Bard Prison Initiative Messaging

When the Bard Prison Initiative began planning for fundraising campaigns that would ensure the future of their college-in-prison program, they called on Flyleaf to drive the naming, voice, and design for their communications.

Informed by an existing strategic plan and interviews with students, alumni, staff, and community members, I led the BPI and Flyleaf teams through creative workshops and concept development. After aligning on vision for the organization’s messaging, I worked as the lead designer on various print and digital assets, bringing the verbal strategy to life with visual design.

What I did:

  • Facilitation 
  • Mailer Design
  • Messaging
  • Presentation Design
  • Workshop Design

Who I worked with:

  • Flyleaf Creative (Agency)
  • Bard Prison Initiative (Client)
  • Ojus Doshi (Annual Report Design)
Collage of materials for the Bard Prison Initiative, with headlines including "Re:Volition," "Reverb," "Here to Tomorrow," and "The Future is Now."

To kickstart new thinking about BPI’s messaging, I designed and facilitated a workshop for their team. We dove into the donor/supporter mindset and explored goals for upcoming fundraising campaigns.

Outline for the BPI Messaging Workshop. Includes details on workshop setup and agenda/activities, which include a warm-up, a portion dedicated to building understanding, and framing the challenge.
Screenshot of a Miro file with boards for the BPI Messaging Workshop.

Inspired by key ideas from the workshop, I developed three concepts for messaging, each with a headline, headline variations, and a sample of a visual direction.

Overview of a titling concept for BPI campaigns, called "No Other."

While the first “No Other” concept didn’t resonate with BPI, the second concept, “Here to Tomorrow,” began to feel more like them.

Overview of a titling concept for BPI campaigns, called "Here to Tomorrow."

We used the headline as a storytelling device for a donor presentation, and framed BPI’s vision of the “tomorrow” that is made possible by its supporters.

Presentation cover page with the headline "Here to Tomorrow" and a graduate moving from a background of a college graduation ceremony into the New York City skyline.

The final concept, “Re:Volition,” played on the existing BPI tagline of “Reimagining the Place of Higher Education” while introducing new “re” phrases.

Overview of a titling concept for BPI campaigns, called "Re:Volition"

This expanded take on the “re” concept inspired early ideas for their inaugural annual report.

Cover design for the Bard Prison Initiative Annual report, titled "Reverb." The cover features taglines that ripple out from the main title, including "Reaffirming our Vision," "Reimagining Higher Education," and "Redoubling Our Impact."

The report’s final title of “The Future is Now” was inspired by conversations around the “Here to Tomorrow” concept. And while the “Reverb” title didn’t stick, many of the proposed “Re” headlines made it to print.

Collage of pages from the Bard Prison Initiative 2021 Annual Report, titled "The Future is Now." Spreads feature images of college classrooms and graduation ceremonies, and are accompanied by titles including "Reverberating Impact" and "Reimagining the Place of Higher Education."

We also used “The Future is Now” for the EOFY fundraising campaign. As part of the appeal, I designed a mailer that revealed different phrases as it was removed from its sleeve.