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Case Study: HEAR Scholarship Foundation Client: HEAR Scholarship Foundation | hearfoundation.org
Industry: Nonprofit / Education
Role: Ongoing Freelance Senior Brand & Marketing Designer
June 2025–Present
The Challenge: HEAR Scholarship Foundation supports low-income Chicagoland high school seniors with college tuition, mentorship and wraparound services — with a remarkable 98% graduation rate among scholars. When I came on board, the organization had no formal brand style guide and inconsistent typography and design across all their materials. With 96 active scholars, 152 graduates, multiple named scholarship programs and two major annual fundraising events, they needed a cohesive visual system that could scale across every touchpoint — print, digital and event.
The Approach: I stepped in as their ongoing freelance designer and built their brand foundation from the ground up. Starting with a comprehensive style guide — establishing logo lockups (horizontal, vertical, color and reversed), a full primary and secondary color palette and a two-typeface system using Univers — I then applied that system consistently across every piece of communications and collateral the foundation produces:
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​Annual Report — Full multi-page publication featuring scholar spotlights, program statistics, donor recognition, associate board announcement and the organization's impact story
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Named Scholar Profiles — Individual portrait cards for Masloski, Spaniak, Grace Bersted, Pollina Family, Senser, McVean, Chaddick, Partington, Kirkegaard, Dauten and IDEX scholars, each featuring consistent layout, brand colors and the signature swirl design element
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Casino Night Event Suite — Complete event branding including event booklet, silent auction sheets (14 auction items designed with individual layouts), social media graphics, Facebook promotions and event banners
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Social Media — Ongoing content including Scholar Spotlight posts, event promotion graphics and engagement content
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Brand Style Guide — Logo usage rules, color specifications (CMYK and hex), typography hierarchy and brand design elements
The Result: HEAR now presents a unified, professional visual identity across all 90+ schools their scholars attend, every named scholarship and every donor-facing communication. The style guide has created brand consistency that holds whether someone sees a social post, receives a Casino Night invitation or opens the annual report. The foundation has committed over $4.75 million to scholars to date — and the design system I built supports the fundraising events and donor communications that make that possible.
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Key Stats (from the 2025 Annual Report):
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96 active scholars | 152 graduates | 17 new scholars added in 2025
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98% college graduation rate vs. 16% national average for low-income students
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$4.75M+ committed | 82 Chicagoland schools represented | 138 mentors
Overview: HEAR Scholarship Foundation needed a visually engaging annual report to communicate program impact, celebrate donors and reinforce its mission of supporting students through higher education.
My Role: Senior Brand & Marketing Designer | Led concept, visual direction, layout design and production across the full report.
Challenge: The report needed to balance emotional storytelling with dense data, while maintaining clarity, consistency and donor appeal.
Approach:
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Translated complex data into clear, digestible infographics
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Developed a cohesive layout system for consistency across pages
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Used bold color and typography to guide hierarchy and readability
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Designed with both print and digital accessibility in mind
Solution: Created a structured, visually engaging report that blends storytelling with data-driven design.
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Designed infographic-led pages like “HEAR by Numbers”
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Built scalable templates for future reporting
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Integrated donor and sponsor recognition in a polished, branded format
Results:
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Improved clarity and engagement with key impact metrics
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Strengthened donor recognition and connection
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Elevated overall brand perception through cohesive design