources lack the design aspects necessary to engage older people.

Applying Human Factors Psychology to Information Design I met with Robert E. Lane, PhD, the Founder and President of Gray is Green, to discuss aspects of human factors that could be applied to the design of their resources. As people age, it becomes more difficult and frustrating to read small text. I pointed out that this frustration could be leading to a lack of engagement from their members. Together we are increasing the font size used in their documents, while also shortening the overall amount of text.

I am also teaching them to use grid systems and powerful, engaging colors in the development of their resources, so that their viewers are drawn in and can easily navigate the presented information.

Climate Change and The American Southwest Educational Poster Series from Gray is Green: The National Senior Conservation Corps

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Global Warming Changes Snow to Rain and Rain to Episodic Downpours

Climate Change and The American Southwest Educational Poster Series from Gray is Green: The National Senior Conservation Corps

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Water Stress Will Extend Eastward

By reducing the amount of snow falling on mountains, global warming has reduced Western snowpacks by as much as 75% (EPA), changing runoff from a source of relief in summer dry spells to spring floods, which are of less value to farming and to dry climates generally.

Percent Change

Trends in April Snowpack In the Western United States (1950-2000)

-80% -60%

Data provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service Water and Climate Center (www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov)

-40% -20%

Physical Water Scarcity

Extreme One-Day Precipitation Events in the Lower 48 States (1910-2008)

Water resources cannot meet population demands. More than 75% of river flows are allocated to agriculture, industries, or domestic purposes.

Percent of Land Area

25

From Ordinary Rain to Downpours

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Downpours pelt crops, overflow storm sewers, and flood culverts and underpasses. In desertshrubland, downpours refresh groundwater, but often runoff too quickly to penetrate dry, caked soil.

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Data Source: NOAA, 2009

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Re-engaging Members and Recruiting New Followers I recently designed a poster series focused on Climate Change and the American Southwest. I designed each poster to tell a cohesive, powerful story, and incorporated all of the design aspects I had previously discussed with Dr. Lane. We then put the posters on exhibit at The Whitney Center, a retirement community located in Hamden, CT, in order to gain feedback from their residents.

Gray is Green has received positive publicity and increased response from their members.

Projected Global Water Scarcity for 2025 Data provided by the National Intelligence Council, Global Trends 2025: A Transformed World, published by the International Water Management Institute, IWMI, Annual Report 2007-2008, pg.11 (www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/world_maps/water_scarcity_2025)

Approaching Physical Water Scarcity More than 60% of river flows are allocated.

These basins will experience physical water scarcity in the near future.

Little or No Water Scarcity Abundant water resources relative to use.

Less than 25% of water from rivers is withdrawn for human purposes.

In this century, water stress will extend east and north into Texas, Oklahoma, and parts of Kansas.

Growlots Philadelphia

http://growlotsphiladelphia.com

Philadelphia is well known as the city of brotherly love, the home of Rocky, and the foundation of this nation.

What is less well known, is that Philadelphia is home to hundreds of urban gardens, and an urban agriculture movement that has been gaining momentum for the past 40 years. Throughout this period, new organizations have been developing rapidly, and an increasing number of individuals have become interested in growing in the city. However, a lack of collaboration has prevented the movement from developing successful citywide urban agriculture initiatives.

Exposing the Underlying Problems To better understand the issues blocking collaboration, my design team and I collected exploratory data through fieldwork, interviews, literature reviews, and contextual research. We visited nonprofit organizations, and volunteered at community gardens.

We then outlined our key findings and presented them to Philadelphia’s Department of Parks and Recreation. In 2009, we began working with the city to develop a strategy for improving communication and collaboration within the urban agriculture movement, while also raising public awareness of the city’s urban agricultural development.

Key Findings • Current urban agriculture efforts are fragmented, redundant, and inefficient.

• Fragmentation prevents people from finding and using the numerous resources available to them.

• A centralized hub is necessary to organize all of the available resources.

• Progress is slow because the future plans of the stakeholder groups do not align.

Observing Group Dynamics and Encouraging Participatory Design Through a series of interviews and focus group meetings, my team and I developed a number of tools to help our stakeholders prioritize the problems facing the city’s urban agriculture development, while simultaneously working together to propose solutions. During each meeting we used dialogue mapping and brainstorm activities to keep the conversation on track. We also observed each of our participants to gain a better understanding of the emotions and attitudes present in each meeting.

It soon became clear that the histories and reputations between our stakeholders were getting in the way of collaboration.

Also, a lack of communication between our stakeholders led to redundant efforts and overwhelming frustration.

Equalizing the Movement’s Resources to Reduce Competition and Increase Communication and Collaboration The existing fragmentation had made it nearly impossible for our stakeholders to visualize their contributions as a collective effort. My team and I worked to eliminate the names of organizations by emphasizing the work everyone had accomplished.

We described this concept as, The Power of Coordinated Efforts, which we defined as “the ability to put WHAT is being accomplished, before WHO is contributing the work.”

With this concept in mind, we organized the movement’s resources based on their functions and roles within a system, not their developers.

Instead of a movement comprised of hundreds of organizations developing similar products and services, we designed a collaborative system with products and services organized into nine categories representing the key components of urban agriculture.

All of the city’s resources are now organized in an online, collaborative, content management system. Growlots Philadelphia is a resource database and a communication networking tool, that has helped our stakeholders work together to develop innovative services.

Urban Agriculture Resource Categories

Growing Gardens and Urban Farms

Distributing Your Goods

Composting

Planting Fruit Trees

Meeting Your Peers

Keeping Bees

Impacting Teens and Adults

Marketing Your Goods

Advancing Children

Postgreen Homes Postgreen is a real estate and development firm specializing in modern, green, and affordable homes in Philadelphia’s urban neighborhoods. The company was interested in updating the kitchen design used in their energy-efficient homes. A partner and I were hired to research and design a concept for an Extreme Green Kitchen. We had just completed a four-month project at the University of the Arts focused on green kitchen design, so we were able to offer Postgreen a holistic strategy for developing their Extreme Green Kitchen.

Collaborating With Postgreen’s Core Buyers Nic Darling, the Chief Marketing Officer, and Chad Ludeman, the Company President, began Postgreen with a blog entitled the 100K House. They quickly gained a large community of followers interested in their mission and their 100K homes. Postgreen’s numerous subscribers were an incredible resource. As we researched and developed our design, we posted various entries on the company’s blog in order to gain valuable insight from their followers. We used Postgreen’s blog as a tool to co-design with the community.

Helping Homeowners Cook Green and Clean My team and I not only focused on the design of the kitchen, we also focused on the kitchen’s place within the continuous cycle of growth.We developed a threepronged system that made it fast and easy to dispose of waste sustainably, reduced indoor toxins, and saved clients money. We also incorporated modularity and adaptability in our kitchen design, to fit the small and compact nature of Postgreen’s homes.

“Waste Equals Food” Our three-part system connected efficient storage, a backyard garden, and a composting unit located under the kitchen sink. Food scraps that are usually thrown away and wasted, are placed in the composting unit to be transformed into nutrient rich soil, which is then added back to the garden to “feed” the existing soil and produce. This system creates a closed-loop cycle, which draws inspiration from the concept of “Waste Equals Food,” developed by William McDonough.

Our Final Kitchen Design Included: • Only green materials • All energy-efficient materials • A recycling drawer consisting of three removable bins, next to the sink for quicker, cleaner disposal • A Footfaucet for water-use efficiency (foot pedals turn water on and off)

• A NatureMill Automatic Composter for odor-free composting (even dairy, meat, and fish) • A Sun Frost Refrigerator located under the island counter (cuts energy consumption by 80%) • Two Rolling, Mobile Units that either fit under the counter for more open space or lock in place next to the island for extended counter space

Murals Against Crime Today, Philadelphia is the world capital of murals.

Upon entering the city, murals can be seen at every corner. Initially, the murals appear to be a form of city beautification. However, after researching The Mural Arts Program (MAP ), the organization responsible for creating many of the city’s murals, it is clear that the murals have a deeper meaning. For the past 25 years, MAP has used murals as a method for combating Philadelphia’s high crime rate. When beginning a new mural, the program encourages the involvement of inmates at local correctional facilities, troubled youths, and community members, in order to create a collective ownership of the mural that ensures it will not be destroyed by graffiti in the future.

Mapping the System A partner and I became interested in studying the relationship between murals and crime more closely. We felt that if we were able to prove the effectiveness of MAP’s initiative by visually mapping the connection between murals and lowered crime, other cities battling crime could benefit from MAP’s work by utilizing the model they offer.

To examine the entire system, we mapped our collected data on three scales: 1. Citywide, 2. By Zip Code, and 3. A Two-Block Radius

N 35th St.

Wallace St.

W. M W. G

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St. Exp y Rac Arche St. St. Mar k e Che t St. Wal stnut S nut t St. .

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Fitz wa ter Ch St. ris tia Was n hing St. ton Wh Ave arto . nS t.

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8th St. 6th St. 4th St. 2nd St.

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1. Citywide Examination Our first step was to map the general location of murals (represented by squares) and crime (represented by circles) throughout Center City, in order to visualize the areas where murals and crime overlapped.

19147 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0

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portrait

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cultural

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landscape

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history

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figurative

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abstract

2005

2. Investigating Zip Code Zones

youth

Our citywide research showed that the mural’s content is often determined by the amount of crime in the area it is created. For example, murals discussing issues of social concern are often located in the areas of highest crime, whereas murals depicting landscapes are often used more for their ability to add beauty to a space.

2006

# of crimes per year

3500

Next, we studied individual zip code zones to further examine the relationship between the amount of crime in an area, and the number of murals created to combat that crime.

3000 2500 2000 1500 1000

For each zip code in Center City, we mapped the number of crimes occurring each year from 1999 through 2006, and compared that to the number of murals created each year from 1999 through 2006.

We chose to look at these eight years because they offered the most accurate crime rate documentation.

500 0

1999

2000

2001 thefts

2002 robberies

2003 burglaries

2004

2005

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assaults

# of murals # of murals per year per year

3. Analyzing Crime/Mural109 Relation In 8 a Two-Block Radius 10 7 9

Our zip code research showed that in most cases, more 6 8 murals were developed in the zip code57zones with the highest crime.We also found that in all46of the zip code 3 5 zones we studied, the crime rate steadily decreased 2 4 over the eight year period we had examined.

1 3 0 2

We found that in each of the cases, the addition of a mural significantly lowered 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 crime in the surrounding area.

1999 crime2000 To better understand the relationship 1between levels and nearby murals, we chose one mural from 0 1999 each zip code to examine more closely. We mapped2000 the crime in the specific location over a 6-month period and afterin the1999 mural was created.

6 before mo. period 2001

6 mo. period in 1999

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6 mo. period in 2008 6 mo. period in 2008

south st.

12th st.

12th st.

south st. south st.

Spirit of Creativity 1210 South St.

south st.

12th st.

12th st.

# of murals per year

social concern

Spirit of Creativity 1210 South St.

13 murals & 18,874 crimes occured in19147 From 1999 to 2006 13 murals & 18,874 crimes occured in19147 From 1999 to 2006