Overview

MakerUSA is a 501c3 Nonprofit whose goal is to unlock the potential of students living in marginalized communities in order to fundamentally change their direction, across everything from social mobility and racial equity to economic competitiveness, the environment, and national security. The organization aims to do this by leveraging making, skills, and project-based learning as the vehicle to drive success.

Goal

Help shape MakerUSA’s mission and vision through storytelling, UX, and visual design. 

Outcome

The concept video, website, and 2022-23 Prospectus helped support MakerUSA’s rapidly growing community and served as valuable assets for continued funding from trusted investors like NACCE, Arconic Foundation, and Genentech.

ROLE

Design Consultant

METHODS

UX, interviewing, video editing, presentation design, layout design

TOOLS

Squarespace, XD, Premiere, Zoom

TIMELINE

Jan. 2022 - Jan. 2023 (12 months)

Method

I was asked to join the founding team of MakerUSA and worked directly with the President and CEO of the company. 

I started designing the website by sketching wireframes and organizing content. For the concept video I interviewed several players involved in Maker Education throughout the country. Finally, I designed the the 2022-23 Prospectus that would aid in funding pitches and awareness campaigns about Maker Education.

Key Learnings

You don’t need fancy equipment to craft a meaningful story.

When I was first starting out as a novice producer I was interested in capturing content and crafting stories. I was intimidated by the equipment, lighting, audio. But after working in production for two years, I started to understand the value of high production quality. Remote work changed all of this, and I was back to capturing stories in their most raw form. 

I cut together recorded Zoom interviews and used b-roll from previous work in Maker Ed. But the final piece still gets the job done - communicating MakerUSA’s why and helping tell their story to investors.