With the 2015-16 El Niño forecast to be one of the strongest on record, experts anticipated flooding especially in California and other parts of the U.S. At FEMA we developed graphics and messaging to encourage homeowners to get flood insurance coverage in time.
Flood insurance reforms continue to be a priority for the agency. We developed a timeline to show major milestones and changes implemented over the past two years.
My role: Visual design, copywriting and concepts
The summer of 2015 was an intense season for wildfires. At FEMA, we developed a series of social media graphics explaining Fire Management Assistance Grants, to help the public understand this type of federal assistance.
After researching how the grant works and what the funding goes toward, I designed these graphics to highlight different aspects of the grant and the process for awarding funds. Photographs were sourced from FEMA’s media library.
My role: Visual design, copywriting, concepts
Public Assistance is FEMA's largest grant program, but the delivery process hadn't changed in more than ten years. Graphics were developed to explain the "why" behind recent restructuring of the process, and to provide applicants an overview of what to expect going forward.
The team from the program office had spent more than a year conducting research, focus groups, data analysis, and diving into lean management techniques. After sitting in on two week-long trainings for their subject matter experts in field offices, I honed in on the major themes and messages the team wanted to communicate. They wanted to show how the current way of doing things was broken, and how the new way would resolve the largest pain points for both external customers and internal staff. Ultimately the changes would streamline and make the process more efficient, getting grant dollars to communities faster to recover after a disaster.
The visuals compared number of projects, grouped into three sizes, and the distribution of grant dollars in each category. 93% of projects were small, and only 1% were extra large. But 54% of total grant dollars were distributed to extra large projects, while small projects received 20% of total grant dollars. The data revealed that triaging projects by size and complexity could lead to more efficient processing.
These visuals, among others, were presented to Congress, at industry conferences, and staff trainings. Senior leadership remarked that the visuals enabled them to effectively establish a baseline of understanding with very mixed audiences, and get buy-in for the changes.
Illustration and layout for a climate change research story.
Responsive website for the College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences at the University of Maryland.
Various designs and collateral for the College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences at the University of Maryland.
Logos
Postcards
Fact sheets
Stickers/buttons
Social media graphics
Event branding
Graphic design for wedding programs.
The Scope was the magazine of the College of Chemical & Life Sciences. This issue’s cover story was on the impacts of environmental change on biodiversity. Other features covered malaria research and nanotechnology, and an infographic to visualize the changes in the college's departments over more than 150 years.
