United Way approached us with a challenge: create an annual campaign that would not only communicate the breadth of their work but also connect emotionally with people in a way their existing materials hadn’t. They wanted something bold, something that would make people stop, think, and feel the real impact of giving.

Strategically, we focused on their core narrative: “changing the story.” Our creative solution was to visually depict transformation, showing the before and after of lives improved through United Way’s programs in education, income, and health.

We developed a series of split-screen visuals that brought this idea to life. Each image pairs two halves of a single person, representing life before and after intervention: a boy struggling with reading beside the same child thriving with a stack of books; a family unsure of their next meal contrasted with one walking out of the store with groceries; a woman navigating financial hardship now empowered with stability and purpose. These weren’t abstract concepts, they were human stories, distilled into a single, striking image.

Design-wise, the campaign was built to scale across print, digital, and environmental formats. We also created custom infographics for the annual report, turning statistics into an accessible, engaging format that mapped out United Way’s goals, impact, and ways to get involved.

The result was a campaign that broke away from nonprofit norms, visually impactful, emotionally resonant, and strategically designed to reframe what change really looks like.