Organizational Branding and Graphic/Web Design for U.S. Government Office
Tools Used: Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Office Suite, Drupal 7, Drupal 9, Social Media (Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube)
Unified branding (top row) clarifies to audiences that grants come from a single organization. Previously, materials varied (bottom row), which sometimes caused confusion and the perception that grants were unrelated and/or came from separate entities.
About the Project
I led the branding and design efforts for the U.S. Department of Justice: Office on Violence Against Women, establishing a modern, cohesive brand identity across a range of digital and print materials.
This project involved designing over 150 materials, including social media graphics, program flyers, reports, booklets, and PowerPoint templates, while also assisting with a major website redesign and migration.
The Challenge:
The organization required a unified visual identity to elevate its brand presence, both online and offline, and increase engagement across platforms. The goal was to create a cohesive, modern look for their outreach materials, optimize website content for better usability, and ensure brand consistency across various channels.
The organization consisted of multiple grant teams, each independently producing promotional materials. However, in the absence of a unified organizational branding strategy, the materials released by each team varied significantly, leading to confusion among audiences who sometimes perceived each grant as a separate entity rather than part of the overarching organization—the Office on Violence Against Women.
Scope and Process
Branding and Visual Design
I paid meticulous attention to harmonizing color palettes, typography, and visual elements to create a strong, professional organizational identity that could translate across different mediums. I developed the organizational branding based on the existing Office on Violence Against Women logo, selecting complementary colors that reflected both the Department of Justice and key awareness colors—teal for sexual assault awareness and purple for domestic violence awareness, which were used as accent colors. For typography, I chose a serif font for the titles to align with the 'OVW' in the logo, paired with a sans-serif font for the body text to maintain consistency. The goal was to create a cohesive look that made the branding and logo appear as though they were originally designed together, rather than separately at much later dates. This branding was applied across various materials, including printed program flyers, digital social media graphics, PowerPoint templates, and website assets, as I designed over 150 digital and print assets to ensure brand consistency. Lastly, I created customized Microsoft Word templates and Microsoft PowerPoint themes so that the coworkers in the organization could maintain the new branding and ensure future consistency.
On the left is the logo I was tasked with working from. I chose accent colors that honored the organization's mission, and header and body fonts that aligned with the logo. To the right is the branding incorporated into a fact sheet.
Website Maintenance and Migration
I also assisted in the website redesign and migration to Drupal 9, focusing on content graphics, materials, and improving the user experience. Worked closely with the development team to ensure visual elements aligned with the updated content strategy, as well as an improved user experience. Special attention was paid to developing content for the specific user groups of this website, as we determined them to be two main audiences — one being domestic violence survivors looking for assistance and the other being mutual aid organizations looking for information about grants. Thus, the structure and information of the website was carefully constructed with these audiences in mind.
Content Strategy and Social Media
Lastly, I developed and designed content for a monthly social media calendar, which included graphic design for platforms such as Twitter and Linkedin, helping to increase organizational visibility and engagement. The social media strategy also helped raise awareness and reinforced the newly established brand identity.
Final Deliverables
- A full suite of digital and print branding materials, including flyers, booklets social media assets, and PowerPoint templates.
- Website graphics, assets, and assistance for the Drupal 9 migration.
- Social media content calendar with custom graphics and templates, allowing for long-term usability and enhanced online engagement.
Results
- Feedback from the department highlighted the professional quality and visual consistency of the design work, reinforcing the organization’s elevated public image. The unified branding made it clear to grantees and audiences that all information was coming from a single grant-making organization, reducing confusion and the perception that each grant was independent or unrelated.
- The website redesign and migration enhanced overall functionality, resulting in an improved user experience.
- The newly designed and more frequent social media content contributed to an increase in follows and engagement, with a 15-40% increase in followers across various platforms.
What I Learned
This project deepened my understanding of the process of developing organizational branding and implementing multi-channel brand design. It also reinforced the importance of collaborating with different grant and organizational teams within the office and wider department to ensure that designs and content align for maximum impact and usability. Additionally, because of the subject matter, it encouraged me develop ways to creatively and professionally design content when covering more sensitive issues.View the slideshow below for more examples of my work. Click on the images to make them larger.
Office on Violence Against Women conference table displaying the materials I designed
Before and after of the first page of a grant booklet. In the 'before', there is not a lot of visual hierarchy, the titles and the body text are difficult to differentiate from each other, and it is not immediately apparent that there is information about four separate grants. In the right side, the titles are very clearly defined, with visual separation between page sections.
Grant booklet with new branding
Office on Violence Against Women conference table displaying the materials I designed
Office on Violence Against Women social media graphics. I ensured consistent branding across both print and digital platforms, providing a seamless user experience. Additionally, I created user-friendly graphic templates and themes in PowerPoint, enabling client-side teams to easily update and create social media content, regardless of their access to Adobe Suite or graphic design expertise, thus ensuring long-term success.
Office on Violence Against Women one-pagers incorporating the new organizational branding
Office on Violence Against Women website. In addition to assisting with the site's migration, I was responsible for creating the website graphics.
Office on Violence Against Women pull-out banner, designed for use at conferences
