Challenge
The COVID-19 pandemic turned life upside down for millions of people in California, especially renters. Already faced with a high cost of living and few affordable housing options, renters now grapple with unemployment and economic uncertainty. As financial resources dwindle, fear of housing insecurity increases.
Opportunity
This work could provide some peace of mind to renters in the increasingly uncertain time of COVID-19 by creating a turn-key campaign toolkit that organizations can quickly and easily implement to reach out to and educate renters about their rights and options for maintaining housing security.
Process & experience
With a team formed, the initial meeting was open with minimal parameters. Giving space for individuals to wonder or think about areas of interest.
The team thought expansively, most topics are not in any particular way an expertise giving opportunities for generalists to look at the challenge from all facets.
Leading research, I interviewed Bay Area housing non-profits, volunteer groups and advocacy organizations. A major insight learned was that many of these groups need visual and verbal aids to get their message around renter’s rights across but do not have the budget or bandwidth to do so themselves.
Outcome
From my research, I helped guide out team to create a toolkit of creative assets for print and digital media. Based on what we learned on how these community groups communicate to their audience, we developed templates for posters, door hangers, mailer/zine, and social media posts (sized for Instagram and Facebook). In addition to these templates, we included a copy deck with relevant information to be shared, and a style guide so that organizations have the tools that they need to create their own communications/ assets.
Partner group: Cosine Collective at the DMBA program, California College of the Arts