What problems did I help you solve?
Anna is a top notch graphic designer, and I very much appreciate how rare that actually is in a very crowded field. But what makes Anna truly special is that she is a storyteller. She uses graphics, colors, and spatial arrangements to convey meaning in ways I never would have thought possible. And I’m not talking about the kind of obscure meaning that you’d need an Art History degree to decipher, but meanings that readily jump out at the viewer quickly and powerfully.
Case in point was when I was invited to speak in Beijing, China about starting a social enterprise on a shoestring budget. Our name, Community Ladders, leaves a lot to be desired in the Mandarin translation. I received a disproportionately high number of complements on our logo and our choice of color palette. People may not have fully understood the ‘ladders’ concept I was trying to tell them about, but they instantly got Anna’s building-blocks / staircase logo on a gut level. It was at that moment that I started to truly appreciate the standalone power of Anna’s design work.
Have you worked with other designers before?
I have worked with a number of designers while working in large organizations, and at my social enterprise we did two crowd-sourced projects before beginning work with Anna. Honestly, I didn’t think logos or how we arranged things on a page really mattered until I worked with Anna. The only thing I thought was important was that the logo didn’t suck and thereby detract from the brand. I was deeply skeptical that design, even when done well, could add real value. Anna alone has inspired my 180.
What was memorable about your experience?
When people ask me how Community Ladders has lasted this long (now in our fourth year) in the face of so many challenges, one of the central factors I mention is the early rebranding Anna did for us that gave us credibility that was quite a bit ahead of where we were developmentally.
And that brings up yet another thing that makes Anna so special – she is an integral partner in the growth of our brand – a Brand Director in every sense of the word. As our organization grows, we are working with Anna to refine our communications, message, community-facing media, and client-facing documents.
A recent example of how useful she can be, even when I am not expecting it, came two weeks ago. I gave her a handout for a seminar and asked her to make it a bit more presentable (I write like you’d expect from a male Engineer). Not only did she rock the typefaces, but she redesigned the sheet to turn it into an interactive note-taking tool rather than just a summary sheet. And she did it in a way that was fresh and modern – it communicated that we were professional, edgy, and different. Even after several years of working with Anna, she is still continuously finding ways to add very real value to our brand, message, and communications.
As I look back on Anna’s exceptional body of work at Community Ladders, I shudder to think that I was originally only looking for a logo designer. We owe our success as an organization in good measure to our blind luck in finding one of the best kept secrets in the D.C. design world.
Take a look at my branding, marketing, and other design work for Community Ladders »