ID is a 2020 Innovation by Design Finalist

Non-Moving Violations: Advancing Equity among Low-income, Minority Chicago Residents has been recognized as a Fast Company Innovation by Design finalist in the Students category and joins 567 projects, products, and services from Spotify, Google, Disney+, and others.

The awards recognize people, teams, and companies solving problems through design. One of the most sought-after design awards in the industry, Innovation by Design is the only competition to honor creative work at the intersection of design, business, and innovation.

“We need innovative design more than ever, and the 2020 honorees have brought creativity, inventiveness, and humanity to address some of the world’s most pressing problems, including the global pandemic, racial injustice, and economic inequality. Together these entries offer a glimpse into a future that is more inclusive, more accessible, and more just,” said Stephanie Mehta, editor-in-chief of Fast Company.

ID’s project, part of a Fall 2019 Service Systems Workshop led by ID visiting industry professor Mark Jones, was done in partnership with the Office of the Chicago City Clerk, Anna M. Valencia.

“

The solutions the students came up with are a mixture of preventative measures, as well as those that say, ‘If we made a mistake, we want to help fix the mistake.' I think those are both good approaches that would say that the city is trying the best it can.

—ID professor Mark Jones

Students considered the long-term implications and socioeconomic circumstances of current ticketing approaches, the difficulties residents faced in navigating the system, and their distrust of city government. They then provided a suite of solutions that sought to empower residents
to make better informed payment decisions, keep them from debt spiral, and improve perceptions of the city government:

Tailored Ticket Roadmap: visualizes payment options and important payment plan dates for each unique ticket holder.
Mobile Lawyer: a digital service encouraging residents to contest by streamlining the process.
Text Reminders: prevent forgetfulness and help people better understand the rules.
City Sticker Purchasing Text Assistant: enables new drivers in Chicago to become compliant with the City Sticker’s rules and regulations through a simple step-by-step process.
Right Time: helps people avoid penalties and future infractions by offering personalized suggestions, step by step navigation, and assistance with next steps, going a step further than the existing City of Chicago website.
Gas Station: a city-mandated sign at the front of a gas station.

More information about these options are included in the students’ presentation deck at the end of this story.

Students

Yuan Feng, Ananya Garg, Jessica Granger, Grace Hanford, Yuqing He, Yuanyuan Hu, Divya Iyengar, Goeun Lee, Suri Liu, Ryan Maus, Catalina Prada, Tanvi Ranka, Julia Rochlin, Cristina Tarriba, Wanshan Wu, Shiya Xiao, Yifei/Evie Yu, Yueyue Yang, Janine Zhong.

Civic design

ID student work in the area of civic design is being recognized by Fast Company (again, Miranda Rights in Translation was a 2019 World-Changing Ideas finalist) just as ID launches its dual-degree Master of Design and Master of Public Administration program. ID’s focus on reimagining civic infrastructures is part of its commitment to building responsible, cooperative, intelligent futures.

An increasing number of ID alumni are working in the civic sector. Learn more about their experiences working in city and federal government in the upcoming webinar exploreID: Civic Design on Wednesday, November 18 at 6pm.