My Unexpected January
Grief and Hope logo (Andrea Bowers)
Pacific Coast Highway near Big Sur (Erik Olsen)
Why share this study?
My motivation for sharing this project is twofold. First, it offered me the creative freedom to establish a new brand. Throughout my career, I’ve primarily worked within structured design systems, so I appreciated the opportunity to define my own visual identity for a project. Secondly, developing the Grief and Hope website was part of a broader initiative to give back to the Los Angeles community. Being involved in this mission sparked a realization—what if I could take "designing for good" into the next phase of my career? What if I aligned myself with projects, industries, and people committed to enrichment rather than extraction? This project opened the door to new possibilities, inspiring me to seek out more opportunities—whether in my career or through side projects—that create meaningful impact.
Empathy and advocacy Information architecture Color theory Squarespace proficiency
What is Grief and Hope?
Grief and Hope is a volunteer-led organization that emerged during the 2025 Los Angeles fires to support artists and art workers affected by the disaster. The name comes from artist, activist, and fellow co-founder Andrea Bowers' body of work, Grief and Hope, which explores the theme of ‘Environmental Grief’—the emotional impact of losing natural environments due to human-induced climate change.
In the background of the exhibition, you can see the Grief and Hope signage, which directly connects to the logo used in the relief effort
My role
What began as a simple GoFundMe campaign with a goal of raising $500k quickly gained momentum and surpassed expectations. A friend and fellow co-founder reached out, asking if I would volunteer my skills to design a website for the organization. Without hesitation, I agreed.
The approach
Design constraints
I had none. Exciting! Terrifying!
The primary goals of the website were to:
Share information about Grief and Hope and its mission
Provide a clear path for donations
Connect artists and art workers with available assistance
The only request was to incorporate the Grief and Hope logo designed by Andrea and to publish the website as quickly as possible. I recommended using Squarespace for its ease of use and the ability to avoid additional development resources.
Defining the brand
My first step was to compile all Grief and Hope content, organizing it by theme and priority. This process resulted in four distinct pages, which I presented as wireframes.
Once approved by the team, I began exploring the visual design. I knew the electric blue would serve as the brand’s anchor. It represented energy and clarity. To guide the design further, I asked one of my stakeholders for adjectives that captured the desired essence of the site.
Her response:
Empowering – A focus on enabling people to rebuild
Urgent – Reflecting the need for immediate action
Color palette explorations
Here are a few palette variations I explored, using Andrea’s blue and black as the foundation colors
Above is the final section
Typography explorations in Squarespace
Headline: Space Grotesk, Body: Raleway
This was the final selection. Space Grotesk offering a clean yet distinctive personality with a touch of warmth. Check out the lowercase descenders (g, j, y). I also love the rounded bowls of Raleway, which create an inviting and approachable body copy
Headline: Dela Gothic One, Body: Epilogue
Headline: Anton, Body: Epilogue
Unsplash.com photography
I was looking for two types of photos: some that could be used as potential background textures and others as focal points alongside the body copy
Figma sandbox
Once I selected the color palette, type styles, and a handful of photos I was excited about, I jumped back into Figma. This part of the process usually involves me putting on a fresh pot of coffee and listening to something very danceable. This month it happened to be a lot of Bad Bunny’s new album, DeBí TiRAR MaS FOToS.*
During the design process, I really just play. If I’m gravitating toward a look, I typically duplicate a frame and push it even further while keeping in mind the limitations of Squarespace. Using Auto Layout is also great because I can easily drag and drop sections I like into a frame—mixing and matching elements that work well together.
Coming out of my design frenzy, I presented two strong directions to my stakeholders. After a short round of feedback, we landed on a blended version of the two concepts. Once the final direction was approved, I extended the brand elements across all pages. In under two weeks, the site was published.
*If you haven’t listened to it yet… you need to! I don’t even speak Spanish and WOW.
A few examples of ideas I was iterating on
Out in the wild
Since launching, Grief and Hope has surpassed its original $500k fundraising goal and is now aiming for a stretch goal of $1.25 million! While the cost of rebuilding will reach billions, it has been inspiring to see Angelenos step up to support their beloved communities. I'm honored to have played a small role in this relief effort.