Red Hook Media Lab draws on best practices from entertainment education, behavioral science, design thinking, and data science to produce content designed to reach audiences through commercial appeal while promoting democracy and civic engagement.
Our approach is informed by over 50 years of scientific research and guided by human-centered design. Our stories and characters flow from a deep knowledge of our audience’s entertainment preferences AND the beliefs and norms that drive their civic and political behavior. Our impact can be measured by the commercial success AND the social change engendered by our content.
About Asch Harwood
Asch Harwood has spent the last ten years working at the intersection of democracy, design, and technology. He is now building on his experience working in some of the world’s toughest environments to foster social change in his own backyard.
Most recently, Asch was a senior designer with the social impact design studio, Reboot, where he applied the principles of human-centered design to help foundations and governments solve problems related to media, governance, and data.
He spent four years in UNICEF’s Innovation Unit, where he developed and prototyped new strategies for promoting social change in Nigeria, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, including the first education entertainment series designed to be pirated and viewed exclusively on mobile devices.
At the Consortium for Elections and Political Processes, he ran democracy, governance, and political party strengthening programs in Zimbabwe, Nigeria, and South Sudan.
At the Council on Foreign Relations, he focused on the intersection of democracy, technology, and conflict. He co-founded the Nigeria Security Tracker, a tool that tracks and visualizes political violence in Nigeria, and served as an election observer in Nigeria’s 2011 presidential elections. Asch is also a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
He received his BA from McGill University and his MA from the New School. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife (a midwife!), toddler, and pup, Mimi. In a previous life, Asch lived in a van touring the United States in a ska-punk band. Believe it or not, that was probably the most important professional experience of his life. For more information, visit: www.linkedin.com/in/aschharwood/