A User's Guide to New York City pt. 1: Tenants' Rights Flashcards

[Image: Tenants' rights flashcards by Candy Chang].

This will be the first of two posts about recent projects by designer Candy Chang; each presents an awesome example of what a user's guide to New York City might look like.

[Images: Tenants' rights flashcards by Candy Chang].

The images shown here document Chang's tenants' right flashcards, a deck of cards with legal advice for apartment renters in New York City.

As the project description itself reads: "The flash cards translate New York's official Tenants' Rights Guide into a fun and friendly format that covers everything from security deposits and subletting to paint and privacy so residents can enjoy good times while becoming empowered residents."

[Image: Tenants' rights flashcards by Candy Chang].

"What's my landlord required to repair?" Chang asked herself at the beginning of the project, realizing that there was very little about New York City's legal renters' rights that the general public really knew. "How does rent stabilization work? When can my landlord enter my apartment?"

But now you can just bust out this flashcard deck and remind yourself.

[Images: Tenants' rights flashcards by Candy Chang].

It's such a great idea, and the design possibilities for other legal situations are almost literally endless. From photographers' rights in the UK to a pamphlet my college housemate once made about your rights as a driver on the U.S. highway system (vis-a-vis police searches and "probable cause"), there seem to be hundreds of highly useful card decks just waiting to happen. London zoning code, translated into a card deck. Municipal water rights in California—or standards of water safety and cleanliness.

What makes this particular card deck even better, I think, is Chang's use of graphic design in the legal service of a specific community in a specific city—and it's an approach that she used again in another project that I will be posting about here soon.

Check out the flashcards, meanwhile (including how to order a deck for only $10), here.