Collaborative 2018
Each year, Classy hosts a conference called the Collaborative, which brings nonprofits, activists and social entrepreneurs together to learn from each other and develop skills to better understand how to solve social problems. In 2018, the event design was particularly special because it was the first time I autonomously led the branding and event design.
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Personality Trait Exercise
I had just visited the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, and it revived my passion for the powerful relationship between design and social change. When I set out to pitch the Collaborative brand for 2018, I wanted to awaken something in people too. One of Classy’s core values is to “Stand for Something,” and I wanted the Collaborative brand to be bolder and braver than in years past. We had our event promises, but we needed personality traits to explain how and why we were taking those actions.
Choosing an Event Theme
Classy has always encouraged nonprofits to see their role as social entrepreneurs — mission-driven, but operating with innovation and sustainability in mind. I researched the Schwaub Foundation’s definition of social entrepreneurship and found there was a lot anchored in making the most of how people work together. A key misstep we see with nonprofits is an overly competitive mindset. They miss out on partnerships or knowledge sharing for fear of, or simply distracted by, survival, holding back progress for serious social problems to be solved. So our theme for the year became “Together We Thrive.” The logo was hand lettered and vectorized.
The only way we can do our best work and truly solve these problems is if we learn from and grow with each other. The Collaborative seeks to reignite our willingness to adapt and learn, and to foster dialogue to do our best work possible.
See the full Collaborative website
Bringing the Event to Life
Though our team had a great deal of autonomy, the event production was not an easy one — three stages and two classrooms of content, 1,200 attendees, and one huge Classy product launch, with a small core team of six people. In addition to overseeing furniture and venue layout, I also designed custom designation and wayfinding signage, curated an activist art wall, and designed merchandise for the event.
But all the hard work was more rewarding than I could have ever imagined. We were honored to host talks with people like Patrisse Cullors, Co-Founder of Black Lives Matter, a panel on bringing diversity and inclusion to nonprofit staffs, not to mention my own talk on how to design a campaign without a designer, co-hosted with Liz Wilson, UX/UI Designer at Classy. In the end, it was such an exhausting, but special milestone in Classy history spent with some of the best people I know.
Photo Credit: Sharyn Umana-Angers
Services provided:
- Branding and research
- Event signage and venue design
- Web design
- Email and social media marketing promotions
