Candy Chang » Projects

You Make Me Feel So Mahtava

admin — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 15:37:07 +0000

It was one of the first words I learned in Finland. Mahtava. Finnish for “awesome”. It worked itself into my daily vocabulary because it does things that “awesome” never can, letting you exhale and simmer on the awesomeness of it all: MAH-ta-vaaaaaa. My one and a half years living in Helsinki have been mahtava in large part to the friends I made at Nokia and beyond, a very global crew from Finland, Italy, Holland, Chile, India, Romania, Ireland, Brazil, Sweden, Australia, Spain, Germany, Singapore, Norway, the UK and the US, who made me feel like I belonged here the moment I touched down. Like Mr. Roger’s neighborhood, we all lived within a few blocks of each other and for that reason and others we hung out with an intensity I’ve only experienced at camp. Many of us worked in the same building. All of us ate and drank at the same places. And most of us danced our hearts out until nothing mattered besides friends, rhythm, and avoiding the broken glass.

By coincidence and for all positive reasons, five of us left the city at the same time. While packing up my apartment I found a can of temporary spray chalk in the back of the closet. I cut out a stencil while stuffing things into suitcases and after friends came over for one last hurrah and we laughed and played and they adopted my chairs and lamps and we slow-danced and hugged, I crept out into the night and left one last message to them in front of their doors and streets and our favorite cafes, something they would see only after I was up in the clouds. There are few feelings greater than leaving a love note in public space, a note that all people will enjoy but certain ones will enjoy even more. Helsinki, you make me feel so mahtava! Thank you for everything. We were all here together at this moment in time in our lives and it was great.

Neighbor Doorknob Hanger

admin — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 00:47:29 +0000

Thanks to good neighbors I’ve shared wi-fi, chairs, a large pot, a bike, design books, a corkscrew, a ladder, an iron, professional studio lights, an inflatable bed, wine, and food. And this is only amongst a few neighbors because I rarely bump into most and have no way to break the ice. In a time where SMS has made phone calls seem invasive, a door knock feels nearly violating. My neighbors could be in their pajamas, eating dinner, fresh out of the shower, or making out, and suddenly I’m banging on their door…

So when the good people of GOOD Magazine invited me to contribute to their Neighborhoods issue (April 2010), I wondered if I could take advantage of the format and make something that could be torn out of the magazine and used as a tool. The Neighbor Doorknob Hanger is a simple, double-sided sign that provides a friendly platform for residents in dense quarters to offer and request things at everyone’s convenience. One side says “Please Disturb” and makes space for you to list offerings and choose how you prefer to be contacted – a knock at specific times that are good for you, by phone, or by email. The other side of the doorknob hanger says “Can I borrow?” and provides the same format for requesting things and resources. Think of it as an invitation, a validated request, or a low-tech status update for your door, so we can share more resources without frightening each other at a bad time!

The doorknob hanger was printed on fine card stock in GOOD Magazine in April 2010, but if you missed the issue you can print your own at home with these fine pdf files of side 1 and side 2.

Tenants’ Rights Flash Cards

admin — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 19:56:27 +0000

After sketchy incidents with my landlords and hearing horror stories from others, I realized many renters are unfamiliar with their rights. What’s my landlord required to repair? How does subletting work? When can my landlord enter my apartment? What are grounds for eviction? To help demystify the law, I collaborated with non-profit organization Tenants & Neighbors to develop and design a boxed set of 30 flash cards on tenants’ rights. The flash cards translate New York’s official Tenants’ Rights Guide into a fun and friendly format that covers everything from security deposits and subletting to paint and privacy so residents can have fun while getting their learn on. They’re available for $10 in Tenants & Neighbors’ online store and all profits go towards their good work. Buy one for yourself and all of your friends – a righteous gift for anyone in New York state! Supported by a generous grant from Sappi Ideas That Matter.

The flash cards are also available at Project No.8’s new store No. 8a in the Ace Hotel! If you’re a New York store interested in carrying the cards, please contact Maggie@tandn.org.

3″ x 4″ die-cut cards are printed on 12pt coated cover stock by Colortone.
The word on the street: BLDG BLOG. Boingboing, Gothamist, FastCompany, Public Workshop

Street Vendor Guide

admin — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 12:59:29 +0000

There are more than 10,000 street vendors in NYC and thanks to their offerings I’ve consumed a truckload of hot dogs, falafel, biryani, sunglasses, and handbags. But selling things from a table or cart isn’t as simple as it seems. Vendors are fined $1000 for small violations, like parking their cart too far from the curb, and many vendors don’t know their rights when confronted by police. The rulebook of legal code is intimidating and hard to understand by anyone, let alone someone whose first language isn’t English. To address these problems, I collaborated with Sean Basinski of The Street Vendor Project and Rosten Woo and John Mangin of the Center for Urban Pedagogy to develop and design this fold-out guide. Vendors’ rights and the most commonly violated rules are illustrated and include minimal text in English, Bengali, Chinese, Arabic, and Spanish. The guide also includes a 32″ x 22″ advocacy poster directed towards all street vendor fans that features personal stories from vendors, history, fun facts, and policy reform recommendations (lift license caps, increase street access, reduce the fines, reform administration and enforcement). Thousands of copies were distributed to street vendors for free, and the guide is available for $6 in CUP’s online store. Hang the poster up and show your love for street vendors too! Part of CUP’s Making Policy Public series, 2009.

Download a pdf version!
Read my article about the process on the Urban Omnibus!

32″ x 22″ fold-out poster is printed on heavy 80 lb. Lynx Brightwhite Smooth matte paper stock by Westcan/Printcrafters Inc.
The word on the street: The New York Times, New York Magazine, TYPO Magazine, Communication Arts, BLDGBLOG.
This project will be featured in the 2010 National Design Triennial by the Smithsonian, Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum!

Tickets from street vendors – mostly for parking their cart too far from the curb, parking on restricted streets, parking too close to a storefront, and not “conspicuously” wearing their license

Typical page from current regulation book. Snap!

Meeting with street vendors to develop the guide

Distribution event, 2009. Vendor photos by CUP

The team: Sean Basinski, Rosten Woo, John Mangin, and Candy Chang

And something Sean recently found from 1905:

“I think it would be a great advantage to all the peddlers to have a translated copy of the license issued. As it is, some of the Italians cannot understand the regulations of the road and the ordinances of the City. If it were printed in English…in Yiddish…in Greek, Italian and Syrian for the others it would prove to be a great aid to them.”
- Rev. Bernardino Polizzo, 1905, during a hearing on the pushcart menace

The Idiotic Building Book

admin — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 21:11:45 +0000

The Idiotic Building is a miniature book about following all of your “idiotic” dreams, as told through the story of New York City’s first skyscraper. At 13 stories tall, the Tower Building seemed so ludicrous to people that they nicknamed it the Idiotic Building and waited for it to fall. It never did, paving the way for greater heights for decades to come. I felt compelled to make the book after hearing its brief mention in New York: A Documentary Film. The 53-page book also ends with a flip-book-like timeline of the world’s tallest buildings through history and serves as a fun introduction to architecture.

Idiotic story and select spreads from the chronology of the world’s tallest buildings through history

Post-it Notes for Neighbors

admin — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 19:23:51 +0000

It’s a question every New Yorker wonders – how much are my neighbors paying for their apartments? Post-it Notes for Neighbors is an interactive installation that helps demystify the topic by inviting people to share information about their living situation. Inspired by Illegal Art’s To Do, I covered a storefront window with Post-it notes stamped with specific fill-in-the-blank forms. Local residents and other passers-by can fill in a note with their own apartment information and marvel at the high and low numbers paid by others. By the end of the week, the window is transformed into a useful collection of housing information created by and relevant to the community. It also reflects the changing real estate values of the area. This project was part of the public art exhibit Windows Brooklyn and displayed on vintage furniture shop Yesterday’s News at 428 Court Street in Carroll Gardens (around the corner from where I used to live). Scroll down to view charts of the results!

Read my article about the process on the Urban Omnibus!
54″ x 54″. Installation assistance by Kay Cheng.
The word on the street: Gothamist, Utne, The Design Studio for Social Intervention

More images on Flickr

Results:

All Post-it notes on final day.

Post-it notes whittled down to ones with responses (half of total).

After the week-long installation it was a pleasant surprise that 1) nearly all the Post-it notes stayed in tact after multiple rain storms and 2) people responded! 151 notes out of 300 were filled out. What a fun and easy way to collect neighborhood info… The results are tallied below:

Nearly half of responses came from people living in their apartment for 2 years or less – a reflection of the temporary-ness of many New Yorkers/renters? The winner of Cheapest Apartment goes to someone living in a studio in Carroll Gardens for 43 years that costs $146/month (!) And the Most Expensive goes to someone in a 4-br in Cobble Hill for 4 years that costs $3,720/month. Some other interesting responses about monthly rents:

3 br in Red Hook for 13 yrs – $200
1-br in Brooklyn Heights for 1 yr – $3315
1-br in Jersey City for 3 yrs – $1000 (”w/ a backyard bitches!”)
3-br loft in Chelsea for 30 yrs – $1095
1-br in Cobble Hill for 11 yrs – $893.45
1-br in Carroll Gardens for 21 yrs – $350
2-br in Clinton Hill for 14 yrs – $700
2-br in Williamsburg for 10 yrs – $800
2-br in Carroll Gardens for 55 yrs – $350
2-br in Bethlehem, PA (the only non-NYC-area response) for 1 wk – $730

52 responses came from people living in 1-br apartments in Carroll Gardens. Below are the range of costs depending on the number of years people have lived in their apartment:

A few lifers are getting some good deals, but it seems like some costs have caught up with time. I printed “cost(s)” on the notes to invite input from both renters and owners, but the responses were mostly from renters. Now I see that I still botched the wording – most Brooklynites buy complete brownstones/houses rather than apartments. The only owners who entered info were people who I met while tending to the project – one guy has lived in a two-apartment house in Carroll Gardens for 30 years and it cost him a mere $125,000 (it’s worth $3 million now). He also happened to know my old landlords around the corner and said their family was “trouble” (agreed, ha). And a woman named Deborah bought three homes in Bed Stuy from 1988-2003 and never paid more than $250,000. They put her two sons through college and will allow her to retire early. “Like they say,” she said, “they’re not making any more of it. Get yourself some real estate!”

Million Dollar Blocks

admin — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 20:15:00 +0000

In 2006-2007 I received a fellowship to work with Laura Kurgan and the Spatial Information Design Lab in New Orleans. Working with community groups and charter schools in the Seventh Ward, Central City, and Broadmoor neighborhoods, we developed Million Dollar Blocks, a project that uses prison expenditure maps to incite changes in the way money is invested in communities. More than 2 million people are in jails and prisons in the U.S., and Louisiana has the highest incarceration rate in the world. In many places the concentration is so dense that states spend over a million dollars per year to imprison residents of a single city block. At the same time, communities are continuously struggling to get funding and support for civic services that would provide more opportunities and prevent a life towards crime. These maps suggest a new way of looking at community investment and how these same criminal-justice dollars can be spent in better ways. The project worked with a justice reinvestment network of existing neighborhood organizations, including Cafe Reconcile, Safe Streets/Strong Communities and the Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana, and established local pilot projects for youth training, health services, employment opportunities, and mentorship programs supported by justice reinvestment funding.

View pdf of final report.

Credits: Project Director: Laura Kurgan. Project Coordinator: Steven Caputo, Research Associates: Johnna Cressica Brazier, Deborah Grossberg Katz. 2006 Fellows: Candy Chang. Andrew Colopy, Derek Lindner, Leah Meisterlin, Julia Molloy. This work builds upon a two year research project: Graphical Innovations in Justice Mapping, a collaboration between the Justice Mapping Center, the Spatial Information Design Lab and the JFA Institute. Project Team: Laura Kurgan, Eric Cadora (Project Directors), Sarah Williams, David Reinfurt. Invaluable research and thinking was also provided by the students in the GSAPP Advanced Studio, Spring 2007: Johnna Cressica Brazier, Steven Caputo, Jane Estrada, Laura Lee, Catie Liken, John G. Lloyd, Annemarie Scheel

Percent persons living in poverty per block group, 2000

Percent adults admitted to prison per block group, 2003

Prison expenditures per block in thousands of dollars, 2007

Justice reinvestment network in Central City, 2007

Sidewalk Psychiatry

admin — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 07:00:17 +0000

Pedestrians in the city often find themselves walking in deep thought. A routine trip can prompt reflections on everything from future goals to last night’s dinner conversation. As people sacrifice personal time for hectic schedules, these casual occasions for reflection become all the more important. Sidewalk Psychiatry encourages self-evaluation in transit by posing critical questions on the pavements of New York City with stencils and temporary spray-chalk. Now your daily ponderings and emotional problems can be prodded and treated on the go – and, best of all, it’s free of charge!

The word on the street: BoingBoing, DailyCandy, Spacing Magazine, Geez Magazine

Nairobi Metropolitan

admin — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 07:55:16 +0000

As part of a team from Columbia University’s urban planning department, I worked in Nairobi with the University of Nairobi Department of Urban and Regional Planning to develop plans for the peri-urban satellite town of Ruiru. A transitional area between urban and rural, Ruiru is experiencing fast, unplanned growth with inadequate infrastructure in one of the fastest growing areas in the world. We worked with local residents, community leaders, urban professionals, and local government to define the current trends, challenges, and opportunities. Through ethnography field research, community surveys, expert interviews, mapping, and air quality testing, we examined the area in terms of economy, transportation, health, governance, and land use. We presented to local government with consequences of current trends, potential scenarios, and strategic recommendations. The plans were adopted by the Municipal Council of Ruiru and the project continues on at the Center for Sustainable Urban Development at the Earth Institute at Columbia University. 2006.

Team: Monica Bansal, Alyssa Boyer, Candy Chang, Kay Cheng, Leticia Crispin, Reuel Daniels, Jen Graeff, Beth Helton, Lily Langlois, Ryan Walsh, Eleanne van Vliet. Faculty & support: Eliott Sclar, Sumila Gulyani, Christie Marcella, Sigurd Grava, Julie Touber, Nicole Volavka, Patrick Kinney, Mike Reilly, Peter Ngau, Musyimi Mbathi, University of Nairobi Department of Urban and Regional Planning

3′ x 10′ project poster, designed by Candy. View pdf of poster

Screenshots of mid-presentation, designed by Candy. View pdf

Community Chalkboards

admin — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 22:00:59 +0000

As part of Global Studio I worked with non-profit group Diepsloot Community News in Johannesburg to facilitate their needs and help improve ways residents can share information in the area. The organization was started by Bongani Baloyi after a little girl was lost in Diepsloot – while she was safely found, it took three days because residents have no easy way to reach out to the entire township. After conducting a community survey, the team helped develop a local radio station by learning the process and challenges from successful radio stations in other townships including Alex. We helped create a business plan, training, capacity, and an arts network. We also explored ways to immediately establish affordable mediums for collective communication. Inspired by a community chalkboard model in Liberia by Alfred Sirleaf, the team installed community chalkboards in high-traffic areas and left others portable for flexibility. Public and paperless, the chalkboards give residents a free and accessible platform to publicize events, post jobs, ask questions, develop community organizations, and self-organize on a daily basis. The team is also exploring ways to use SMS services (great resources: Mobileactive.org, Kiwanja.net, Ushahidi.com, Knight News Challenge). June-July 2007, June-July 2008.

Team: Bongani Baloyi, Lucky Mkah, Lungile Maphumulo, Tebatso Lebotsa, Selaelo Chuene, Phumlani Suka, Warren Mabona, Lawrence Matshidiso, Sam Sikhosana, Anja Bredell, Jennifer Graeff, Belinda Kanpetch, Crighton Nichols, Elonah O’Neil, Dr. Marc Aurel Schnabel, Michelle Tabet, Candy Chang

Censorship Posters

admin — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 20:51:35 +0000

To highlight the censorship that still muffles citizens around the world, I designed these two posters for the global event Poster4Tomorrow. I got a first-hand schooling from TED Fellow Esra’a Al Shafei who can’t have her picture taken/posted for fear of being identified by various Middle Eastern governments. Her organization MideastYouth.com is an unfiltered platform that facilitates freedom of expression and constructive discussion amongst youth in the Middle East (with provocative video mashups to boot), but they have to constantly get their nerd on and rewire their internets in order to keep their lines open to the rest of the world. Spread that. The yellow poster was selected as one of 100 posters from designers around the world that were exhibited in 20+ cities including Beirut, Belgrade, and Buenos Aires December 2009 – March 2010. If you want to print them out you can download pdfs of the yellow and blue or purchase prints of the yellow or blue at various larger sizes. 15″ x 21″ for $15.70 up to 35″ x 49″ for $39.35.

Hello Neighbors

admin — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 07:25:05 +0000

We have more and more tools to reach out across the world, but it’s still hard to reach out to your entire neighborhood. How can we better design our public spaces so neighbors can collectively communicate, self-organize, and become effective agents in their communities? Two forms of communication, outdoor flyers and online forums, allow individuals to reach out to a large population in public space. By documenting these messages in three NYC neighborhoods – the Lower East Side, Chinatown, and Cobble Hill – I developed a typology for how these forums are currently used and conducted low-fi experiments with flyers that led to the lovely f-bomb. Select pages from the condensed visual version of the 2007 research below.

Thesis advisor: Robert Beauregard, Thesis reader: Sarah Williams

Recovery Park and Guide

admin — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 06:40:16 +0000

As part of Global Studio, I worked with the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users (VANDU), a community organization of drug users and former users who provide peer support, education, and recovery help. Forced out of their SROs (single-room-occupancies) during the day, residents are left on the streets and many women are harassed in the male-dominant area. The neighborhood has the least amount of green space but the greatest demand for public facilities in the city. Inspired by Rebar’s Park(ing) project, we collaborated with VANDU’s Women’s Group to plan and promote a community park in one of the area’s many vacant lots. We set up a temporary park in two street parking spaces, presented preliminary ideas for community spaces, archived case studies of successful community gardens, gathered comments and feedback from local residents, spread the word through local publications and television channels, and delivered a final petition package to the mayor.

In addition to the event, I designed a local resource guide made for and by recovering female drug addicts. During peer support meetings the women would scribble down and xerox a recommended event and pass pages around; they had no easier way to keep track. To help remedy this, the guide includes a blank calendar to help maintain a positive schedule for peer support meetings and more. It also includes a map of female-friendly organizations, key of services, and list of phone numbers for crisis, legal and recovery help. The pamphlet is easily xerox-able at community facilities and, as suggested by VANDU members, the pamphlet folds down to wallet-size for easy portability. 2006.

Temporary park on Hastings Street

The team, minus VANDU Women’s Group (for privacy)

Entire Global Studio Vancouver family, working with other community groups in the area

Mobile Air Quality

admin — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 06:02:43 +0000

What if you could see invisible health data in your immediate area? I worked with Spatial Information Design Lab director Sarah Williams and Columbia University Computer Science PhD candidate Sean White on visualizing air quality data for mobile devices. After recording and geocoding carbon monoxide levels around Manhattanville in New York City, the group is exploring ways this information can be made accessible on mobile devices and augmented reality views. I helped design ways users can explore air quality data in their immediate surroundings through map views, live street views, and other useful layers of information such as land use, demographics, data points, and interactive messages. In the end, this work will help improve site visit tools for architects and urban planners and make invisible health data accessible to all through mobile phone applications. 2008.

Global Studio

admin — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 04:16:14 +0000

Since 2006 I’ve been involved with Global Studio, a place-based action research program where international students, academics and professionals come together and collaborate with residents, community organizations and local government in disadvantaged communities. Initiated by the UN Millennium Development Goals, the program has worked in Istanbul in 2005, Vancouver in 2006, and Johannesburg in 2007, 2008 and 2009. Its goals are ambitious – participatory planning and design thinking in action, collaboration between different disciplines, countries and communities, class and field united, and projects ranging in scale (three-week design-build projects to five-year riverfront plans) and physicality (better sewer drains to stronger networks of people and resources).

Thanks to university support and grants from the Rockefeller Foundation, equal numbers of students from both developed and developing countries have been able to participate in the month-long program. As a student in Vancouver 2006 and a project associate in Johannesburg 2007 and 2008, I’ve worked with recovering drug addicts and a community news group and helped the team on projects that focus on information-sharing, the environment, housing, and the arts. I’ve also worked with cofounder and convener Anna Rubbo to develop and design many things along the way, including a website and exhibition (pdf of the panels, some below). It’s involved over 30 countries, 50 universities, and 10 disciplines – and is the reason I have so many Facebook friends. Get a glimpse from the images below and check out the website for more information.

View pdf of all panels

Local History by SMS

admin — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 02:28:07 +0000

What if you could easily learn some local history as you passed by a place? In 2007 I collaborated with five comrades to create the Cripplebush Ghost Tour, an interactive project that combines mobile technology, public space and neighborhood history. Over 200 stickers were placed in specific public locations in Williamsburg and Greenpoint in Brooklyn. By texting the unique 4-digit code on the sticker, passers-by immediately received an SMS with brief history about the person behind their named location (Edmund Driggs of Driggs Avenue, Patrick McCarren of McCarren Park, Jaime Campiz of Campiz Playground, see the whole list). Through both guided tours and self-guided experiences, pedestrians explored spaces in new ways and used their mobile devices to learn about an area originally called “Cripplebush” for the dense thickets that once dominated the landscape. Part of the 2007 Conflux Festival. Inspired by the Yellow Arrow project. Learn more on the project website!

The crew: Sarah Williams, Michael Wilkerson, Jennifer Kaminsky, Amanda Huron, Catherine Herdlick, Candy Chang. Stickers printed by Stickergiant.com.

Google map of sticker locations in Williamsburg and Greenpoint, Brooklyn

Guided tour, September 2007

Work in progress

Project website

Maps for Airports

admin — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 05:44:05 +0000

Flying from one airport to another can often feel like quantum leaps through space and time. To provide a context for travelers, I created this map for the Illuminators public art exhibit at Koltsovo International Airport in Yekaterinburg, Russia. The map plots major cities and the number of flight hours away they are from Yekaterinburg. Travelers gain a better orientation and understanding of their current location and the faraway places they can reach within hours of Russia’s fastest developing airport. Exhibited April – July, 2008. 72 x 72″.

Photo credit: Evgene Belikov

The Hair District

admin — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 01:17:50 +0000

This photo book features the many hair salons in Diepsloot township in Johannesburg and portraits of residents and their fresh hairstyles. Like many other neighborhoods, salons serve as community hubs. They also offer citizens opportunities to make money in ways they can’t single-handedly do with infrastructure projects, leaving the township with more beauty services than basic ones. Combining these images with striking facts on the economic imbalances in South Africa, the book serves as an introduction to the creative energy as well as the planning challenges in the area. I’m currently collaborating with local community groups to further develop the project and all proceeds will go to Diepsloot community organizations. Official publication pending.

View pdf of facts page

Pedestrian Timeline

admin — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:36:19 +0000

Did you know squirrels didn’t arrive on Governors Island until 1931? That’s right. To bring local history to the streets, I stenciled 20 landmark events in the history of Governors Island along the sidewalk. From a bucolic nutfest to a military base to a future public park, the mysterious island just south of Manhattan has gone through a lot. As visitors walk along the path, they can easily get their learn on about the local area while enjoying a leisurely stroll. Created with temporary spray-chalk, the Pedestrian Timeline was part of the Figment public art event on Governors Island in June 2008.

Stencils in reverse order to emulate the stroll if you scroll up:

Bike Map Covers

admin — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 23:28:09 +0000

Things are definitely on the up and up for NYC bikers as the City continues to add new bike lanes each year. They can easily find them thanks to the NYC bike map (free at any bike shop). I got a chance to offer the Department of Transportation some designs for the 2008 bike map cover. Alas they went with something in-house, but I thought I’d post the three design directions here so they can have a brief life beyond my laptop.

Water in Africa Poster

admin — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 00:53:30 +0000

For Good 50×70, James Reeves and I designed this poster for the African Medical and Research Foundation. Typography is the sole element used to highlight some startling facts: only half of people in Africa have access to safe water and water-borne diseases kill one child every three seconds. If you want to print it out you can download a pdf or purchase a print at various larger sizes here. 15″ x 21″ for $15.70 up to 35″ x 49″ for $39.35.

Restroom Map Notepad

admin — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 01:32:38 +0000

Inspired by Gawker’s Subway Smells Map, I wondered if there was a way to alleviate some of the city’s pungent odors. After using GIS to map out the location of semi-public restrooms in downtown NYC, I wanted to make this information publicly accessible to relieve us all so I created a notepad version and posted them at the 6, J, M, Z Canal St subway stops. The map can be torn from the notepad and used as a vital resource for local facilities as well as facts about NYC’s slim offerings. While New York’s subways offered 1,676 public toilets in 1940, only 28 are open to the public today! 5.5″ x 8.5″, created in 2007, before we had fancy applications on mobile phones.

View pdf

40 Houses in Bucks County

admin — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 06:35:16 +0000

In October 2008, James Reeves and I volunteered for the Obama campaign. With official canvassing instructions in hand, we walked door-to-door in a suburban neighborhood in Pennsylvania, asked residents which candidate they were leaning towards, and offered campaign materials. While awkwardly frightening a number of people who never receive unplanned visitors at their front door, we also talked with residents who graciously shared their thoughts and experiences. At the end of the day, boxes were checked and data was collected, but where does all this information go? To give it a different kind of life, we made a collage of the results below.

Barack Obama T-shirt

admin — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 23:37:17 +0000

While watching the Democratic National Convention in November 2008, I channeled my love for Barry and created a high-brow collage made out of his photo and scraps of construction paper. Now you can buy it and show how much you crush on Barry too! T-shirts come in red, blue, and gray versions to match all your political outfits. Women’s ringer t-shirt: $22.45. Men’s ringer t-shirt: $20.20.

The original collage

Infrastructure Geometry

admin — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 19:32:40 +0000

To help visualize and compare living conditions in different cities, I created this set of information graphics for The World Bank. The percentage of residents with different basic services are plotted along each axis and by connecting the dots and filling in the shape you get a quick visual sense of how much people have or don’t have in underserved areas of various cities. The more color, the better. Now you can measure the differences in living conditions between Nairobi, Dakar and Johannesburg. Research by Sumila Gulyani, Debabrata Talukdar, and Darby Jack (2008) for the Africa Sustainable Development Department of The World Bank.

A Nice Place for a Tree

admin — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 21:44:00 +0000

Chinatown is a land of good food, colorful shops, and fresh produce. It is also a land of about three trees in a ten-block radius. To jump-start the Great Chinatown Tree-Planting Movement in my neighborhood, I marked some choice spots on the sidewalks for the City to plop some green ones. Thanks to the progressive ideas of PlaNYC, the City makes it easy for residents to get involved in tree-planting good times through the new MillionTreesNYC program. Shooting for one million new trees in the next decade, the program gives hope to the leafless sidewalks of Chinatown that yearn to be charmingly lined with more than garbage bags. We call those black bushes! Materials: stencils, temporary spray chalk, 2008.

Charlie Brown Dance Card

admin — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 10:27:48 +0000

To celebrate the holiday season, I designed this card of dance instructions inspired by my favorite holiday TV special A Charlie Brown Christmas. To teach everyone the festive moves from the classic dance scene, the 16 x 5″ accordion card folds out to reveal the measured-out dance steps of the girl on one side and the boy on the other. Footwork included!

Created for our design firm Red Antenna with production assistance by Kyra Porada.

Ginormous Rubber Duck

admin — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 07:44:05 +0000

This project is a 2006 proposal inspired by my love for lower Manhattan, Brooklyn, and the area in between. With over one thousand acres of property being developed along both sides of the East River shoreline, New York City is making huge grounds in revitalizing its waterfront. To celebrate these exciting developments, The Ginormous Rubber Duck draws attention to this area and becomes a symbolic reminder of childhood fun and relaxation. People can ride the giant rubber duck from shore to shore or marvel at its big, yellow, fun self from afar. And just as the rubber duck once made bath time more enticing, The Ginormous Rubber Duck encourages all to come closer and test the notoriously sketchy waters of the East River. It’s Claes Oldenburg + childhood nostalgia + a water feature!

Brooklyn Bridge Signage

admin — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 14:03:34 +0000

The Brooklyn Bridge is one of NYC’s top ten tourist attractions and over a million people walk or bike across the bridge each year. But when you reach the Brooklyn side the walkway unexplainably divides into two unmarked paths with lots of signs – for the cars. To help pedestrians find the many surrounding attractions and feel a warm welcome fitting for the borough with the mostest, I conducted a survey, spoke to over 20 local organizations, and analyzed the area with Kevin Lynch’s Image of the City in mind. I proposed a DIY stenciled navigation and presented the wayfinding project at the American Planning Association’s national conference in 2006.

The glorious middle…

…and the gnarly end. Snap!

Survey results

Study for signage placement

Proposed ground signage at select nodes

3′ x 7.5′ presentation poster. Pdf (3.7 MB)

At the American Planning Association National Conference, 2006

3′ x 4′ continued poster Pdf (640 KB)

Modernist Trading Cards

admin — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 04:28:42 +0000

Fans of modernism and giddy after finding a rounded corner punch, James Reeves and I created a set of trading cards to celebrate some of these 20th century leaders of design. One side of each card features bold headshots and the other side includes a short biography, notable works, and a famous quote. The cards come wrapped in a brown paper envelope and are envisioned as the first in a series of card sets that make design movements enjoyable to all.

Minimalist Logos

admin — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 03:21:28 +0000

Minimalist painting is back, this time as cropped corporate logos. The familiar takes on new forms and the worlds of business, graphic design, and fine art come together. It’s Corporate America + I-Spy + Ellsworth Kelly! Ongoing series. Referenced companies listed at the end.

Logos: Mobil, Nike, Texaco, Citibank, Wal-Mart, Exxon

Project Moustache

admin — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 04:40:11 +0000

On my routine commute from Brooklyn’s Carroll Street subway station to Times Square in 2005, I spent a lot of time walking through and staring at subway advertisements. Images of sexy beers and goofy reality shows became an integral part of my day. The average American is exposed to over 3,000 ads everyday and these images are increasingly encroaching on our public spaces. This is not a requisite of capitalism, and it’s our right to walk outside without being informed about the latest alcoholic beverage, fruity shampoo, or Hollywood movie. Many citizens have responded to advertising posters with the gusto of grade school disobedience. Their weapon: the pen. Their mark: the scribbled moustache. But why stop there? What’s the hurry? Project Moustache seeks to subvert outdoor advertising with the distilled mark of the people: a big, burly, well-drawn moustache. Featured in the exhibit Skinless Capital: Neoliberalism and Resistance at OPENSOURCE Gallery in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, 2005.

Launch project site.

Milk and Muffin

admin — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 13:29:39 +0000

This is a cartoon I made about a carton of milk, a muffin, and the fear of mediocrity.

Sleep Management

admin — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 00:16:37 +0000

In 2001 James Reeves, Shawn Lindaberry, Steve Baker and I surrounded ourselves with samplers, guitar pedals, keyboards, flangers, and other toys and made some mellow music to sleep to. Behold ‘Sleep Management’ by Rewind Wonderland.

01 A Deeply Rooted Fear of Trees
02 Professional Impulses
03 Fabric
04 Warm Night by the River
05 When We Were Pedestrian

Detroit Detroit

admin — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 16:17:54 +0000

Like a good Asian I played the piano as a kid, and that experience has since evolved into synthesizer love. Using a Nord Lead keyboard and Ableton Live, I fooled around and made these six songs for the Minimal/Maximal Festival in Grenoble, France and the Destroy All Cars event in NYC in 2007. They fall somewhere under synthpop, booty bass, disco house and minimal techno. Named after various Detroit locations, the songs pay homage to the city of automobiles, vacant buildings and good techno, and the city where I spent many late nights in my late teens and early twenties. I paired it with a slideshow about Detroit’s metropolitan growth to make for urban planning + music + dancing good times.

Track List

1 . Outer Drive
2 . Highland Park
3 . Greektown
4 . Cobo Hall
5 . Woodward Ave
6 . Hart Plaza

“With tracks named ‘Cobo Hall’ and ‘Highland Park’, the inspiration for the Detroit, Detroit EP is obvious: dramatic urban landscapes that are noble, sometimes failed, and very legendary. Aside from the track titles, there are direct nods towards some of Detroit’s other landmarks: the nervous sounds of Ersatz electro ca. 1999, Plastikman’s Muzik melodies, and a touch of Moodymann’s loopy retro-house. There are even a few plain-out dirty Dj Assault moments (see ‘Greektown’). The overall sound, however, is not so obvious: disco crashes into minimal techno, which is fuzzed over with brash synths and firecracker drums and a few skittering high-hats. I’ll lay off the adjectives now, except to say it’s big and raw and very much Detroit.” - KinoSport

Alpha Girls

admin — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 03:59:00 +0000

I like typography and I like sexy so… To accompany the live performance of songs from my record Typography, I combined classic vintage pin-up girl illustrations with the font Filosofia for a typographic romp. The series was featured at the Meanwhile event at Tonic in NYC in 2003 and the Minimal/Maximal Festival in Grenoble, France in 2007.

Parties in Power

admin — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 13:26:44 +0000

How often has the United States shifted back and forth between political parties? And how long has one party held office? To get some historic perspective during this election hullabaloo, I made a timeline plotting out the political parties of all the U.S. Presidents, as well as the dominant party in Congress:

It’s a Skittle bag of colors! After stints and blips of various parties in the first century, it’s strictly been a two-player game since 1869. Since then, the ball has been passed between Democrats and Republicans 14 times (10 since 1900). The longest period in the Presidency goes to the Democrats with a 20-year reign from 1933 to 1953 (three terms of Roosevelt and two terms of Truman). And the longest period of a one-party dominant Congress goes to the Democrats with 26 years from 1955 to 1981.

These are substantial chunks of time, but all in all, our Presidents have come from both sides. Since 1900, we’ve had 15 Republicans and 12 Democrats in office. And to complicate things, the parties themselves have changed over time. So just when you think we’re all going to be burning our bras or teaching our kids that Jesus invented people, the system shifts back…

Sources:
U.S. House of Representatives
U.S. Senate
EnchantedLearning

October 2008

Typography 12″

admin — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 07:00:07 +0000

In 2001 my friends and I started a design house/record label called Red Antenna and I put out this 12″ of mediocre synthpop and minimal techno. The best part of this is the packaging, which was designed and hand silk-screened by yours truly and later featured in the book Fingerprint: The Art of Using Handmade Elements in Graphic Design. Music made with a vintage Roland Juno 60 keyboard and Ableton Live.

Track List

Serif side
a1. Telegram 41
a2. El Lissitzky’s Revenge

San Serif side
b1. Bravo Futura
b2. The Letterpress Express

The silkscreening good times continue… Newsprint posters wheat-pasted in downtown NYC

“Fiercely polished electro with rocked-out soul. Thick driving percussion, lowriding vintage bass for boomin’ systems, and sparkling analogue keyboard lines conjure sharp modernist grids, colorful scenes from tomorrow’s discotheques, robots with dirty minds, and half-forgotten night-drives through Babylon. Candy Chang is remarkably able to glance back at Prince and Cybotron, while keeping her designer’s eye fixed on a new style and sound all her own.” Released in 2003.

“From the hipshakin’ “Letterpress Express”, like a Russ Meyer soundtrack, to the all-in assault of “Bravo Futura”, as always the artwork is incredibly well packaged” – Syntax

“Bubbling stripped down acidic electro with swelling basslines and dark pop moods.” – Sonic Groove

Sea Monkey Landscape

admin — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 03:40:27 +0000

To honor one of the best marketed products in history, I combined classic sea monkey illustrations with everyday objects to expand the magical world where mundane brine shrimp are fabulous friends. The instruction booklet that came with the little plastic tank depicted sea monkey dads playing catch with their sea monkey sons and sea monkey families enjoying picnics in their sea monkey parks. They were “a true MIRACLE of nature” in “SUSPENDED ANIMATION!” and “real TIME-TRAVELERS” ready for their “journey into the FUTURE!” Here they’re remixed using contact photography to create a landscape of PURE FUN and AMAZEMENT! 5″ x 52″, 2000.

Click here to see large seamless image!

Original sea monkeys ad

Metropolitan Workers

admin — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 01:31:09 +0000

This is what happens when design students don’t go to class ha… In 2001, James Reeves, Steve Baker and I holed up and made this stop-motion animation for the fun of it. Construction workers and spacemen build a space station, send faxes, and find friendship, all to a soupy electronic soundtrack. After all these years this low-fi copy is the only surviving version, but the fuzziness probably adds to its janky charm. Direct YouTube link here.

Collage Series

admin — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 07:34:38 +0000

I like to get busy with scissors, glue, and a pile of images. Here are some of my collages, both analogue and digital and sometimes a little bit of both. Check back for hot new additions!

Candy Chang » Projects

You Make Me Feel So Mahtava

Neighbor Doorknob Hanger

Tenants’ Rights Flash Cards

3″ x 4″ die-cut cards are printed on 12pt coated cover stock by Colortone. The word on the street: BLDG BLOG. Boingboing, Gothamist, FastCompany, Public Workshop

Street Vendor Guide

Tickets from street vendors – mostly for parking their cart too far from the curb, parking on restricted streets, parking too close to a storefront, and not “conspicuously” wearing their license

Typical page from current regulation book. Snap!

Meeting with street vendors to develop the guide

Distribution event, 2009. Vendor photos by CUP

The team: Sean Basinski, Rosten Woo, John Mangin, and Candy Chang

The Idiotic Building Book

Idiotic story and select spreads from the chronology of the world’s tallest buildings through history

Post-it Notes for Neighbors

Read my article about the process on the Urban Omnibus! 54″ x 54″. Installation assistance by Kay Cheng. The word on the street: Gothamist, Utne, The Design Studio for Social Intervention

Million Dollar Blocks

Percent persons living in poverty per block group, 2000

Percent adults admitted to prison per block group, 2003

Prison expenditures per block in thousands of dollars, 2007

Justice reinvestment network in Central City, 2007

Sidewalk Psychiatry

The word on the street: BoingBoing, DailyCandy, Spacing Magazine, Geez Magazine

Nairobi Metropolitan

3′ x 10′ project poster, designed by Candy. View pdf of poster

Screenshots of mid-presentation, designed by Candy. View pdf

Community Chalkboards

Team: Bongani Baloyi, Lucky Mkah, Lungile Maphumulo, Tebatso Lebotsa, Selaelo Chuene, Phumlani Suka, Warren Mabona, Lawrence Matshidiso, Sam Sikhosana, Anja Bredell, Jennifer Graeff, Belinda Kanpetch, Crighton Nichols, Elonah O’Neil, Dr. Marc Aurel Schnabel, Michelle Tabet, Candy Chang

Censorship Posters

Hello Neighbors

Thesis advisor: Robert Beauregard, Thesis reader: Sarah Williams

Recovery Park and Guide

Temporary park on Hastings Street

The team, minus VANDU Women’s Group (for privacy)

Entire Global Studio Vancouver family, working with other community groups in the area

Mobile Air Quality

Global Studio

Local History by SMS

The crew: Sarah Williams, Michael Wilkerson, Jennifer Kaminsky, Amanda Huron, Catherine Herdlick, Candy Chang. Stickers printed by Stickergiant.com.

Google map of sticker locations in Williamsburg and Greenpoint, Brooklyn

Guided tour, September 2007

Guided tour, September 2007

Work in progress

Project website

Maps for Airports

Photo credit: Evgene Belikov

Photo credit: Evgene Belikov

The Hair District

Pedestrian Timeline

Stencils in reverse order to emulate the stroll if you scroll up:

Bike Map Covers

Water in Africa Poster

Restroom Map Notepad

View pdf

View pdf

40 Houses in Bucks County

Barack Obama T-shirt

The original collage

Infrastructure Geometry

A Nice Place for a Tree

Charlie Brown Dance Card

Created for our design firm Red Antenna with production assistance by Kyra Porada.

Ginormous Rubber Duck

Brooklyn Bridge Signage

The glorious middle…

…and the gnarly end. Snap!

Survey results

Study for signage placement

Proposed ground signage at select nodes

3′ x 7.5′ presentation poster. Pdf (3.7 MB)

At the American Planning Association National Conference, 2006

3′ x 4′ continued poster Pdf (640 KB)

Modernist Trading Cards

Minimalist Logos

Logos: Mobil, Nike, Texaco, Citibank, Wal-Mart, Exxon

Project Moustache

Milk and Muffin

Sleep Management

Detroit Detroit

Alpha Girls

Parties in Power

3″ x 4″ die-cut cards are printed on 12pt coated cover stock by Colortone.
The word on the street: BLDG BLOG. Boingboing, Gothamist, FastCompany, Public Workshop

Read my article about the process on the Urban Omnibus!
54″ x 54″. Installation assistance by Kay Cheng.
The word on the street: Gothamist, Utne, The Design Studio for Social Intervention