Stop AAPI Hate
In 2021, I had the opportunity to provide pro-bono consultation and design services for the racial justice organization Stop AAPI Hate, which studies and addresses discrimination and racially motivated violence against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.
I was approached as a creative lead to audit and revamp the branding, design, and content strategy for the Stop AAPI Hate Instagram page. We created updated guidelines, designs, content pillars, and templates for the Stop AAPI Hate team to use as they continued to share stories and grow their audience.
As an Asian American myself, I found it meaningful to support a wonderful organization doing important work for communities like mine. Please note that some design examples on this page contain descriptions of violence and racism, which some readers may find disturbing.
Voice and Tone
We started by looking at their overall social brand strategy. Our goal was to invite people into the movement with a consistent voice that was strong, empathetic, and non-apologetic about standing against injustice.
Our updated voice and tone guidelines favored concise, actionable language paired with bolder designs. This helped title frames stand out in social feeds without overwhelming readers. We designed multiple types of lockups with Instagram Carousels in mind, which would allow larger stories to be broken into multiple frames and end with a call to action.
Content Pillars
In order to better organize the types of content shared by Stop AAPI Hate, we created three content pillars for different types of posts. Each pillar has a distinct voice and design to differentiate itself, while still sitting within the overall Stop AAPI Hate brand.
Educate
The Educate pillar shares and contextualizes issues facing AAPI communities. This content uses stories, quotes, statistics, reports, and news headlines to educate the audience and create actionable steps to change.
AAPI Changemakers
AAPI Changemakers is a community-driven series that highlights AAPI organizations, volunteer groups, and individuals who are making incredible contributions to AAPI communities. This series is an opportunity to share uplifting and inspiring content that celebrates these groups and boosts their audience using Stop AAPI Hate’s platform.
Stop AAPI Hate 101
Stop AAPI Hate 101 is a Highlighted Instagram Story that introduces new followers to the organization.
Design Templates
With the new design and tone guidelines in place, we designed a large number of Photoshop and Canva templates for the Stop AAPI Hate team to use to easily create new content going forward.
