Highlights

ROLE

Graphic Designer, Copy Editor

TOOLS

Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop

About the Project

Every year, nonprofits need to celebrate their “wins” with their key stakeholders and audiences to promote further commitment and support for their mission. Cru, a religious non-profit whose main focus is empowering the spiritual growth of college students, does this through the annual production of the Campus Ministry Highlights booklet.

In this document, the Executive Leadership and Fund Development teams partner with the in-house creative agency to share stories and stats that showcase and celebrate the progress made in the last year.

For the 2019 Highlights booklet, I worked as the primary designer, collaborating closely with the team as we developed this project from brainstorming to final print preparation. The booklet was sent to over 12,000 financial contributors nationwide.

The Problem

With annual publications, the challenge is often to figure out how to reimagine the presentation in an exciting, fresh way while staying true to the established brand guidelines. The goal is to increase investment, both emotionally and ultimately financially, among interested partners. The graphics should subtly support the overall message of the content within. With 24 pages, each one needs to be more inviting and vibrant than the last while maintaining readability.

The Solution

After exploring several ideas, a visual theme was chosen that was both visually engaging and supported the overarching message of the content.

Oneness, as represented by circles and rounded design elements, became part of this central message. Community and teamwork were both identified as key components of Cru’s ethos, as well as values that would encourage further engagement among stakeholders.