The Beginning of the End

With only two weeks left, I’m nearing the end of my internship and fellowship experience at Massport.

We had a meeting earlier this week with public policy officials from the Federal Aviation Administration.  They flew in from D.C. to learn more about Massport’s Resiliency Program and the steps taken within the last six months to assess potential vulnerabilities, harden critical facilities, and establish Design Flood Elevations for existing buildings and new construction.

We’re also in the early stages of branding Massport’s Resiliency Program.   I drafted a few iterations of possible logos last month, after which we brought in the big guns–Massport’s Art Director and Senior Marketing Manager–to develop a final product.

Three out of many of my early iterations for the resiliency logo design.

Our three favorite logo ideas, as designed by Massport’s Art Director. These three icons were presented during a senior staff meeting and the overwhelming favorite was:

A draft of what will soon be Massport’s Resiliency Logo, designed by Massport’s Art Director.

I’ve been working on some new projects while waiting for authorization to take the Resiliency Webpages live.  Our next Speaker Series event is in about two weeks and we’ve started putting together our upcoming Fall Series.  I researched existing resilient building codes and drafted an opening to a set of new Resilient Design Guidelines, which a consultant is now working on.  I’ve also been researching grants applicable to a potential Resiliency Task Force.  The Task Force would be a collaboration between regional transportation and water-related agencies.  This partnership would look at resilience with a wider lens and could lead to comprehensive, city-wide resilient transportation strategies.  This is important because hardening Massport’s facilities to withstand a disaster won’t do much good if the city’s essential services are crippled, tunnels are flooded, and public transportation is inaccessible.

Although within the context of resilience and public policy, I think that these projects reflect the work of a designer: making information accessible to a wider audience, working collaboratively, and getting people to the table to discuss solutions to shared concerns.

–Adria