The American Heart Association is a nonprofit organization dedicated to fighting cardiovascular diseases and strokes through research, education, and advocacy. Within the organization, my role encompasses a wide spectrum, ranging from brand strategy and video production to operational tasks and business-aligned innovation.
Centennial Celebration
In 2024, the American Heart Association celebrated a century of advancing heart health. The Bold Hearts™ concept symbolizes gratitude for the compassionate donors and volunteers whose commitments have saved countless lives. Alongside the primary campaign, there were two additional initiatives. The Second Century campaign, launched in 2022, aimed to kickstart fundraising for the next century of impact. The Founder's Day celebration which was the organization's official birthday, took place on June 10th.
The challenge was to create a design structure that aligned with the existing aesthetic which could then be applied across all 50+ core campaigns. The first step was to engage with key stakeholders to understand the core concepts and messaging behind the centennial year. We then developed multiple concepts and presented them to the leadership. Once a concept was selected, I built out a style guide to help guide our staff in implementing the assets.
The concept was unveiled at our internal event in August 2023. In the following months, I collaborated with regional staff to develop local assets. The next major rounds of creative development came in June when I was tasked with creating the material for the official centennial event.
Design Operations
In 2019 I joined the Founders Affiliate as the region’s first Creative Director. Recognizing the need for operational improvements, I spearheaded two key initiatives. The first was a design project intake form to ensure consistent submissions and to facilitate accurate year-end reporting. The second was a shared SharePoint page to streamline the distribution of design templates among business development teams, ensuring a unified brand identity.
Project Intake Form
It became evident soon after I started my role that a structured approach to project tracking and year-end reporting was needed. The reliance on email for project submission was inefficient, often lacking crucial details such as deadlines, assets, and dimensions from stakeholders. In response, I spend 3 years refining a systematic solution, iterating the project intake form through a blend of user interviews and a holistic UX design.
Through the SmartSheet platform, I was able to enable workflow automation and establish filters for in-depth reporting. Utilizing key metrics such as total requests, unique users, and types of requests, I was able to quantify these improvements. The result was a year-over-year increase in user engagement and submissions and a decrease in the number of errors between the design team and stakeholders. Gathering the data via SmartSheet allowed me to provide leadership with a more comprehensive understanding of our creative processes. Leveraging the metrics derived from the quarterly reports, I quantified the team's value to the organization and identified design trends by campaign and project types.