A collaborative effort between Third Sun and Y Designs, The Neighborhood Project is a for-fun creative outlet for local Utah designers who want to connect to the place where they live, and to each other. The 2020 edition focuses on lives during the pandemic and quarantine — an opportunity to create a piece that represents what you’ve learned in your own neighborhood.
This year, we invited designers to derive inspiration from observations made about their neighborhood surroundings — the new dog-walking route, newly discovered bike paths, painted rock gardens, sounds never noticed before, music discoveries, earthquakes, protests and changes that are afoot. Unlike last year’s project that was a more straightforward branding and design exercise, this one was open-ended — designers and artists got to pick what “My Neighborhood” meant to them and could get creative from there.
They did not disappoint!
The 2020 project made its debut as a virtual event on October 8th as part of Salt Lake Design Week — sponsored generously by KRCL 90.9 Community Radio, and hosted by their own Eugenie Hero Jaffe, with video services from Ryan Samanka at Ventricle Media. Each designer had the opportunity to present their design and have an interview discussing their inspiration and ideas with Eugenie, while showing it off to the virtual audience at home. We had a last minute surprise near the submission deadline — a design class at Dixie Tech caught wind of what we were doing and decided to submit student entries as an assignment. Many of the students joined the event and presented their designs with Eugenie, and she also spoke with instructor Kevin Pfunder about being a part of the project and his passion for design.
In addition to the student work, designers submitted a beautiful and varied array of work. From zippy bike kits envisioned to be ridden through The Aves, to a pensive tribute to a neighborhood in this strange time expressed in the form of a zine — every piece was heartfelt and unique.
We held voting online for Peoples’ Choice Awards and are happy to announce the winners:
- First Place for SLC designers: Erica Fasoli with Neighborhood Guides
- Second Place for SLC Designers: Delaney Stevens with My Neck of the Woods
- Student Design: Austin Pursley with Snow Canyon
Check out the video of the debut below, and visit The Neighborhood Project website to see all the terrific submissions. We can’t wait to see what designers can dream up in the future!