Kiki Nyagah is hoping that RI Startup Week attendees will take a moment between the more than 50 scheduled panels and events to look back at the history of Providence. To do that, Nyagah has developed a new app that melds art, history and civic engagement through an interactive game.
Nyagah, who is an industrial design student and community organizer at the Rhode Island School of Design, came up with the idea for Mode: Yellow 5 in 2019 during one of her classes. This year's RI Startup Week includes an opportunity for attendees to "Learn and Seek" on a scavenger hunt of PVD's Innovation District with a special edition of Mode: Yellow 5.
The sneak peak will allow users to dive into the history and experiences that make PVD’s Innovation District what it is today by using game tech and AR. Throughout the week, users will be able to collect custom tokens and earn their way to prizes that will be revealed at the end of RI Startup Week. The sample version of RI Startup Week version of Mode: Yellow 5 dropped on Oct. 4 with the start of the conference.
Nyagah said there will be digital and physical experiences that guide participants through the PVD innovation district to explore the spaces and ultimately learn the civic history that helped these locations to be what they are today. She pointed to the Michael S. Van Leesten bridge as a perfect example. Most visitors to the city might not even look at the bridge's name when they cross into the city, she said, and even fewer likely know who the civil rights leader, teacher and community activist was. When Nyagah was first brainstorming the idea, Van Leesten had recently passed in August of 2019, and she said it inspired her to examine his legacy.
In 2020, the Providence City Council voted to rename the bridge after Leesten and just this week it was dedicated with a memorial celebration. During her research, Nyagah looked into the history of the bridge, how it brought opportunity, what communities were affected and how that also played into the changing landscape of Providence. She said her research uncovered the anxiety Americans feel in a polarized political environment leaving citizens unheard and unable to have the “civil” civic conversations that allow them to act as empowered citizens.
"My general goal was to make civic engagement fun and build on shared experiences," Nyagah said. "I also wanted to promote a sense of process and get everyone talking."
Nyaga said the small preview of the app during Startup Week will allow her team to learn and iterate as they release a prototype popup for midterm elections across 12 locations in Providence October 21st - November 18th. Mode: Yellow 5 is also currently accepting submissions to our Call for Art to be showcased in this first capstone experience and are inviting all artists and designers to submit.
In addition to Nyagah, Mode: Yellow 5's team includes designers Julio Berroa and Lydia Chodosh, marketing creatives Julia Gorbach and Kayla Drozd and "The IT Guy." Nyagah said the work has been supported by a well known set of advisors and organizational partners including Brown's Swearer Center, Brown Votes, the RISD Center for Student Involvement, The Altimeter Group, the ACLU, Rock the Vote, College Unbound, the PVD Dept. of Arts, Culture and Tourism.
