THE CHALLENGE
Institute for Advancing Computing Education (IACE), research-focused nonprofit advancing K-12 computing education, recently developed new brand identity but needed help rolling it out across platforms. As research organization, they needed brand system their team could manage without designer on call. Challenge: take existing brand and turn it into practical, easy-to-use tools staying consistent and working long-term. Without accessible templates and clear guidelines, brand would remain unused, leaving organization looking inconsistent and unprofessional across communication
THE SOLUTION
Building on IACE’s existing visual identity (triple-bar logomark, navy/green color system, Mulish/Open Sans typography), expanded brand guidelines giving clearer direction on asset usage. Created editable template library for Google Slides (presentations, decks, webinars) and social media (Instagram posts, carousels, stories, LinkedIn graphics) enabling team to produce professional materials without design skills. Designed geometric angled device as flexible framing element echoing logomark’s structure. Uploaded all assets into Canva with pre-built templates, allowing team to adjust and apply brand elements independently. Setup made brand scalable, efficient, polished across everything they publish without bottlenecking on external designer.
MY ROLE
Led brand implementation as Creative Strategist, translating existing identity into operational system.
✔ Refined brand style guide clarifying logo usage (primary triple-bar mark, full lockup with tagline), typography hierarchy (Mulish Bold headlines, Open Sans body, Century Gothic/Calibri alternates), color applications (navy primary, green accent, extended palette with yellows, oranges, blues for data visualization)
✔ Designed 15+ Google Slides templates: title slides, section dividers, team bios, quote layouts, image+text splits, data visualization slides maintaining brand consistency while allowing content flexibility
✔ Created 20+ social media templates across formats: Instagram square posts, carousel templates (2-10 slides), story graphics, LinkedIn announcements, webinar promotion graphics, publication launches, “Tuesday Tips” educational series
✔ Developed geometric angled device system as flexible framing element appearing across presentations and social graphics, creating visual cohesion
✔ Uploaded complete asset library to Canva: logos (all variations), color palette (with hex codes), typography (web-safe alternatives), templates (fully editable), pattern elements, ensuring team could access everything in one place
✔ Created brand usage documentation with practical examples showing how to maintain consistency across applications without design expertise
THE IMPACT
Team Empowerment: IACE’s team could create their own materials without waiting on designer or worrying about breaking brand. Templates and Canva setup meant they could produce professional content quickly – presentations for conferences, social posts announcing publications, webinar graphics, research updates – maintaining brand quality without external support.
Workflow Efficiency: What previously required outsourcing design work now happened in-house. Team members could duplicate templates, swap content, adjust colors within brand palette, and publish within hours rather than weeks. Reduced costs while increasing output velocity.
Brand Consistency: System ensured visual consistency across everything: research publications, educational resources, social media, presentations, webinars. Brand stayed cohesive across touchpoints, building trust and recognition in computing education research community. IACE went from having brand they couldn’t fully use to having system working with them, not against them – operational, scalable, and empowering non-designers to communicate professionally.
