Book Photo: Raquita Henderson, Spread Photo: J.P. Burcks
Designing a Community-Driven Research & Engagement Program
Food City St. Louis
Food City is a community-driven initiative, working to transform how St. Louis grows, shares, and governs food, with a goal of building a city where food is a right, not a privilege. The project called for a full visual identity, a website, event design, and the design of a peer-reviewed, landmark food systems report, all built around the conviction that the people most affected by food inequity are also the ones best positioned to solve it.
Scope of Services
The Strategy
The strategic foundation was listening. Food City STL needed a visual identity that felt less like a traditional nonprofit and more like an open invitation, something collaborative, inclusive, and grounded in the stories of real people. We worked to build a brand that could hold both the rigor of serious research and the warmth of a community gathering, drawing a clear visual thread between the connections Food City STL was building and the gaps it was working to close.
The Idea(s)
The visual identity was designed to be adaptive, a system of tools and elements that could flex across contexts without losing coherence. We developed a brand that could show up consistently whether it was on a website, a social media post, an event banner, or the cover of a major research publication. The centerpiece of the project was the Food For All report, a substantial, research-driven document that we refused to let look like a policy brief. Hand-painted covers came from a collaborative session where artists gathered, engaged with the content and research, and created something that felt as alive as the movement it documented.
The Delivery
The final suite of deliverables included a full visual identity, a style guide, a website, event design materials, and the Food For All book itself. Every element was built to work together and to work without us, giving the Food City St. Louis team the tools to show up consistently and confidently across every platform and public moment.
A Thoughtful Approach
Made Human
The collaborative drawing session that produced the covers was itself an act of community, artists responding to ideas, data, and stories with something made by hand, together. That is the kind of design that participates in a movement.
