Community Projects

User Experience Research & Design

Over the years, I've been involved in local projects and learning experiences that focused on a user-centered design process. I've learned to not only design with the end-user in mind but also how to invite and empower them in the work itself.

Community Design Charrette

I co-led and facilitated a community design workshop for a section of Gorgas Park located in Roxborough, PA. They wanted to redesign a section of land with funding they received. We brought together individuals from the city's Parks and Recreation department, the "Friends of Gorgas Park" group, professional architects, landscape architects, engineers, WHYY, the Roxborough Review, volunteers, and community members to come up with a concept that could be presented.

We held two sessions to iterate design concepts and the group of about 30 people were broken up into teams with different backgrounds. We had each team make rapid sketches and we vetted them multiple times as a large group. We ended by giving everyone three dot stickers and had them put them on the designs they liked the best. The highest rated concept was then submitted to the contracted design firm that would incorporate the insights about the user experience.

Photo Mar 13, 11 39 45 AM

St Francis 2014_3

Photo Mar 13, 10 36 18 AM

Photo Mar 13, 11 39 45 AM

1/20

Teaching Sustainability

During my time studying Sustainable Design, I volunteered along with several other colleagues to teach about Sustainability at St. Francis De Sales Parish in Philadelphia. We taught the the basics and invited them to take part in hands-on design exercises to come up with innovative solutions for the problems we presented.

Study Abroad

I was fortunate to have had an opportunity studying abroad in Copenhagen, Denmark. The program was through the Danish Institute of Study Abroad (DIS) and I took a course entited "Livability in the Modern City". I studied with Bianca Hermansen and learned about how to design public spaces with the user in mind. I saw how areas of Copenhagen were transformed by inviting the community in the design process.

I completed my final project on applying the design approach I saw in the Danish neighborhood of Nørrebro to my own hometown in Norristown, PA. The experience was unlike any other and I was able to see how intentional designers in Copenhagen are about creating enjoyable experiences for the end-users which in this case was the city itself.