Tech Rich, Street Poor

This illustration touches on the disparity between the classes felt in San Francisco. The city is bustling with inspiring new innovation, and is often called the Florence of our time. Yet the streets crawl with desperate people who have no home, and angry people who peg the tech industry as an evil force taking over their city. “Techie” has become a discriminatory term as cushy tech offices and glassy upscale apartment buildings spring up, and along with it, a type of privilege that has become the new standard in San Francisco. To communicate the disparity of the city, I’ve shown the contrast between the tech environment and the outside with mood and color. I was also keen to show eager, passionate people at work in the tech environment, as a far from threatening force.