Designer Needed to Create a Cartographic "Blueprint" of the Los Angeles Watershed

Climate House is seeking a graphic designer with experience in cartography, information design, landscape visualization, or systems mapping to help create a foundational cartographic wayfinding tool representing the Los Angeles watershed.

The primary deliverable is an exhibition-ready cartographic illustration that visualizes the Los Angeles watershed as an interconnected system of hydrology, infrastructure, and ecological boundaries. Rather than creating a technical GIS product, we are seeking a visually compelling and directionally accurate interpretation that can help public audiences understand their relationship to the watershed and the systems that shape it.

The visual language should draw inspiration from architectural blueprints, engineering drawings, and speculative design, resulting in a graphic system that is both educational and visually engaging.

Volunteer support may include:

• Developing a visual language and graphic framework for representing watershed systems
• Translating existing watershed maps, public data, and research materials into a cohesive visual composition
• Designing a print-ready cartographic base layer suitable for exhibition, educational, and public engagement purposes
• Establishing a structure that can accommodate future transparent overlays illustrating watershed interventions and resilience strategies
• Providing editable source files and design guidelines to support future development

This project is being developed as part of a larger initiative connected to BRADBAORI, a research-driven immersive media work by climate speculative futures artist Joshua Dawson, curated by Climate House.

The resulting cartographic illustration will serve as foundational infrastructure for future programming, including exhibitions, workshops, educational materials, digital experiences, and potential print publications. Future collaborators will build upon this base layer to create artistic overlays that visualize opportunities for watershed stewardship, rainwater harvesting, water reuse, groundwater recharge, depaving, living infrastructure, and other climate resilience strategies throughout Los Angeles.

The ideal outcome is a foundational cartographic design system that helps audiences see the Los Angeles watershed as a shared civic landscape while providing a platform for future storytelling, public education, and collective imagination.

Climate House is a creative think tank and cultural institution that uses art, culture, and public storytelling to help communities navigate a changing climate.

Many climate challenges are difficult to understand because the systems shaping daily life remain largely invisible. Water infrastructure, watershed boundaries, groundwater systems, and ecological relationships often operate outside public perception, making meaningful civic participation more difficult.

This project helps address that challenge by transforming a complex regional system into a visual tool that people can understand, navigate, and imagine themselves participating in.

The resulting map will help audiences see Los Angeles not simply as a collection of neighborhoods and jurisdictions, but as a shared watershed whose future depends on collective stewardship. It will serve as an educational and engagement tool across exhibitions, public programs, workshops, and future digital platforms.

By helping people understand where they are situated within the watershed and where intervention is possible, this project supports Climate House’s broader mission to restore public perception, strengthen collective authorship, and make opportunities for climate adaptation more tangible and accessible.

The volunteer’s contribution will create a foundational resource that supports years of future programming and helps translate complex environmental systems into experiences that inspire civic imagination and action.

Climate House has already completed significant groundwork for this project.

We have established the conceptual framework, identified the intended use cases, and assembled visual references that illustrate the desired aesthetic direction. The map is being developed as a companion tool for BRADBAORI, a research-driven immersive media project by climate speculative futures artist Joshua Dawson, curated by Climate House.

To support the volunteer’s work, we will provide:

• A project brief outlining objectives, audiences, and exhibition context
• Visual references and precedent imagery
• Existing watershed research and background materials
• Access to project stakeholders for feedback and decision-making
• A clear review process with designated points of contact

The project has strong internal alignment and a defined implementation pathway. Upon completion, the cartographic base layer will be used in public programming, exhibition materials, educational resources, and future digital experiences currently under development.

Because this project is intended as foundational infrastructure rather than a final product, we are seeking a volunteer partner who can help establish a durable design framework that Climate House can continue building upon over time.