Another summer design project -- for my UI/UX class, a (hypothetical) redesign of the City of Toronto's parks and recreations services. I envisioned an overhaul of the current clumsy, desktop-centric interface (second pic) in the form of a mobile app which helps residents connect with the parks closest to them, among other functionalities.
The belief behind this is that people are more likely to act as stewards of their communities, helping them thrive, if they engage with their neighborhoods and experience the best of what these public services have to offer. This could be through a recreational service such as a pool, attending an event like a festival or farmer's market, or just taking some time in some green, non-commercialized space.
Another part of my reason for picking this particular project was because I feel strongly about how little design attention public services often get in comparision to their private-sector counterparts. It is obviously a problem of capacity and funding rather than intentional inattention, but it is disheartening to see integral, day-to-day municipal services lagging so far behind the work being produced in start-up land. As per usual, "the future is unevenly distributed".
Full details here: http://www.meredithsadler.com/design_projects/parkfinder.html
My website's design-centric page here: http://www.meredithsadler.com/design.html