Portfolio
Healing to Action
Design: Brand identity, social media, and environmental graphics
Project
Create an event brand identity, social media, and environmental graphics for Healing to Action’s first-ever Solidarity Mercadito.
How Women Unite! Got Connected
Healing to Action (HTA) was part of WU!’s 2020–21 cohort of partner organizations. As an organization co-founded and led by two women of color and centering survivors from Black and brown communities, WU!’s board knew HTA was a values-aligned collaborator.
Photo courtesy of Healing to Action
About Healing to Action
HTA’s mission is to end gender-based violence (GBV) by building the leadership and collective power of the communities most impacted—immigrant, Black and brown, low-wage, low-income, disability, and LGBTQ survivors. HTA’s innovative model builds power within these marginalized communities and transforms the narrative of survivors from “victims” to critical leaders in the movement to end GBV.
About the Solidarity Mercadito
“With 40% of survivors living paycheck to paycheck and 1 in 2 survivors as their family’s primary breadwinner, many survivors have embraced entrepreneurship and self-employment to overcome employment hurdles and create more flexible work options.”
HTA’s first Solidarity Mercadito was held on November 13 at the National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago, IL. With 40% of survivors living paycheck to paycheck and 1 in 2 survivors as their family’s primary breadwinner, many survivors have embraced entrepreneurship and self-employment to overcome employment hurdles and create more flexible work options. According to FreeFrom (2022), 29% of survivors said that support in creating or maintaining a small business would help them reach their financial goals.
HTA decided to uplift the entrepreneurial spirit and economic power of survivors within their survivor-leadership base and among the communities most impacted by gender-based violence by hosting their inaugural Solidarity Mercadito! Community members were invited to come shop with and directly support their survivor-leaders and other survivors in the community who have small businesses.
This free event included shopping, music, food, drinks, and raffle prizes. It was a resounding success and true reflection of what a community can achieve when they come together to support one another.
About the Design
WU! designer, Alyssa Brown, collaborated with HTA’s Development Manager, Ashley Hart, to create a visual identity for the Solidarity Mercadito. The color palette references fall, the season the Mercadito was held, complementing the current HTA brand color palette with deep, rich purples.
The full identity included uniquely designed graphics utilizing a decorative awning to reiterate the market theme. The promotional assets included, social media graphics, event signage, and a series of e-newsletter templates for HTA to engage with their audience.
Additionally, WU! collaborated with survivor-business owners, through the support of HTA’s Organizing Manager Patricia Islas, to develop a series of business cards for each individual vendor.
“Alyssa and the Women Unite! team were amazing to work with! I don’t have a lot of experience working with designers, but Alyssa totally got our vision without me needing to know all the design terms or proper lingo. I’m so impressed at how she was able to capture what we were going for and use her design talent to elevate our vision. Her flexibility and ability to adapt and adjust to our needs made the process not just successful, but also enjoyable!”
—Ashley Hart, Development Manager, Healing to Action
