The Challenge

The challenge was to communicate serious and sometimes complicated community issues without allowing the messaging to become visually overwhelming or emotionally distant. Each post needed to communicate its primary message quickly, establish an emotional connection, and give the audience a clear reason to keep reading or take action.

I also needed to create enough visual variety to keep recurring campaigns from feeling repetitive while maintaining consistency across an extended social media schedule. That meant balancing photography, typography, color, hierarchy, calls to action, and campaign-specific messaging while maintaining a recognizable JFCS presence.

Design Process

Each campaign had a different communication goal, so I developed the visual approach around what the audience needed to understand and do.

Backpack Drive

The campaign used bright, approachable imagery and straightforward typography to create an upbeat back-to-school feeling while making the donation request immediately understandable. A recurring “Staff Pick” format also helped create consistency while allowing the content to feel personal and varied.

Max Block Food Pantry Challenge Match

This campaign had a stronger fundraising focus. Repeated messaging such as “DOUBLE YOUR MATCH” and “DOUBLE YOUR IMPACT” in action-inspired typography established a clear campaign hook, while photography of volunteers, families, and pantry visitors helped show the people and services behind the fundraising effort.

Photography Credit: Kyle and Marquiette Dorrell, Jax Film Lab (@jaxfilmlab on Instagram)

Disability Pride Month

This series was designed primarily for education and awareness rather than direct fundraising. Each weekly post explored a different way disability can intersect with food insecurity, housing instability, aging, and access to support services. Strong imagery and concise headline treatments allowed each topic to stand on its own while maintaining a cohesive series.

Deliverables

• Backpack Drive social media campaign
• Max Block Food Pantry Challenge Match social media campaign
• Disability Pride Month educational social media series
• Campaign-specific calls to action and donation messaging
• Informational and awareness-focused social content
• Photography produced specifically for campaign use
• Recurring visual assets for social platforms

Tools & Workflow

Design Software

• Adobe Photoshop
• Canva
• ChatGPT
• Meta Business Suite

Design Disciplines

• Campaign Design
• Visual Storytelling
• Content Strategy
• Typography
• Creative Direction

What I Learned

All of these social media campaigns reinforced for me how much strategy goes into balanced and effective social media design.

The experience of coordinating on-set photography for the Pantry Challenge Match strengthened my ability to think about a campaign from both the production and design perspectives.

A successful fundraising campaign is as much about clear messaging, creating emotional connections, and giving the audience obvious next steps as it is about making something visually impactful.

And using social media towards community education demands a thoughtful tone and careful curation to make sure the content is both engaging and supported with factual sources.