VANESSA SANCHEZ
Austin future climate
The University of Texas at Austin, UT City & Climate CoLab
The UT City & Climate CoLab, a collaboration between the City of Austin and the Texas Extreme Weather and Urban Sustainability (TExUS) Lab at The University of Texas at Austin, have a shared goal of mitigating local climate extremes. There is a lot of technical jargon in climate science and visuals that are difficult to understand, making local climate information inaccessible to many people. I worked with both parties to design a climate report that is more accessible to the general public and to City staff so that we can foster more engagement in local climate mitigation initiatives. Following the release of the report will be a data portal that enables visitors to dig deeper into the data.
Local Climate ● Data Storytelling ● Accessibility ● UX in Climate Science
Context
A few key points
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Project overview
I coordinated with a small team to develop the content and translate concepts into supporting graphics. The majority of the work was done remotely with only occasional in-person meetings. The climate report is currently undergoing extensive review and should be released soon.
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Stakeholders
Stakeholders include the general public, City of Austin staff / decision-makers, and our team members.
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The team
Dr. Dev Niyogi, TExUS Lab Director and UT Professor
Dr. Manmeet Singh, Distinguished Fellow
Marc Coudert, City of Austin, Office of Resilience
Vanessa Sanchez, UX Designer and GRA
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Necessity
There is a need for the translation of technical content and concepts into information that is easily digestible and meaningful to people who are not climate science experts. Without this, it is difficult to get buy-in and community engagement in climate mitigation initiatives. Also, people in Austin are experiencing extreme weather events more frequently and would like to know what's going on.
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My role
As the UX designer, I took ownership of the project, driving progress through initial content review, extensive content edits, content research and fact-checking, image sourcing, design of supporting graphics and charts, design of the data portal concept, and coordination between team members.
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Skills used
Translation
Communication Design
User Experience Design
Content Strategy
Copywriting
UI Design
Illustration
Figma