Governor’s Island Farm
Added Value + TODA

Designer
TODA

Added Value is a Red Hook-based nonprofit that uses urban farming to strengthen their community, empower youth, and create sustainable economies and food systems. Last year, they extended their programs with a new farm on Governor’s Island. desigNYC partnered Added Value with TODA to develop a communications system to encourage the 250,000 visitors to the Island to learn about, and get involved with, Added Value’s mission.

To build curiosity and lead ferry passengers from the dock to the farm, TODA is developing a directional signage campaign. Once visitors are in close proximity to the farm, the challenge is to get them to cross a field of grass that separates the farm from the pedestrian path. To overcome this barrier, TODA came up with the concept of a large, eye-catching, three-dimensional word, GROW, that will stand at the edge of the farm.

GROW serves as an attention-getting sign, a symbol of individual and community growth, and an opportunity for visitors to learn about the farm through interaction. To increase engagement, TODA is exploring ways that visitors could use GROW as a platform for ideas, and even grow something small that becomes part of the larger GROW program.

During their visits to the farms at Governor’s Island and Red Hook, TODA was struck by the impact that the hands-on process of farming has in strengthening individuals and communities. TODA’s hopes to continue their partnership with Added Value by developing communications that can be co-created through hands-on engagement with constituents, and that reflect the organization’s process-based values.