Introduction

'Streets Are Better!' is a community organization I founded to rally my neighbors in the City of Sacramento around shared demands of our local government: safe bike and pedestrian infrastructure centered around design based solutions.

I drew inspiration from John Lennon and Yoko Ono's famous "WAR IS OVER! / IF YOU WANT IT" art piece. Every year on Christmas, Ono takes out a full page in the New York Times with type set the way it has been for decades.

As in Ono's context, the obstacle standing between status quo inaction and necessary change was public will. Thus, it felt only natural to pay tribute to her campaign while designing my own.

Brand Identity

The 'Streets Are Better!' word mark was manually kerned with care. Alternates with slogans and orientations were included from the outset for various use cases.

Printed Materials

Flyers

Iteration, iteration, iteration.

In the real world.

Bike Flyers / Mini Flyers

Sacramento has a vibrant marketplace of rentable scooters and e-bikes. These vehicles presented themselves as a great marketable space for users who use bike infrastructure, and lots of them, as the vehicles are used by several people per day. Reaching out to these users, who might enjoy the convenience of two-wheeled travel on the grid, but haven't reached a point where they felt comfortable buying their own vehicle, was a great opportunity.

Photo Petitions

Local officials need more than signatures, at times. It helps to have a face to put with the cause, and 'photo petitions' are a great way to do so. Many thanks to NYC bike advocate Macartney Morris for the idea.

Iteration between various roadway elements used to effectively communicate the context of the photo petitions via graphic elements, ultimately deciding on thick yellow lines representing the median, and rounded red triangles as yield signs.

Signature Sheets

The signature sheet was optimized not only to gather legible information, but to enable greater usability for data entry volunteers via the alternating shaded backgrounds that correspond with separate entries, allowing them to more easily reference back and forth without losing their place.

Being in COVID times, I designed an online form that served as a touchless way to sign the petition for the germ conscious, and an accompanying flyer for people to scan. More motion is introduced into the typesetting, partially inspired by Paula Scher's poster work for The Public Theater in New York City, to convey a sense of taking action.

Social Media Graphics

Twitter header and profile picture working in harmony.

Illustrations

Exclusively using pieces of the full-of-character letter forms of the project's signature font, Franklin Gothic Standard, vector-based illustrations depict streetscapes. Special attention was paid to location based context; for example, park medians with rounded corners are a common feature in Boulevard Park, a SAB! neighborhood. These are reflected in the illustration.