For this project I served as Lead Visual Designer with Idea 2 Form. We partnered with the East Palo Alto Community Archive (EPACA) to co-create an internationally recognized repository of historical information about the community of East Palo Alto. We co-designed alongside a team of community members from the city and utilized a participatory design process. I was also grateful for the opportunity to co-create multiple exhibits to showcase artifacts from the archive to the community.
EPACA is on a mission to collect, share, promote, celebrate, and preserve the unique history of East Palo Alto for future generations.
East Palo Alto is an inclusive, welcoming, connected, multilingual, multicultural community where residents learn about the past and collectively reimagine the future of the city.
THE DESIGN CHALLENGE
Developing a culturally congruent brand strategy that reflects the unique character and diversity of East Palo Alto
Designing and building a internationally recognized digital archive that would enable the community to become archivists
Fostering meaningful engagement with key audiences to build excitement for the archive
THE SOLUTION
Our priority throughout the design process was to ensure that the community felt that their voices were heard and saw their values and ideas reflected in all designs. We utilized Co-design (also known as Participatory Design) to co-create the brand, social strategy, and UX design for the digital archive.
The result was a culturally inclusive brand, communications, website strategy, and a future-proof, user-friendly, multilingual digital archive that incorporated complex industry-standard technologies and formal archiving processes. The website also features an accessibility plugin.
Explore the website here.
I am so grateful to have been able to attend community events in East Palo Alto, CA hosted by the city and the Archive itself. Many of these events have required exhibition or spatial design to engage the local community with all that the East Palo Alto Community Archive has to offer.
Idea2Form proudly serves as EPACA’s design agency of record, providing integral design services, photo and video services, thought partnership, social media management and website maintenance/support.
Project credits: Tomas Alvarez III, Lexx Valdez, Alejandro Michell, Rey Robles, Idris Agüero, Mar Trava, Edith Cauich, Danny Cen, Marja Carrillo, MaríaEmilia Morazán, Halline Overby, Ariel Nuñez, Linda Driscoll, Isa DeMarco