Louise Ma

In 2010, OPEN brought me in to work with them on a campaign for Google for Nonprofits, which included illustrations, print ads and web ads. One of those campaign pieces was a microsite where visitors from various NGOs could post a snippet of what their work had accomplished—the change they had affected in the world.

I designed this microsite with direction from Scott Stowell. It was then developed by Google's very mysterious in-house team of developers.

Four partners and I started work on OurGoods in late 2009. The idea was to build an online platform for creative people in New York City to trade time, skills, tools and spaces with each other. Our effort was in part a response to the economic recession that dried up many of the limited resources artists and craftspeople in the city traditionally relied on to get their projects done. At the pinnacle of OurGoods' lifespan, we were awarded a generous Rockefeller Foundation grant for our work.

Our team of five shared the responsibilities of research and user testing. I oversaw a large part of the process, from research and IA to design, illustration and production. OurGoods is still going, though the partners have disbanded to pursue newer projects.

In 2010, Caroline Woolard, Rich Watts and I were able to utilize a Lower East Side storefront, through barter, to run a school for a month where students bartered with teachers for classes. Our website was critical in connecting students, teachers and the curious. Since then cities in other parts of the world have followed suit. This version of Trade School involves a backend that allows cities like Singapore and London to make "copies" of the site to manage their classes.

I designed this site with input from Rich and Caroline. The site was then developed by Rich and Or Zubalsky.

Go to the main Trade School site

Or, check out the Trade School New York site

The WNYC Data News team partnered with Radiolab to create one of my favorite projects. In an all-station effort, with Jad, Robert and even Brian Lehrer imploring audiences to participate, we were able to get people all along the Easter seaboard to document and observe the emergence of Brood II—the lovable swarm of cicadas which appear only every seventeen years. I designed, illustrated, and put together instruction manuals in print and online to help our listeners, young and old, to assemble soil thermometers which they would use to report ground temperatures back to us. A crowdsourced map recorded the movement and sightings of the cicadas.

Go to the Cicada Tracker

In a valiant push to understand the sleeping habits of our listeners, the WNYC Data News team and health reporters collaborated on a beastly month-long project of engaging listeners in tracking their sleep hours through a landing page and a mobile app. The data we received were limited in scope and interesting-ness, but was nonetheless highly enjoyable from a designer's perspective. And, a rewarding experiment in combining radio, mobile, and fitness tracking.

Go to Clock Your Sleep

Amidst the hurricanes, elections and Chris Christie coverage, the Data News team turns out gems like the Pronunciation Guide on precious occasions. We rallied station personalities like Brian Lehrer and Anna Sale to finally quell the dispute: is it kah-skee-OOS-koh, or kuh-SHOO-skoh?

Miriam the pigeon made her debut here.

Go to the Pronunciation Guide