NAEA Conference Presentation & Branding Action Research: The Art of Being Curious
I co-designed and facilitated an original interactive presentation for an audience of educators, using qualitative and quantitative insights to illuminate emerging trends in learning and creativity. Through immersive storytelling, dynamic visuals, and live design, I inspired more than 2,000 participants globally and sparked meaningful conversations about innovation in arts education.
As a Project Manager, I led a cross-functional creative team of 10 graphic, motion, and video designers to reimagine and build a refreshed school brand identity. Together, we developed multiple concept presentations and high-impact design deliverables through an inclusive, collaborative process that elevated the school’s visual presence and strengthened its institutional brand.
Audience
Diverse and deeply invested school community, including faculty, senior leadership, students, and parents.
The NAEA conference presentation reached 1000s of educators, learners and creative professionals worldwide.
My Role
Project Manager, Graphic Designer, Data + Research Visualization, Co-Presenter, and Co-Facilitator
Tools Used
Adobe Creative Suite: Indesign, Illustrator, Photoshop, Google Slides, Google forms & PowerPoint
The Problem
PA Leadership Charter School: Center for Performing and Fine Arts (CPFA) needed a stronger logo that reflected the uniqueness and creativity of the school and its diverse student population. They needed a fresh, new logo for the school to boost enrollment and bring the community together.
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The Solution
To guide students toward a thoughtful, community-aligned brand identity, I led them through a full Design Thinking process, from discovery to polished visual outcomes. We began with empathy mapping, journey mapping, and interviews with the logo committee to deeply understand stakeholder needs. Students then moved into ideation and prototyping through logo sketching, iterative refinement, structured feedback loops, and data-driven decision-making. The process culminated in formal presentations to the committee and final color studies, ensuring the chosen direction was both strategically grounded and visually compelling.
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Development Process
Following the Design Thinking process from discovery to polished visual outcomes.
01
Empathize:
We began with empathy mapping, journey mapping, and interviews with the logo committee to deeply understand stakeholder needs.
02
Define:
Based on data collected from interviews and empathy mapping, the design team defined the problem set: CPFA needed a stronger logo that reflected the uniqueness and creativity of the school and its diverse student population.
03
Ideate:
The design team focused on logo sketching, iterative refinement, structured feedback loops, and data-driven decision-making.
04
Prototype:
Based on sketches and feedback loops designers begin creating digital variations to present to the Logo Committee.
05
Test:
​The process culminated in formal presentations to the committee and final color studies, ensuring the chosen direction was both strategically grounded and visually compelling.
