Hanna Kim is
an artist,
a designer, and
a social justice advocate.


I draw, design, and make—to understand deeper meaning, translate uncomfortable dialogues into friendly visual communications, and envision justice. My research focuses on the intersection of design and policy.
Currently I am a visual informational specialist at the Office of the Surgeon General.
Shapeless Shapes  |  Oct 2019
Design, Storytelling, Illustration

A fairy tale, a history book, a call to action to shape our future


Welcome to a world in which every shape has its rightful place, fits in and conforms. Until they don’t. Shapes also move around, explore, fall in love with other shapes and create a more interesting world, in which identity and belonging are no longer strictly defined by shape alone. A messier world, in which some shapes are erased and are made shapeless by powerful shapes. These shapeless shapes are denied their basic rights and are excluded. They are cast out. But some of them come together to fight back, demanding their rights and the recognition of their shapes.

Shapeless Shapes is a graphic novel about identity, belonging, history, xenophobia, freedom, racism, discrimination, injustice, activism, citizenship, and statelessness. It tells a story of a world that was, is and can be.

Publisher Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion

Watch the trailer

Launch Webinar April 23rd, 2020


Purchase a copy to be delivered to you
Digital Download
#SugarLand95  |  Dec 2018 ~ Present
Research, Advocacy, Design

Unearthing the truth of Convict Leasing, known as slavery by another name


A blue storage pod in the broiling sun of south Texas is now the resting place of the remains of 95 convict laborers who died in the sugar plantations of the ironically named Sugar Land, Texas. Unearthed were they lay for more than a century in a quiet field to make way for a school, the violation of their remains is evidence of America’s continuing and collective whitewashing and ignorance of its history—a history that through the violation of the burial sites of the African American dead continues to today and tomorrow.

The discovery of the remains of 95 black inmates at the Imperial Prison Farm in Sugar Land has drawn national attention to the history of convict leasing in Texas and the Greater Houston Area. Our speakers will examine this history and the current struggle to honor and memorialize the lives and deaths of these 94 men and 1 woman. (Event photo: Julia Zhogina Photography)

Sponsor Hutchins Center for African and African American Research

Partners
Press
Independent Research
Low-Lit Toolkit  |  Summer 2019 
Design Thinking, Strategy

A set of principles and UI prototypes for designing digital financial tools that empower the illiterate communities to confidently engage with their finances


Background
50 years ago, almost one quarter of youth lacked basic literacy skills compared to less than 10% in 2016. However, 750 million adults remained illiterate in 2017—1 out of 10 people in the world. Illiteracy is linked to poverty and inequality. Two-thirds of the 750 million illiterate adults are women. And another 152 million children are set to follow in their footsteps because they are not attending school.

Problem
The rise of SMS-, USSD-, and app-based tools improve financial independence and encourage healthy financial behaviors. However, all of our financial interfaces are words and numbers, preventing the huge swath of illiterate people from participating.

Opportunity
More people own smartphones than ever before. The number of smartphone users in the world is expected to pass the 3.5 billion mark by 2020.

Question
How might we empower designers and developers to design interfaces for illiterate and/or low-literate individuals?

Links
Prototype (pw: TalkLessDoMore)

Asian American Policy Review Vol.29  |  May 2019
Illustration, Logo Design

The contributors of the AAPR’s 29th Edition are blasian, brown, queer, trans, intergenerational, organized and resilient. They make the case for gender justice and transgender rights in the Pilipinx community, transformative mental health practices, and transnational advocacy strategies, and pan-Asian movement building.

Buy online

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