Hana
Noory
- Decked Out (Identity System)
- I Was Born, I Moved, I Commute (Editorial Design & Installation)
- 2H Gallery (Identity System)
- Andy Warhol (Web Development & Design)
- Connecting to Chinatown (Editorial Design)
- 505 (Editorial Design)
Connecting to Chinatown (Editorial Design)
Year: 2023
Instructor: Alvaro Villanueva
Connecting to Chinatown is a book about the San Francisco Muni T Third Street light rail extension and how it ends in Chinatown at the Rose-Pak station. However, this is not a coincidence. Chinatown community leaders had to fight for this.
Through the type treatment and page layouts, the design encompasses the voice of a neighborhood deeply important to SF’s history and geography, and how crucial accessible transportation is, especially as Chinatown is a transit-dependent area. Additionally, I took all of the photography.
The research began outside, as my initial idea was to do a book about public transportation in general, but my professor suggested to visit the new Central Subway that opened a week before the semester started. I grabbed a camera, took the Muni train from school, and explored.
Inside the Chinatown-Rose Pak Station
However, what caught my eye was outside the Chinatown-Rose Pak station, seeing the Chinatown residents exit and wait for the next bus. As I walked around the neighborhood, I started to understand there was a deeper story here than a new Muni line.
The station was named after Rose Pak, a Chinatown community leader and activist who led the fight for the Muni light rail extension to Chinatown. It was originally going to end at the Financial District, but she was able to gather support and funding to bring it to Chinatown. This inspired the direction of the book’s content and design to focus on Chinatown’s connection to the Central Subway. Not only detailing the specific project by the SFMTA, but the neighborhood’s history with transportation equality.
40 years ago, Chinatown residents had to fight for an accessible bus line, now the
1-California.
“I think this sends a signal to the city and the world that Chinatown is a permanent part of the fabric of San Francisco and it needs to be valued as such — and is valued as such.”
Malcolm Yeung, executive director of the Chinatown Community Development Center, speaking about the Central Subway
Process of book’s interior spreads and front cover