STAT BOX
Q: SheGives is getting tremendous praise for its branding and graphic design, thank you very much. How and when did you get started?
A: We were first approached by Kirstan in early 2013, through a referral from fellow SheGives Founding Member, Erin Gates. I was instantly intrigued. We kicked off the branding development that Spring.
Q: Is that Erin Gates, who pens the Elements of Style blog, which gets like 400,000 page views a month? Nice graphic work, Jessica! No wonder we went to you. And can you share something about the process for coming up with the look and feel of SheGives’ logo and branding?
A: Yes! And we are so happy for Erin. Kirstan came to the table with great inspiration, including some beautiful watercolor flowers she liked. The concept was clear – feminine but not girly, sophisticated but not stuffy. We explored a lot of different directions, all keeping her flower inspiration prominent. It just wasn’t working. When we took a step back and moved it to a secondary element, the polished look we were going for came into focus.
Q: How did you approach communicating SheGives mission — to connect passionate, inquisitive, dynamic and committed donors to a slate of diligenced nonprofits around Greater Boston — through its visuals?
A: The members of She Gives are smart and savvy women. We didn’t want to fill space with useless or fluffy content. Clean navigation makes it easy to access information about the non-profits, other members, upcoming events – what they’re there to do. Beautiful and elegant. Very no nonsense.
Q: SheGives has a lot of members who are entrepreneurs – across a broad spectrum, including finance and investments, technology, biotechnology, architecture, restaurants, interior design, photography, and even someone like Farah Lewis, an opera star who is building a career as a soloist. Why do you love being an entrepreneur?
A: Being an entrepreneur has its obvious benefits and is wonderful, but choosing to surround myself with clients doing the same – like SheGives, which is an innovative and entrepreneurial approach to giving, not to mention attracting a lot of entrepreneurs – has made it even better. There’s nothing I love more than meeting someone pursuing their dreams as there is an addicting energy and passion surrounding them. With design being such a personal process, I get to be a part of helping them bring those dreams to reality – and I’m just SO proud of them when they launch!
Q: What are you working on now that excites you?
A: We’re having a fun time working with The Cambridge Office for Tourism right now. We were brought on board to rebrand them, launching their new logo and branding a few months back. We’re still busy working on their marketing and print pieces – it’s been a fun change of pace and a great team to work with!
Q: Cool. Thank you. Learn more about Jessica’s design firm, JSGD.
