Roles

Visual Designer

Skills

Sketch, Invision, Photoshop

Time Frame

5 Weeks

Collaborators

Lauren Javor, Interaction Designer

Background

Millions of kids have experienced trauma or live with adversity. Now in its third decade, Seattle-based non-profit Art with Heart taps into the healing power of art to help improve kids’ lives. Teachers, counselors and therapists work with the group’s art therapy lesson plans. The plans engage children, help them deal with their situations, and better articulate their emotions.

Challenge

The lessons are not available in digital formats so it is hard to zero in on the right lesson or scale the lessons to a larger number of students. Also, much of the curriculum assumes longer working sessions that many of the counselors, teachers, and therapists are not able to schedule and manage.

Solution

To help the Art with Heart board envision meaningful change, we worked to understand the plans and discover ways to provide more flexibility to lesson leaders. This work helped us embrace and extend their brand in ways that are more effective. We conducted a number of workshops and recorded videos of user-testing sessions. Videos of these tests show how teachers and counselors struggle to make the most of the lesson plans. The team at Art with Heart is now better able to evangelize ideas for positive change to board members.