A group of local designers is working to make the holidays brighter for one local nonprofit.
On Dec. 14, members of AIGA Toledo will spend the day working with an organization in need to help them retool their design aesthetic as part of the group’s 5th Annual Design Charrette. However, the 20 designers, Web developers and writers involved in the project — as well
as the public — won’t know who they are helping until the morning of the event at Seed Coworking.
However, Jenn Stucker, Community Outreach Chair for AIGA Toledo, has met with the receiving organization, a local homeless shelter, ahead of time to see what the group needs most. Stucker said that, in the past, nonprofits filled out an application before being selected. But this year, the chosen organization sought out AIGA Toledo for help even before the selection process began.
“We felt this was a group who could really benefit from us. They’re really trying to put things together on a shoestring budget, and we thought we could help them the most,” Stucker said.
On the day of the event, members of the nonprofit will let the designers know more about what they do, and what kind of challenges they face from a design perspective. Designers will spend the day creating designs for the organization’s website, brochures and letterhead logos for paperwork.
Representatives from the nonprofit will return at lunchtime for a mini presentation, and will leave the designers to work until later that evening, when the final projects are revealed. Homewood Press will donate printing services and Commerce Paper will provide paper products.
“We are especially excited about doing this during the holiday season,” Stucker said. “What’s really so great about this event is how good it makes everyone feel.”
Past nonprofits that have benefited from AIGA Toledo’s Design Charrette include the Martin Luther King Kitchen for the Poor, Self Expression Teen Theater (SETT), Claire’s Day and Family House.
Stucker said that while this is only a one-day event, the impact lasts much longer.
“What is so important is that there’s this ripple effect. With the Martin Luther King Kitchen for the Poor, shortly thereafter they got a truck donated for their deliveries. With Family House, we were not able to fulfill all their needs in one day. But BGSU students in a graphic design course were able to do extra things for them, to do signage and wayfinding,” Stucker said. “That’s what is so special. We’re dipping our finger in, and we don’t know where this is going to take us.”
