About this Project
Client: Frogtown Neighborhood Association
Creative Field: Illustration, Graphic Design, Writing, Research, Public Speaking, Marketing, Consulting
Tools: Adobe Indesign, Adobe Illustrator, Clip Studio Paint
Late 2016 I was commissioned by the Frogtown Neighborhood Association to write "SMaPl: A Living Document".
Read the document in its entirety HERE
SMAPL is an acronym for Small Area Plan. A Small Area Plan is an urban planning document that envisions how we, the community, would like Frogtown to evolve over the course of the next decade and beyond. Once submitted to the city and reviewed, our plan will be absorbed into the City of Saint Paul’s Comprehensive Plan, which is a collective vision for the whole of Saint Paul.
What made this Small Area Plan different others, aside from turning this edition into a graphic novel, was this decade's Small Area Plan was designed to be a "living document".
A Living Document is alive with the pulse and energy of the community, meaning it lives off the page i.e. while we wait for “the powers that be” to consider, approve, and implement our proposed Policy Recommendations, the community is on the ground taking the steps necessary to ensure they're moving closer to achieving the goals outlined in the plan.
A Living Document is ever evolving--it's dynamic. It’s the community deciding to take their well being into our own hands, by taking initiative, organizing, and empower themselves.
Again, this project was super close to my heart because I was a Frogtown resident for fifteen years of my life.
I'm super excited and nervous to see how it's received by the community. It took me a very long time -- a gah damn year to be exact -- to finish, making it my biggest project to date.