Side Project
Trash Human
A brand and app concept for neighborhood stewardship. Still a concept. The domain is live at trashhuman.org — which also makes a pretty good portfolio URL.
The Trash Human character — designed to work as a logo, favicon, and loading animation.
The Origin
During the pandemic, with nowhere to be and plenty of time to walk my dog around San Francisco, I kept noticing the same trash in the same spots, day after day, on the same routes. The city was spending enormous sums on maintenance and it didn't seem to matter. At some point I stopped being frustrated and started asking a simpler question: if it bothers me this much, and I'm out here anyway, why don't I just pick it up?
So I ordered a bucket and a grabber and started doing exactly that. It wasn't going to save the planet, but it made the immediate environment a little better, and it was a natural extension of something I was already doing every day. That got me thinking about whether there was a way to make that kind of low-friction stewardship easier for other people — and Trash Human was the result.
The Name
“Trash human” and “garbage human” are terms you'll find in the comments section of any sufficiently controversial social media post. The irony is that the people quickest to call someone else a trash human are usually the ones doing the least self-reflection. In some sense, we're all trash humans — we've all thought, said, or done something another person would find objectionable, and just by existing we're consuming resources and generating waste.
The name is meant to evoke some humility about that. It juxtaposes “we're only human” — flawed, imperfect — with the genuinely remarkable fact that humans are the only species capable of recognizing our own overexploitation of the planet and choosing to do something about it. Calling yourself a Trash Human is a strange kind of badge of honor: an acknowledgment of the problem, and a commitment to doing a little something about it anyway.
The Brand
The character — a trash can with eyes peeking out from under the lid — was designed to be approachable and a little goofy. Environmental stewardship doesn't have to be serious or preachy. The hand-drawn aesthetic, the chunky type, the animation that makes the character feel alive: all of it was aimed at a brand that felt like it belonged on a t-shirt or a tote bag, not a PSA.
I developed the concept, name, and creative direction. The character illustration and finishing touches were done in collaboration with a graphic designer who brought it to life.
The full logo lockup (left) and the standalone mark (right). The character works on its own without the wordmark — designed to function as a favicon, social avatar, or loading animation.
The Product Concept
Beyond the brand, the original idea included two product directions. A physical kit — a branded bucket and grabber, made from environmentally-friendly materials, that people could buy to start their own neighborhood cleanup routine. The branding was meant to make it feel like being part of something rather than just doing a chore.
A Strava-like app for trash pickup — geo-tagged photos of trash around your neighborhood, route tracking for cleanup walks, and the ability to place “bounties” on persistent problem spots. The goal was to give individuals visibility into the state of their community and to give cities data they could actually use. The app idea was inspired partly by watching how Strava turned running from a solitary habit into a social one. The same mechanic — logging activity, sharing routes, building streaks — could work just as well for picking up trash.
Status
Still a concept. The brand assets are complete; the rest is waiting for the right moment — and possibly the right co-founder.