Designing for
LA's Mayor
I was the 2019 Design Fellow for Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti's Innovation Team (L.A. i-team). The main project I had the privilege of working on was the Mayor’s priority area of the Future of Work.
About the LA Innovation Team
In 2015, Bloomberg Philanthropies established the Innovation Team (i-team) in Mayor Eric Garcetti’s Office through a three-year, $2.55M grant. The i-team's purpose is to assist the Mayor and City leaders in creating new, data- and design-based solutions that deliver desired outcomes at a faster pace than traditional government. Working with a systematic, long-term strategy perspective, the i-team collaborates with residents, experts, and agency leaders to implement data-driven interventions aimed at achieving measurable impact.
Civic Design
The L.A. Innovation Team is part of a new paradigm of designers being invited into government to provide innovative human-centered systemic solutions to large-scale societal problems.
Client
Mayor Eric Garcetti
My Involvement
6 months
My Contributions
Primary & Secondary Research,
Community Research,
Mapping,
Graphic Design
Teammates
Diamond James,
Amanda Daflos,
Karli Sanders,
Alex Pudlin,
Nicholas J. Matiasz,
Brendan Bailey
The focus of the Mayor's Future of Work Initiative is to create initiatives, programs and systems to make sure that Angelenos, especially from poorer demographics, have the support and opportunities to adapt to the changing trends and paradigms of work in the next 3-10 years.
Industry Research
In order to gain deeper insights into the topic of Future of Work, we attended several events and gatherings to hear from subject matter experts on economic development, human resources, higher education, inmate rehabilitation, governmental policy, and civic design.
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Hacking HR, Future of Hiring panel
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Homeboy Industries tour and interviews
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Regional Economic Development panel
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Hacking HR, surveys and interviews
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Designmatters Civic Design Workshop
Community Research
We visited several WorkSource and YouthSource Centers throughout the City of L.A. to see what services already exist as well as to gain insights by speaking to residents who are seeking employment and education support at these centers.
I was given the opportunity to design the agenda, research activities and workshop materials for some of these in field user research sessions.
Ecosystem Mapping
In order to get a better understanding of all the research I did over the course of several weeks I mapped the entire landscape of workforce development programs, initiatives, policies, funds, platforms, and organizations in order to get a better systematic view of what already exists and the relationships between the various entities.
Designing for Engagement
I had the opportunity to design, plan and facilitate several idea generation and co-design sessions for the i-team to take part in. I was able to get creative and experimental with the methodologies I employed in these sessions while still focusing on getting a clear set of directions at the end of each session.
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Mayor’s State of the City Address interactive installation
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Initiative idea generation for upskilling workforce
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Mayor’s International Prayer Breakfast engagement strategy
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Future of Work initiative planning
Public Events
I also helped with public facing events and meetings.
Graphic Design Favors
I also created several graphic design assets for different departments and partners across City Hall.
Including graphic design support on the Mayor's Sustainability Plan
