ADVOCATING FOR EQUITY, SAFETY, AND REPRESENTATION FOR OHIO’S AAPI COMMUNITIES

When I joined the Ohio Asian American Health Coalition (OAAHC) in 2020 as their Website Manager, the organization faced several branding and communication challenges. The website was outdated; clunky navigation, poor-quality visuals, and inconsistent, obsolete copy made it difficult to convey the coalition’s mission. There was no email marketing system, audience analytics, or communication infrastructure in place, making outreach to underserved Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities across Ohio nearly impossible. Despite the coalition’s important work, its digital presence failed to reflect its values or impact.

My initial role focused on website maintenance and basic updates, but once a new Executive Director joined, I was tasked with leading a full website overhaul. Recognizing that the issue extended beyond the website, I proposed a complete rebrand to unify and elevate the coalition’s identity. I began with an audit of existing assets and created a refreshed visual identity: recoloring the logo, introducing a new color palette, typography system, and photography guidelines, and formalizing everything into a comprehensive style guide. From there, I rewrote all digital copy to better reflect the coalition’s goals, tone, and audience. I also implemented new infrastructure for email campaigns and digital outreach aligned with strategic communications goals.

The result was a cohesive, mission-forward brand identity that helped the coalition connect more clearly and consistently with their communities and partners. The new website features clear, accessible messaging supported by high-quality imagery and an intuitive user experience. Email campaigns are currently still being ironed out around key programs, events, and member updates, ensuring ongoing engagement, but the interest to sign up for our campaigns has never been higher. These efforts led to a measurable increase in website traffic, newsletter sign-ups, and coalition membership inquiries proving the power of aligning brand strategy with purpose-driven design.

This project taught me that sometimes, the brief you’re given isn’t the full story. What began as a website refresh revealed a deeper need for brand clarity and organizational storytelling. Strategic design goes beyond visuals. It’s about creating tools that help communities understand, connect with, and act on a mission. I also learned how important it is to advocate for the user’s experience and speak up when the opportunity for broader impact arises.