Newark DIG
A Campaign in two parts
Newark DIG (Doing Infrastructure Green), established in 2013, is committed to continuously improving the quality of life, health, and viability of the City of Newark and its residents. Their primary goal is the establishment of sustainable green infrastructure as the first line of defense to better manage stormwater runoff, improve water quality and resiliency to flooding, and reduce combined sewer overflows.
The GI “Green Infrastructure” REFORM campaign’s primary objective is to provide each of the wards of Newark with a DIG liaison that will be responsible for building the capacity of community based organizations and local residents through educational trainings and community meetings, generating support and engagement from Newark residents to support following DIG priorities.
Problem: Making two related campaigns distinct enough to not confuse viewers, but similar enough for the viewers to form a connection between the campaigns.
The first part of the campaign was Dirty Water, Unhealthy Homes. The client wanted to bring light to the city’s aging water infrastructure, flooding, and sewer overflows through community meetings throughout its five wards, led by GI Reformers.
Social media was only part of the campaign; more effective was the door hangers and flyers delivered door to door, and to local businesses and community centers.
Clean Waters Healthy Newark Logo
The second part of the campaign was called Clean Waters, Healthy Newark, where the focus was outlining ways in which citizens could make a difference in their communities . The tagline “Think Below the Surface was developed to reference the City’s problem with sewage overflow, a particularly nasty by product of the city inadequate sewage system
For this campaign, an entire system was developed, with marketing materials including window clings, Bus stop signage, door knockers, social media graphics, tear off pledge cards, posters, and billboards
For the design, I wanted to step away from the typical aquamarine/ green color scheme that a lot of environmentally focused designs rely on.
“Think Below the Surface”
A big one! Most brochures are made of three panels folded from a regular letter size sheet of paper. This one was 4 panels, and folded from a sheet of paper 12″ x 18″
Now that’s impact!