Documenting Impact25

Our Impact25 project was a very rewarding experience for both Mila and me. We are both from New York City, and have experienced New York in very different ways, so it was only natural that we would both want to center the city in our project. We were interested in illustrating NYC through the eyes of those who make the city run but so often do not have the platform to have their voices heard or visions seen. 


We decided to use Google Forms as our medium through which we would collect information from participants. It is simple to share as well, which contributed to our goal of not making our participants feel like they were doing excess work. We narrowed our questions down to 3 simple questions in our form that could be answered in just a couple of minutes. It was also important that our participants remained anonymous, so we made it optional to collect their emails for follow-up once the project came to a close.


Our Questions: 

1. Describe your job in 30 words or less.

2. What do you love about your New York in 30 words or less?

3. Share something visual that represents New York to you (photo, drawing, symbol, etc.)

Additional optional questions: 

4. If file upload is not accessible-- Share an emoji that represents New York 

5. To stay updated on the project, please enter your email below.

6. Please share this with at least 3 people you know who work for the city! (with a check box option stating "I will share!"


My parents are both city workers who grew up in New York City, so I shared the form with them, and they shared with their networks which generated many responses. People shared the link in their real lives as well. We also utilized various social media channels such as LinkedIn and Instagram to reach more people. Ultimately, our project generated 27 individual responses from across 11 different NYC departments and organizations. 


It was so refreshing to see what people who serve New York enjoy most about the city. My favorite part of this project was being able to read each individual's responses to question #2. The fact that this was also an art project also allowed us to see New York through the participants eyes, which was the ultimate goal for my partner and I. I enjoyed seeing the end result, in both pamphlet and collage form. Having both the digital and physical copies of this art project also makes it feel particularly special to me, which is what this class is teaching me. I particularly enjoy merging both traditional and digital means of making as I have come to find out through these various projects.


In the future, expanding this project would be extremely valuable, as we so often see New York portrayed through the lens of commerciality. If it is not for tourism's sake, another narrow view we get of NYC can oscillate between two extremes of only being for the extremely wealthy, or of being a dangerous, dirty city. This project allows an authentic and refreshing perspective from its participants who come from all walks of life.

Link to our presentation with results and pamphlet



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