Rebranding a Global Nonprofit
YEAR
2022
ROLE
Sole Designer
TIMELINE
4 Months
MY RESPONSIBILITIES
Research, Branding, UI Design, UX Design, Web Design
RestoringVision needed a new brand identity and redesigned website that better reflected the nonprofit’s global impact and mission to end the vision crisis. The goal was to create a professional, trustworthy presence that resonated with donors, partners, and the communities they serve.
RestoringVision’s brand identity had barely changed since its founding. The goal was to create a modern identity that reflected its global impact and leadership in vision health. The website’s user experience was cluttered and confusing, making it hard for users to take action. We needed to tell a compelling story while simplifying how users engage and give.
A Modern Identity for a Global Mission
The client came into the rebrand open to major change, which gave me the opportunity to rethink their visual identity from the ground up. They wanted to reconnect with their audience and highlight the idea of “restoration,” both in terms of eyesight and overall quality of life. Their old logo, with its hand-drawn elements and dated type, came across as informal and misaligned with the organization’s impact. The color palette also felt too soft—light blues and low contrast that failed to emphasize important information.
High Level Goals
01
Elevate the brand identity
02
Simplify and improve the donation experience
Branding Choices and Design
I explored new symbolism to replace the glasses-based imagery and landed on circular forms that represent vision, growth, and unity. The final logo features four interlocking shapes, each tied to a core principle of the organization—heritage, experience, service, and benefit—all working together to reinforce the brand’s promise: life restored.
Flexible, Meaningful Visual System
We reimagined the color system by brightening their primary blue and building a supporting tetrad palette. The expanded range added energy and meaning to each visual component, making it easier to highlight calls to action and differentiate content. Font pairings were chosen with accessibility and tone in mind: Rubik and Karla, both practical, warm sans serifs that felt approachable without losing professionalism.
After refining the brand identity and working closely with the client, I moved on to the website redesign. The goal was to create a site that clearly tells RestoringVision’s story, highlights their impact, and makes it easier for users to navigate and donate with confidence.
Discover the Mission and Join the Cause
Our approach focused on three things: simplifying the structure, weaving in storytelling, and making donations easier. We reworked the sitemap to reduce redundancy and surface high-priority content. Each page was redesigned to guide users with quick intros, clear CTAs, and purposeful content paths.
See the Impact in Action
Through new copy, curated photography, and video, we helped communicate RestoringVision’s mission in a more human way to build trust and keep users engaged. I designed hero sections to introduce the page content and create space for strategic CTAs.
Take the First Step Toward Restoring Vision
For the donation flow, we stripped away friction by shortening forms, breaking the process into digestible steps, and adding “Other Ways to Give” directly to the main donation page. These small changes helped improve clarity and reduce overwhelm, making it easier for people to support the cause in whatever way worked best for them.
Key Learnings
I was involved in this project from 0 → 1, which gave me deep insight into how brand and UX choices connect. This project sharpened my communication, strengthened my client collaboration skills, and helped me learn to advocate for design decisions.
Since launch, the impact has been exciting to watch. The branding I created received a Silver ADDY Award, and RestoringVision was featured in Nasdaq’s Closing Bell ceremony, with their new visuals displayed on a billboard in Times Square.
Seeing their visibility grow reinforced the value of building a brand that feels as ambitious and credible as the organization behind it.
If I could go back, I’d tighten up some UI details like refining padding, type sizing, and component styles. If I had more development knowledge at the time, I would’ve created a more comprehensive design system to better support the handoff. That said, I’m proud of how much we elevated the brand and helped RestoringVision connect with users in a more intuitive, meaningful way.
