The Congressional Black Caucus Foundation (CBCF) works to advance the global Black community by developing leaders, informing policy, and educating the public. In 2021, CBCF partnered with The Hatcher Group on a strategic communications initiative to raise its national profile and become a thought leader on issues of racial justice and equity, as well as refresh its brand and redesign its website. (thehatchergroup.com)
Under the leadership of Hatcher’s Creative Director, and in collaboration with CBCF’s marketing team and Hatcher’s design team, I developed the organization's brand identity.

Following New America Education Policy's existing branding standard and layout guidelines, these documents also incorporate customized infographics which help the reader focus on key points related to the think tank's research findings.

Project Play, an initiative of the Aspen Institute's Sports & Society Program, aims to address disparities in youth sports activities, fostering stronger and more cohesive communities.

The Hatcher Group provided support to this initiative by crafting an array of materials, including reports, infographics, social media graphics, web pages, and charts. Through these visual assets, essential data and compelling narratives were highlighted, all with the overarching objective of enhancing the implementation of key learnings. Additionally, personalized sports illustrations were developed to maintain a uniform visual identity for presentations and the website.

In my role, I actively contributed to the project by creating a variety of deliverables, such as reports, infographics, social media content, logo lockups, and video screens, and overseeing the artistic direction of other team members to ensure consistency across all deliverables.

During my tenure at The Hatcher Group, I had the privilege of serving as Art Director under the guidance of our Creative Director, leading the comprehensive branding efforts for Southern Maryland's new designation as a National Heritage Area. In alignment with our vision, we engaged Donald Ely, a local artist, to illustrate a new logo seal that honored the region's natural and historical essence, reflecting its flora and fauna.

Our team adeptly translated the artist's illustrations into a cohesive brand guide, designed posters, an accordion booklet outlining Southern Maryland’s historical timeline, social media assets, and more. Additionally, in partnership with Hatcher's Event team, I played a key role in coordinating the details of the designation inauguration event, crafting branded items, event promotion digital ads, and signage that seamlessly integrated with the event's location, in Piscataway Park. This experience underscored the importance of uniting local heritage, artistic vision, and planning to create an immersive commemorative event.

Batalá Washington is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, whose mission is to empower women through drumming and expose people to Brazil’s dynamic Afro­ Bahian culture and Samba ­Reggae music. All designs, from business cards to t-shirts, aim to mimic the energetic and syncretic style of the music they (we) play.

The band is part of a larger Batalá family whose original branding was developed by its founder and musical director, Giba Gonçalves, and Angus Sutherland from Batalá Portsmouth. My challenge was to create eye-catching pieces that equally represent DC and the band’s Afro Bahian origin, as well as working towards the promotion of the band during shows and in outreach efforts.

As part of the creative in-house team, under the leadership of our art director, I helped to establish the bold new visual branding of MicroStrategy, an analytics software development company. The challenge of meeting deadlines, multi-tasking, and maintaining consistency, is what drives my everyday work. With our work, we won two GDUSA's American Inhouse Design Awards.

This section highlights a few booths, signs, structures, and murals created following MicroStrategy brand and developed with the environment in which they were going to be presented in mind.

MicroStrategy uses infographics for marketing purposes both online and in print. Each infographic needs to be unique, yet representative of the brand. Here are a few examples.

Professional musicians and composers Nathan Lincoln-Decusatis and Kurtis Adams gave me free range to create and develop the cover and cd design for their experimental jazz mini-orchestra project. By illustrating musical instruments using the blind contour technique, and having them move on the case and cd, the aim was to visually evoke the essence of this music. The black and gold color choice also recalls the subdued lights of the classic jazz clubs of decades past.

Samueli Institute was a non-profit organization that aimed to promote the science of healing. As the sole designer on the in-house communications team, my role included art directing and execution of all collateral material including brochures, folders, annual reports, and strategic plans.

This hand-illustrated wedding celebration invite was sent to the families and friends of an international couple. It needed to convey the same text in two languages and the gatefold was the perfect solution to easily and clearly divide the information. The red band and other details within the illustration recall the red flower worn by the groom and the red shoes worn by the bride.

Working in collaboration with Whitemane Studios, I developed a series of illustrations that were then animated by a video producer. Kaaxal's product is an easy-to-use app and hardware that facilitates long-distance control of home irrigation systems. We established a friendly and inviting look mixed with humor to engage the viewer and tell the story of Kaaxal's product. We upheld the client's brand by using their corporate colors in most frames.

Watch the full video here.