Case Study Archives – The Designist Studio

Academy for Sustainable Innovation

hello@thedesignist.studio — Thu, 05 Feb 2026 20:34:17 +0000

Academy for Sustainable Innovation

Refined branding, collaborative copywriting, and a custom website to support ASI's growth and increase engagement, enrolments, and membership.

Overview

Client

The Academy for Sustainable Innovation (ASI) is a non-profit organisation supporting sustainability professionals to lead socially-inclusive, low-carbon change within their organizations.

ASI offers education programs, consulting services, and a membership to help transitional leaders turn sustainability strategy into action.

As a growing organisation, the team needed ongoing support to evolve their website and build a new community platform to expand their reach and impact.

My Role

Brand strategy, copywriting, UX/UI design, WordPress development, ongoing digital advisory

The Challenge

ASI’s existing website was visually outdated and no longer reflected the organization’s evolving programs, positioning, or vision for growth.

CEO Tamara Connell wanted to modernize ASI’s online presence, improve user experience, and create a platform that:

clearly communicated ASI’s mission and value
supported new offerings and future growth
encouraged visitors to engage, subscribe, join, and donate

The challenge was to clarify ASI’s vision and messaging while building a flexible, intuitive digital ecosystem that could grow with the organization.

The Solution

I partnered with ASI as a strategic design partner, leading a full website refresh and continuing to support the team as their needs evolve – including developing additional brand collateral like reseach reports and a pitch deck to ensure a cohesive and professional brand presence across all touchpoints.

This included:

refining brand expression and visual identity
collaborative copywriting to clarify positioning and offerings
designing and building a custom website focused on usability, clarity, and conversion

As ASI has grown, I’ve continued to design new pages and features, advise on tools and platforms, and support ongoing website improvements.

Key Initatives

Grow ASI’s email audience:

Clear, strategically placed calls-to-action to subscribe across the site

Launch ASI’s Members Network:

Designed a public landing page
Built a private members hub for resources, events, and community discussions
Integrated Memberful for membership payments and user management

Enable donations and funding support:

Integrated FundraiseUp for one-time and recurring donations

Increase event registrations:

Integrated EventsBrite with the website calendar for seamless discovery and sign up

The Results

1315% increase in program engagement following the website redesign

40+ members joined the new Members’ Network in its first year

Clear positioning as a non-profit, improving ASI’s ability to receive donations year-round

ASI’s one-person “marketing team” can now confidently manage and update the website independently

“Ruha went above and beyond to research integrations for us and provided 1:1 training on how to use the back end of the website so that we could make changes on our own, saving us time and money.

She’s super knowledgeable and adaptable to your needs and I felt supported every step of the way through our website redesign.”

Aryn Guthrie, Marketing & Communications Manager

Academy for Sustainable Innovation (ASI)

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Global Measure

hello@thedesignist.studio — Thu, 16 Mar 2023 00:57:16 +0000

Global Measure

Visual branding, branded language, and website design to establish Global Measure's expertise, centre their mission and values, and invite fashion brands to work with them

Overview

Client

Global Measure helps fashion brands grow customer loyalty, profitability, and impact by offering a certification process that validates their claims to sustainability and ethical processes.

Goal

Founder and CEO Deborah King reached out to elevate the organisation’s website in order to appeal to a sophisticated clientele who are driven by their values and want to show their customer base that they mean it.

The Challenge

Deborah and her team are driven by their passion for the fashion industry and a desire to create positive change around its ecological and social impacts.

They already had a strong foundation with a deep understanding of their mission and values. Our challenge was to convey those concepts in an attractive way, and without overwhelming clients.

The organisation needed simple but impactful language to convey their mission, values, and a complex process, so that clients understand the benefits of getting certified, and specifically why they should hire Global Measure to do it.

They also needed a modern, elegant, and seamless website that allows clients to easily learn more about the certification process and take the first step to start working with Global Measure.

The Solution

We started with Global Measure’s existing brand foundations, building a website with language that centres their expertise, drive to create a bigger positive impact in the fashion industry, and commitment to their clients.

The Results

A visual brand identity, including typography, colours, and graphics to reflect Global Measure’s contemporary and approachable brand, and professional and scientific approach to their certification process.

Copy that conveys to Global Measure’s audience that they are committed to their values, against greenwashing, and have the skills and capacity to help fashion brands grow their own brands through this process.

A website rich in contextual information about getting certified, its benefits, and how to get started, with a blog that helps their audience learn more about sustainability and ethical practices in the fashion industry, and how they can become part of the change.

Build a stronger, clearer online presence for your community.

Explore what’s working, what’s not, and what would make the biggest difference right now.

The post Global Measure appeared first on The Designist Studio.

Cameras for Girls

thedesignist — Tue, 03 Jan 2023 04:11:02 +0000

Cameras for Girls

Empowering young women in Africa by helping them develop the photography skills they need to pursue careers in journalism

Overview

Client

Cameras for Girls helps marginalised women and girls in Africa build better lives for themselves using photography skills.

The organisation equips girls with cameras and the technical and business skills they need to get jobs or create their own. Ultimately, their mission is to support their students’ capacity to change their lives and the lives of their families and communities.

Scope

They reached out for an elevated website that will help the organisation attract and inform their audience, share their stories and images, and crucially, increase their fundraising efforts in order to create a bigger impact.

The Challenge

Cameras for Girls offers a service that appeals to their donors. It is clear that the program uses a successful formula.

Their biggest challenge was to get in front of a larger audience and earn their buy-in.

In order to do this successfully, they needed a website that reflects the creative nature of photography, is aesthetically appealing, engaging, and informative, so that visitors are eager to learn more about how they can get involved.

The Solution

We decided to build a website that leverages powerful storytelling and trust-building to connect potential donors emotionally to students and their journeys, so that the decision to get involved, and to donate, is an easy one to make.

We wanted to show Cameras for Girls credibility and include trust factors throughout the site and across platforms so that their audience understand how their contributions will be used.

The Results

A new Squarespace website that is easy to use on the backend, and that helps visitors understand why they should care enough to support their mission, trust them enough to donate, and get excited enough to share their story with their networks.

Copy and visuals, including photos taken by the Cameras for Girls team and students, that illustrate the organisation’s mission, program, and results, while maintaining their warmth, playfulness, and approachability.

A gallery of past students sharing their stories and photography portfolios to show visitors the impact of the workshops and training.

Clear calls to action inviting their audience to get involved in different ways based on their capacity.

This design was selected to be featured in The Best Nonprofit Website Designs by DesignRush, a platform known for promoting the best designs.

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Explore what’s working, what’s not, and what would make the biggest difference right now.

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Laura, Your Fertility Coach

thedesignist — Sun, 02 Oct 2022 21:12:33 +0000

Laura, Your Fertility Coach

Fertility Coaching & Consulting Services for Individuals & Couples

Overview

Client

Laura, Your Fertility Coach aka Laura Spencer is on a mission to make fertility support more accessible to individuals and couples across Canada. She works with people at all stages of their fertility journeys through research-backed consulting, coaching, and emotional guidance so that they feel supported every step of the way.

Scope

Laura reached out for a fresh brand, website, and a marketing strategy to take her growing business to the next level.

The Challenge

Laura is really good at what she does and cares deeply about her clients. She takes note of the little things, surprises them with acts of kindness and care, and tailors her coaching and support to ensure it’s right for them.

Her biggest challenge was getting in front of the right people, educating them about what a fertility coach can do for them, and positioning herself as the expert they need.

She needed a powerful brand to showcase her magnetic personality through her marketing and website, and a clear plan to attract and book more clients so that she can empower and support more people on their fertility journeys.

The Solution

We wanted to build a brand presence centred around Laura’s knowledge, empathy, and humour, showing her ideal clients that she understands their concerns and fears, offers a judgement-free safe space to have these conversations, and how she’s different from others in the fertility space.

The Results

Clarity around Laura’s business goals, brand personality, and marketing strategy to help her feel more in control of her business and potential to help more people.

A logo suite and visual elements that Laura can use in different ways, and reflecting her friendliness, warmth, and humour.

Copy showing Laura’s audience that she is equipped to support them throughout their journey, from the moment they start considering getting pregnant, after getting pregnant, and beyond.

A website that shows information about working with Laura, and also designed as a hub of information where her audience can feel safe learning about fertility-related topics without feeling overwhelmed.

Build a stronger, clearer online presence for your community.

Explore what’s working, what’s not, and what would make the biggest difference right now.

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Lis Lee Accounting

thedesignist — Wed, 06 Apr 2022 19:31:27 +0000

Lis Lee Accounting

Bookkeeping & Financial Education for Solopreneurs

Overview

Client

Lis Lee Accounting

Lis Lee is on a mission to help entrepreneurs build businesses that feel fulfilling and are more profitable by providing them with a solid financial education. Lis reached out for a fresh visual branding strategy to confidently launch her new online program.

Scope

Lis wanted to elevate her visual branding so that she can feel more confident in her business strategies and focus on exactly what she needs to do to sell her course and services successfully.

The Moodboard

The Results

Developed a sophisticated logo suite, adding a touch of Lis’s playfulness by using a bar graph logo that also stands for the initials in her name.

Curated a colour story and typography that reflects Lis’s brand personality and the emotional transformation she wants her clients to feel about the benefits she can help them achieve.

Developed a suite of icons and graphics to use across her website, social media, and online course platform.

Visual Brand Assets

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