CicLAvia Traveling map
CicLAvia Traveling map
Project Type: Academic-Non-Profit at SMC IxD
Client: CicLAvia
Team: Samantha Heinrich, Christina Strok, Liz Martinez & Alba Chavez-Flores
Period: 16 weeks (September 2022— December 2022)
Meet the Team
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Liz Martinez
Project Manager & UX Design
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UX Research & Product Design
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UX Research & Product Design
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Interaction & Product Design
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Objective
Project Brief:
In Autumn 2022, CicLAvia partnered with SMC IxD; we were tasked with ways to identify, create, and design ways to get community members excited about the event and see it as an opportunity to activate their space.
Problem:
When planning a CicLAvia event, organizers will go door-to-door through specific communities—and for many people, it’s hard to understand what the event is (and isn’t). For example, many people consider the event a closure of the community, with many businesses not fully grasping the benefit of staying open. What are some ways to explain the benefits of the event to the locals to ensure maximum participation?
Proposed Solution:
A travel map will help even volunteers engage with participants along the route by helping those who may miss what the community has to offer. The travel map fosters communication with participants and enriches their knowledge of the interactive points and local businesses along the route that otherwise may not be on the main map.
CicLAvia Travel Map
The mobile map helps to excite participants about CicLAvia by providing information and opportunities for discovery while increasing community engagement.
South LA route traveling map in action
Observations & Opportunities.
We had an opportunity to shadow the outreach team, so this was a great way to document what we saw. It also gave us first-hand insight into how CicLAvia notifies businesses before the event. CicLAvia's outreach team wasn't particularly engaging the businesses to participate, and they were primarily distributing closure flyers. The flyers were very small and would quickly fall when placed on doors, walls etc.
Being purposeful with creating an opportunity for conversations between businesses and CicLAvia can lead to insightful dialogs.
Outreach member taping flyer to the apartment building door
Community member receiving flyer
During the distribution of the invitation flyer, a recipient’s immediate response was: "Oh, a biking event!" The association between CicLAvia’s icons and the message was lost on this individual.
Display icons of the interactions that happen at the events like dancing, activities and music
During the research phase, our team discovered that participants at the CicLAvia Heart of LA needed access to a map to help them navigate the route and find open businesses. The map created an opportunity to have conversations with eventgoers to help them explore new places within their community. The map acted as a focal point for participants to access community information and will enable businesses opportunity to advertise in the future.
CicLAvians talking with our research team
EXPERT INTERVIEWS
“To drive participation... define where they should go... art... food... what really speaks to the feel of the community.”
— Jeanmarie Hance
Community Outreach Program Manager
Urban Collaborations
“Show… the owners that you care… a phone call or an email, and social media for cross-promoting.”
— Aerienne Russel
Product Manager
CicLAvia Outreach & Engagement
What we learned from
Talking to the Experts
Prioritizing Post-production outreach could yield good results
Personalizing mailers make it feel more like an invitation
Investing in a cohesive happy outreach team increases connections.
Creating productive cross-communication is key to engagement
Speaking to community leaders is a good representation of what the community wants
Being specific about the message the team conveys will resonate more with the audience
Participant Stories
Participants shared with us their favorite place along the route, which was the new 6th street bridge, and others wanted to know information:
“Where are we on the route?”
“Where’s good to eat around here?”
“Hey, is that a map, can I see it?”
As we were leaving one participant stopped us to see the map because he was looking for his friend.
What CicLAvia said
"We loved engaging with students who are going to be designing the future, and using CicLAvia as a laboratory for discovery,”
—Rachel Burke, CicLAvia Chief Program Officer
“The SMC students' fresh eyes on all that we have been doing for over a decade made us proud of what CicLAvia means to the Los Angeles community. The IxD students are hardworking, imaginative, and endlessly thoughtful. We look forward to more of this kind of engagement with SMC!"
-Sandra