In 2016, the Colorado Nonprofit Association, or CNA, approached Upleaf with the need for a professional, modern, easy-to-navigate and mobile-friendly web site. As Upleaf's designer, I had the opportunity to collaborate with my colleagues to create it. From early research, to creating wireframes and desktop and mobile mock-ups, to working with our development team to ensure an effective final product CNA was proud of, I got to be an integral part of designing and launching the site.

CNA's primary goal was to have a welcoming, user-friendly, human-centered site that showed off its love for Colorado. I strived to achieve this by researching countless related websites, being inspired by the state I live in, and creating as many wireframes and mock-ups as needed to find the right look and balance to make CNA proud of the final result.

Here are a few still screens of the wireframe and mock-ups.

Visit www.coloradononprofits.org to see the final, launched web site.

Feast for the Future is a part of the John Hopkins University Center for American Indian Health. The program was created to bring healthier foods habits into Native American communities by promoting traditional foods and systems. The goal is to provide these communities with the resources and support needed to envision, implement and evaluate their own local programs like farmers markets, community gardens, workshops, and more.

Feast for the Future came to Upleaf with the desire to give their program its own website rather than being a subpage of the greater JHCAIH site. They wanted a responsive, informative, intuitive page, with prominent photography to reflect the actual communities that spearheaded the Feast for the Future. Their multiple programs also needed to be well-highlighted, as well as the instructions on how to create similar programs in their own communities. 

As both the designer and project manager, I worked extremely close with the client from early strategic brainstorming, to mockup creation, user experience testing, Drupal trainings, and more. In addition, I worked closely with our development team to ensure all design and functionality exceeded all expectations. 

The Feast for the Future site officially launched in February 2018. 

FINCA International is a D.C.-based non-profit that works to provide millions of low-income people around-the-globe with financial tools to help them succeed. In 2016, FINCA began working with Upleaf to launch an updated, modern and responsive web site. The primary goal was to highlight their mission, put a spotlight on their many inspirational clients, and of course, generate donations.

As always, I began with a wireframe where I focused on ultimately designing a photo-heavy home page with engaging icons and infographics. Once I began working on the mock-up, adjustments were made including merging sections to create more cohesion, adding additional icons, and placing the FINCA logo inside the navigation bar to allow the main photo to be larger. Attention was also paid to creating a design that would allow for an equally effective mobile site.

After months of revisions and working diligently with FINCA and the Upleaf team, the final design was handed off to our developers to build and complete. The final site was launched in early October 2016, and though it is too soon to calculate donation increases, FINCA is ecstatic with their new online look. Click here to see FINCA.org live.

The 2012 Greater KU Fund booklet is the annual report sent to any donor that has given money to the Greater KU Fund in the past fiscal year. The destination of donations to the Greater KU Fund are flexible and non-specific so the report is integral to showing how donor money is currently supporting the University. It is meant to be a concise, informative, and attractive snapshot of how these funds are used, from student recruitment and enhancing academic opportunities to supporting exceptional faculty research. The photography highlights the beauty of our campus and the pride our community of students, faculty and alumni has for the University of Kansas.

Naturegood Pet Nutrition is a soon-to-be-launched brand of soft chew daily dog supplements. I created their branding, including the logo, colors, packaging designs, etc., as well as created marketing strategies. I also set-up much of their Shopify storefront that recently went live at Naturegood.com.

In addition, I am currently managing their new social media accounts (Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest), as well as editing, managing and writing much of their new blog content. 

Part of a branded proposal series I helped to develop for our massive Far Above $1.2 billion fundraising campaign, I designed the 12-page KU School of Business Proposal to help raise funds for this much-needed building. Since these proposals have been released, not only was the new school successfully funded, it has been completed and open to students as of Fall 2016. 

For the 2014 International Mailing, myself and our Annual Giving department wanted to push ourselves to create something fun and unique. Since the recipients were all KU alumni currently living overseas, we decided to design a custom punch-out paper airplane as the premium and called it the Jayhawk Air Mail.

I worked heavily alongside Trojan Press, a printing company in Kansas City, to first establish the paper stock, amount of ink, and the plane's shape and design to develop a custom die-cut. This meant many hours of hand-cutting, building and testing well over 50 airplane models before committing to a final design.

Once the design of the physical plane was complete, I created the visual elements of the plane and letterhead to reflect the classic styles of mid-century aviation, and also embody aspects of KU pride that hinted at its final international destination. 

This project received a Silver Prize for Excellence in Design at the 2015 CASE District VI Awards.

Sowing the Seeds of a Better Tomorrow was the theme for the 2012 Spring mailing that was sent out to thousands of KU alumni and potential donors. The mailer contained a custom-designed letterhead for the personal letter, a gift-donation form, and a Kansas-shaped buckslip made of a seed paper that when planted would sprout wildflowers. The buckslip was designed with a quote from Robert Louis Stevenson and also included various images that represent our state and school including wheat, sunflowers, and the 1912 Jayhawk which celebrated its centennial anniversary in 2012. These pieces were all contained in a custom-designed envelope. 

Sowing the Seeds of a Better Tomorrow received the Gold for Excellence in Design at the 2012 District VI CASE Awards.

Thank You from the Hill was a large-scale direct mail campaign sent to anyone who made a donation to KU Endowment in the 2014 fiscal year. Inspired by classic travel destination signs, the phrases listed against the silhouette of our campus are iconic KU traditions and locations. Printed on 100# Cougar, the piece was also letterpressed with a clear foil so the letters T-H-A-N-K-Y-O-U stood out from the rest of the type. 

This project received a Silver Prize for Excellence in Design at the 2015 CASE District VI Awards.