The OSI Baltimore Community Fellows network made a strong showing at the 2nd Grassroots DesignFest, held on Saturday, March 2, sponsored by MICA and the T. Rowe Price Foundation. A daylong hackathon-style event, DesignFest 2019 paired 21 grassroots nonprofits with teams of student and professional designers to create innovative design solutions. Projects included everything from logo designs to website updates to branding strategies and more.
Fellows brought their talents to every facet of DesignFest, as event coordinators, design team members, workshop presenters, and nonprofit participants. The event was organized by 2011 Fellow Maya Kosok. 2017 Fellow Kim Loper returned for a second year as a design team participant, and 2016 Fellow Jermaine T. Bell delivered a dynamic workshop covering social media strategy and storytelling for the nonprofit participants.
The day began with design teams and nonprofits having an initial meeting, and then the design teams quickly rolled up their sleeves and got to work while the nonprofit participants attended workshops to hone their branding and design skills. The teams continued to check in with their nonprofit partners as the day unfolded, and by the afternoon every team produced some amazing design outcomes. As the mad dash for printing final designs ensued, teams hung their work up for display, wrapped up their work, and handed the projects off to the nonprofits.
The organizations hailed from many different sectors, and at least 1/4 of them had roots in the OSI Community Fellowships network. Access Art (founded by 2003 Fellow Shawn James) worked on a new logo design, Baltimore Teacher Supply Swap (founded by 2016 Fellow Melissa Badeker) crafted new website pages, Farm Alliance of Baltimore (founded by Kosok) developed new icons and visual models to reflect their core values and strategic plan, Pennsylvania Avenue Black Arts & Entertainment District (launched by 2015 Fellow Brion Gill) brainstormed a visual identity and logo for the brand new arts district, Touching Young Lives (founded by 2017 Fellow Shantell Roberts) generated new designs for the outside of their Portable Alternative Cribs, and Youth Empowered Society (founded by Lara Law, now run by former Fellows Associate Blair Franklin) created a foundation for a brand new website including the sitemap and wireframes.
The day was filled with creative energy and a commitment to leveraging the impact of 21 very dynamic grassroots groups. True to form, OSI Community Fellows showed up and made some amazing things happen. To learn more about DesignFest, visit designfest.weebly.com
