Systems Healthcare

Parting thoughts

A reasonable conculsion to this case study

Overall, the project tested our ability to understand a significant real-world issue of gentrification. Based on our diverse individual backgrounds, we leveraged our skill sets to make a somber topic more relatable.

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The gameplay is also helpful to the narrative, where past, present, and future can be clearly communicated, and key details are not lost in translation.

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We kept in mind that the project is only an informational and educational tool. Hence, it is not designed to follow any particular narrative and aims to convey information as accurately as possible.

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As a team, we pushed ourselves to go beyond simple visualizations and tested our creative abilities to navigate through the vast amount of data, the complexity of the topic, and the various lives affected.

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It’s gratifying to know that our ideas and efforts were well appreciated with the execution.

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Also, we want to make it a playable game to let audiences who are participating in the game to take a chance to see what different populations are living in the community.

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My contributions

Here's some quick context on this case study

Creative strategy

Brainstorming and conceptualizing the idea and the execution.

UX Research and Data visualization

Scoping through the data and writing the content, visualizing the flow of information, and executing the same.

Communication and collaboration

Served as a point of contact for the partner and ensuring transparency in communication channels.

Storytelling

Strategizing the presentation flow to speak about the project in an engaging and concise manner.

Project details

Here's some quick context on this case study

Overview

What did I do?

I worked in a team of 4 alongside a community partner to create design solutions for their specific problem.

About

The partner was The Crucible. A community partner and industrial art school based in West Oakland, CA

The problem

1. The Crucible is situated on 7th Street in West Oakland, a neighborhood experiencing a mass gentrification drive.

2. Being a maker space, they are concerned about what their future may look like, so we were assigned to visualize the data of the demographic and real estate changes.

Solution

Our solution: Representing all the changes through a board game, West Oakland Monopoly.

Team-mates

Shivani Singh

Wilson Wu

GinGin Xie

Timeline

A period of four months to deliver this project.

1. Background

The Crucible is an Industrial Arts school centered in the heart of West Oakland.
It is the largest non-profit industrial arts school in the United States, and a community partner for years, facing a massive gentrification drive.
Taking this into consideration, they tapped into our expertise, to visually represent the data of the accounted changes, which could be helpful in making strategic business decisions.
Additionally, they started a Futures Committee, which is a group of board members and advisors who can look both ways to the changes around the street.

We were required to design a set of graphics and other communication tools around the real estate development and demographic shifts occurring in West Oakland over the next five years.

2. Research

Introduction

We initiated work on creating a data-informed narrative about the changing face of West Oakland, collaborating closely with the Crucible.
The Crucible’s crew consisted of Susan Mernit and Lillianna Torres, who were very helpful in providing relevant information and making timely decisions.

3. Research

Secondary research

To start with, The Crucible shared several documents and other resources with us, which provided data on the various activities undertaken.
As we gained a sense of the new developments, we began browsing through various other resources and seeking out additional information that would provide us with more depth in representing the problem, as well as a better understanding of West Oakland as a whole.

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4. Scope

Secondary research

Developments outside a 1-mile radius of the Crucible and scheduled to happen after 2025 aren’t considered.
Overall, we sifted through a vast amount of data to collate and distill it down to what is relevant in terms of impact and time.

5. Learnings and insights

As San Francisco and Silicon Valley have become unaffordable even for professionals earning six-figure salaries, capital has migrated to Oakland via new residents — over 40,000 since 2007 — as well as jobs and development.

The location and transportation will bring a sea of change for Oakland, a city that once suffered from catastrophic disinvestment is now plagued by a tidal wave of

aggressive reinvestment.

On the downside, the proximity to San Francisco and mass transit, this part of Oakland can expect a shifting social structure, with the recent influx of new money from more affluent arrivals.

Additionally, the fabric of West Oakland as a Center for the Arts, notably Jazz music is threatened. With the proposed developments underway, there are fewer spots for

affordable housing and increased possibilities of clashes between the haves and have nots.

There is a sense of apprehension stemming from the overall unpopularity of gentrification in the area. The long term implications for residents concerning housing, transit, retail, and demographics remain to be seen.

Opportunity statement

How might we make layered data about the upcoming developments, more digestible?

How might we help the Crucible understand their future neighborhood?

6. Design approach

We then diverged into the second part of our double diamond to answer these questions.
We started with finding answers which fit into the design principle and then immersed ourselves in several brainstorming sessions to come up with ideas for representation.

In order for us to help The Crucible making their future decisions, we have to set some “rules” on designing our product.

7. Concepts

After considerable deliberation, we conceptualized three distinct narratives that would do justice to the problem.
A three-dimensional map that highlights new developments and expected changes.
A game that would highlight the changes in the neighborhood by engaging players in a fun manner
A storyboard in the lives of residents of Oakland, which would depict what life is like in Oakland in 2025
Upon presenting to The Crucible, they were pleased with all three concepts. We then summarized the best strengths of each solution.

8. Idea

We decided to integrate the elements and strengths of all three into a unique board game, creating West Oakland Monopoly.

9. Prototype

In a classroom session, we invited three people to try out our prototype.
During the user testing session, all three of our testers questioned the connections between the monopoly board and West Oakland.
They left us finding answers for the following:
How can we make the aesthetic of the Monopoly board and the actual map match?
Who are the target audiences for the game?
What is the goal of the game?

The feedback was that the game lacked context and did not resonate with

what we wanted to interpret.

It was also critical to balance the anchor point between data and game.

10. Expert Interview

To address the flaws we found from the user testing, we set a meeting with Shawnee Keck, a data expert and a future committee member.
We consulted her about what could be done differently.
Meeting with Shawnee was fascinating. She provided us with a clear picture of the happenings in the West Oakland neighborhood and what gentrification looks like.
In her opinion, most major world cities are becoming more vertical, and towns in the United States are playing catch-up. In many ways, gentrification is an inevitable process.

11. Calculations

In terms of calculating projections, Shawnee suggested simple estimates, where we could determine the number of units each project had and the bedroom structure.
Based on the number of bedrooms, we could estimate how many people occupied each unit.
For instance, a 1b1b (one bedroom, one bathroom) unit is usually occupied by two occupants.
It’s with these estimates in mind that we calculated the numbers that would make a considerable impact for West Oakland in the years to come.

12. Execution

With the board acting as a catalyst, we structured elements around it. We embedded the entire map of 7th Street into the center of the board and marked out directions from the building to the various sections of the board.
To make the map and game board more coherent, we have recreated 7th Street in a visual style that fits the Monopoly aesthetic.

13. Property cards

We then created supporting elements such as monopoly money and property cards.
The property cards would provide all the details of the particular property, such as the address, expected completion date, number of units, and bedroom specifications, among other relevant information.

14. Impact cards and personas

Chance cards are replaced by impact cards, providing a macro-level view of the demographic changes to come, compared to the current state.
We also developed a set of personas representing the population that are initially inhabitants of West Oakland, as well as the new populations that are yet to arrive.
The personas are depicted as player tokens on the Monopoly board.

15. Brochure

To summarize all the data and information we used on the monopoly board, we have also created a Monopoly brochure.
The brochure includes a brief overview of the game, followed by the data points used, explanations of the personas, and a map of 7th Street.
For more information, including the game rules and the history of Oakland, please scan the QR code on the brochure.

16. Future steps

Taking the game a step further, we are thinking of making the game actually playable.
We aim to schedule future meetings with The Crucible to gather more information about West Oakland and develop additional personas to bring the game to life.
Hopefully, our monopoly board can be used by the Crucible and Futures Committee for their future meetings.