How might I create a model for cat colony advocacy within my apartment complex?
BFA Capstone Project
Kitty Committee
Introduction
I have been a resident of Shadow Creek Apartments in Hamilton, Ohio for over four years. There is a small, volunteer group of residents, the “Kitty Committee,” concerned about the feral and stray cats roaming Shadow Creek property. As a cat lover and concerned resident, ensuring there is an ongoing model for cat colony advocacy after I move out of this complex is vital.
The Problem
We have a growing population of feral and stray cats at my apartment complex. More cats than three humans to handle. My goal was to ultimately increase membership of the “Kitty Committee” and provide resources for their members through communication design.
My Approach
For my project, I used methods triangulation to develop a comprehensive understanding of my research topic. I knew a lot about caring for indoor pet cats, but I needed to complete a literature review about caring for outdoor, stray/feral cats. I also arranged an interview with a member of the complex’s management team for their insights. Finally, the commitment and interest from the residents of the complex was collected through a survey.
With a low understanding of the problem and a high risk of making unintended impact, I needed to research, design, and test before it could be brought to life in my complex community. My research methods included:
Literature Review: Comprehensive review of materials surrounding cat colony care available nationally, in Butler County, and more specifically the City of Hamilton.
Content Inventory and Survey: Audit current residents of Shadow Creek using public records and “Active Building” resident portal. Surveyed residents online through a Google Form platform.
Unstructured Interview: Connect with Shadow Creek’s assistant manager to better understand the cat colony situation and the informal “Kitty Committee” options.
A preview of the middle of the survey.
Key Insights
I unfortunately ran into a problem with my survey — my apartment complex would not allow me to contact other residents through digital (Active Building resident portal) or print means (flyers or direct mail) as it was considered “soliciting.” I was only able to collect data from people I already had personal contact information from, which was only a handful of people and very biased in favor of the Kitty Committee’s efforts. As a current resident of the complex, I sacrificed my research to avoid breaking my lease for “soliciting” my neighbors.
However, I was able to gain three insights from affinity mapping and a word cloud:
There are challenges for residents to communicate with each other or get clear information from management.
There are a variety of community cat resources in the Hamilton and south-west Ohio area. But they are all understaffed.
The individual staff members of Shadow Creek on-property management are willing to help, but have limitations with off-property corporate oversight.
Final Deliverables
Ultimately, at this point in time, creating more awareness of the “Kitty Committee” and its impact was the most important thing to push forward. I created a brand for the “Kitty Committee,” including a simple brand standards guide. This brand was extended into a simple webpage of information, TNR trap sign, door magnet and t-shirt design for committee members to utilize, branded feeding bowl, and pin-back buttons for fellow residents to show their support.
Kitty Committee Brand Overview
Conclusion
Although I am currently unable to promote the Kitty Committee as widely as I had hoped, I was able to gain a new volunteer member! She has already trapped, spayed/neutered, and returned three cats since I debuted this new brand to the group.
Next may include pushing the property management more as to how I could communicate more broadly with fellow residents of my community. From there, I would have more insight from the survey to create even more and more effective deliverables that could be tested within the group.
Since this project, I have discovered that I really enjoy the research portion of communication design! I will look for opportunities to complete design research more often in my current graphic design roles.