Molly O'Connor
by Molly O'Connor
August 20, 2019

There’s nothing I love more than when design and activism collide, so I was immediately excited about getting our designers involved in the Storm Inlet Painting Project here in downtown Sioux Falls. 

If you’ve never heard of this project, here’s what you need to know: Stormwater runoff in Sioux Falls is a major contributor to the pollution of the Big Sioux River. Everything that washes down the drains goes directly into the river untreated—cigarette butts, lawn fertilizer, animal waste, etc. The Storm Inlet Painting Project creates awareness about water pollution through good public design, so it was a perfect fit for our Lemonly team.
 

We used our monthly Creative Workshop to get started. Each of our designers took their designated hour during the workshop to create a design proposal for a storm drain inlet. Many of us submitted designs, and we secured all five adult entry spots for the 2019 Storm Inlet Painting Project.

As I mentioned, this project was a perfect fit for us as Lemonly designers. We tell stories through design every day, and we believe good design leads the viewer to a conclusion without forcing them; it encourages the viewer to analyze the design longer to find its meaning. We applied this approach to our storm drain inlet designs: Instead of using obvious imagery or text, each of our designs emphasize the beauty of the river and our connection to it.

Here's what each of our designers had to say about their piece and the experience of painting our murals throughout downtown Sioux Falls.

Find more work from our Lemonly designers on Dribbble, and browse the blog for more about our monthly creative workshop and how we use design to get involved in the community.

See one of our storm inlet paintings in the wild? Tag us on Instagram or send us a tweet.