Belongings Matter Website

Client

Allard School of Law, University of British Columbia

Year

2024

The Public worked with Alexandra Flynn, Associate Professor at Allard School of Law at the University of British Columbia to design a website for a report she co-authored, Possessions of Precariously Housed People.

The report compiles and analyses the laws and regulations that govern people and their belongings in regions of Canada, with an emphasis on how law contributes to the marginalization of unhoused and precariously housed people.

Types of Work

Branding, Graphic Design, Illustration, Web & Digital

The Need

The co-authors approached us to design and develop a website for this report. Our goals were to:

  • re-center personhood and re-humanize precariously housed people;
  • draw connections between the experiences of precariously housed people, to connect these experiences to regulatory/environmental and systemic processes and frameworks;
  • build capacity around the regulatory landscape and equip people to better advocate and mobilize; and
  • call attention to an injustice many might not notice otherwise; to bring belongings into the conversation.

The Idea

Belongings matter

This creative framework centres the concept that belongings have physical and emotional significance for precariously housed people. Belongings are important to their survival, and can affirm individual identity and autonomy. Furthermore when precariously housed people are dispossessed of their belongings—they don’t just disappear—they go somewhere. These belongings become a part of the often hidden and layered social fabric of bylaws and structural barriers. From this concept we focused on designing a website which visually and structurally mirrored this process of dispossession, highlighting both the personal significance of belongings, and where they go once displaced.

Illustration of a camping scene against a purple background. The scene includes a tent, a bicycle, a backpack, and stacked boxes. A flag with the words "Belongings Matter" is waving above the tent.

The Work

Each section of the report focuses on a specific urban environment (i.e. Streets, Parks, Rental Housing, Non-Tenancy Accommodations), and opens with a header illustration representing the environment, with spot illustrations of individual belongings sprinkled throughout, scattered in a way that reflects the content of the report itself (belongings being displaced). Illustrated vignettes also highlight the significance of belongings (and belonging) as told through first-hand experiences. And at the bottom of each section, the possessions are collect together, layered like sediment.

To learn more, visit the website at belongingsmatter.ca

An illustrated webpage about parks. The header features a green background with an illustration of a park, including a tent and trees. Below, there's a section of text and seating icon. The bottom section has blue and black backgrounds with icons, text, and navigation links.
An illustration of an urban streetscape features a bicycle, a cat, boxes, and a tent set up on the sidewalk next to a building. A streetlamp with a traffic sign and parking meter is also present. The background is shaded in orange.
A simple line drawing of a campsite on a green background. It features two tents, a picnic table, a clothesline with hanging clothes, a backpack, and a dog standing nearby. Trees surround the area, and camping gear is scattered around.
A minimalist black-and-blue illustration depicts an urban street scene with a building, a lamp post, and piles of garbage bags and boxes lining the sidewalk. The background is entirely blue, providing a stark contrast to the black outlines.
A simplistic black line drawing on a pink background depicts a house with stacked cardboard boxes, luggage, and trash bags outside. The house has multiple windows and doors, and a smaller structure is visible on the left.
A black and white drawing features various travel and outdoor items, including a backpack, bicycle, two cars, beanie hat, shopping cart, suitcase, tent, Swiss Army knife, rolled-up sleeping pad, framed picture, and a camper van with a dish.
Illustration of a tent surrounded by camping items, including a backpack, a jacket, a couple of boxes, and two photographs. The items are all outlined in red against a white and black background.
A line drawing features various camping items: a tent, a backpack, socks, a pet bowl, a pet bed, a bag of waste, and framed pictures. The items are green, placed against a white background with a horizontal black strip at the bottom.
A minimalist illustration of a closed door with a keyhole and door handle. Surrounding the door are several items, including a backpack, a piece of paper, a suitcase, a key, a box, and a picture frame, all depicted in a simple blue line-drawing style.
A simple pink line drawing on a black and white background features a backpack, three boxes, a duffel bag, a locker, a bicycle, and two picture frames.
Two screenshots of a mobile website interface are shown side by side. The left screenshot features a menu with options such as Introduction and Context, Streets, and Parks. The right screenshot displays an illustration of a street with a tent and buildings.

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