What started this project?

I applied for and was accepted into the annual AIGA Changemaker Series, a volunteer-run program that matches designers, project managers, writers, and other creatives with nonprofits based on a theme. The Changemaker Series is a local initiative in Seattle on behalf of AIGA, a national design nonprofit that seeks to elevate design and create opportunities for emerging designers.

This year’s theme was youth, and I partnered with Powerful Voices, a nonprofit that specifically supports girls* of color. Powerful Voices is a brave space that I wish I had when I was a younger girl of color with a disability, unsure of my role in the world and feeling unconfident in my own voice. Over the span of 4 months, my team and I got to know Powerful Voices staff, each other, and the girl participants.

In defining our problem statement, we came to realise that Powerful Voices was facing an identity crisis. We decided that the solution was to rebrand their visual identity, presenting our deliverable as a brand book as opposed to the proposed video and website. This was my first time working on a branding project, and I learned so much from the experience.

What were the results?

Powerful Voices was elated to receive the brand book. While I’m not able to share the deliverable, I would like to emphasize that I contributed to gathering requirements, conducting user research via surveys, and providing feedback on the developing brand book that a team member created. Though my role was a bit murky, I was able to glean insight into how a real team works with a real client to achieve results.

I learned to utilize Paperform to conduct a survey, relying on conditionals to guide the users to specific questions.

What did I learn?

I encountered imposter’s syndrome as many of my teammates were working professionals in their creative fields, whereas at the time of the Changemaker Series, I didn’t have a full-time job in design and I lacked a real mentor in design. As the result, I didn’t volunteer for many assignments that I now wish I had taken on. I chose to play to my strengths as a user researcher, writer, and critic.