Investing in Women design and visuals systems
UX, Branding, Web Design, and Visual Systems | 2022–2023 | Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) & Investing in Women Foundation | Role: Creative Design Consultant
UX, Branding, Web Design, and Visual Systems | 2022–2023 | Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) & Investing in Women Foundation | Role: Creative Design Consultant
Overview
The Investing in Women initiative, supported by the Australian Government through DFAT and implemented by ABT Associates, required a new brand identity, user-friendly website, and unified design system. As a member of their Creative and Communications Panel, I led branding, prototyping, and visual communication efforts to support the foundation’s mission across Southeast Asia.
My Role
- Conducted stakeholder interviews and brand research.
- Designed logo concepts, color palettes, and typography systems.
- Created high-fidelity prototypes for the website and template materials.
- Collaborated closely with communications teams to ensure consistency and usability.
- Delivered final assets and supported implementation across web and print channels.
Identifying the Need
Investing in Women needed a cohesive and scalable visual identity to elevate their public presence and unify communications across four program workstreams. Additionally, their web presence needed to align with brand values and user accessibility standards.
Primary users
Development partners, gender equity practitioners, Southeast Asian stakeholders, and internal teams.
PROCESS AND STRATEGY
1. Concept Prototyping
Developed multiple report designs and refined them through structured feedback loops with stakeholders. The challenge with this designs was that the content hadn’t been finalised so these mockups guided Investing in Women in their content strategy.
Report design mockup 1
Graphics designs mockup 1
2. Visual Identity Development
Along the creation of design mockups for their report, I developed multiple brand identity drafts for their new Foundation, presenting each with rationale.
Logo option proposal 1
Logo placement mockups 1
Logo option proposal 2
Logo placement mockups 2
Once the logo was selected and approved, I delivered a comprehensive brand guideline including:
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Logo systems and tagline development
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Colour theory and typography
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Iconography for program streams
IWF brand guidelines
Brand guidelines content sample
Logo variations
Logo package guidelines
4. Website Design & Interaction Planning
Part of the IWF deliverables was to create a website prototype to deliver to their development team to create and publish. For this I designed mockups and high‑fidelity UI screens in Photoshop, built a staging site in WordPress for client review and interaction testing and delivered the final prototype to IW’s in‑house development team.
Website proposal submission 2
Website proposal submission
Website preview on devices
5. Communication Templates
As a final delivery of the initial design templates, once approved I delivered a set of standardised templates in InDesign, Word, and PowerPoint, including:
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Report covers and layouts
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Policy briefs
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Event brochures and newsletters
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Icon sets for IW’s four program streams
Report timelines
Cover page template
Report diagrams
Brochures templates
OUTCOME AND IMPACT
- Strengthened IW’s visual brand across digital and print platforms
- Delivered a clean, responsive website with improved structure and user accessibility
- Empowered internal teams with ready-to-use templates, streamlining content delivery
- Established a scalable, recognisable identity for long-term regional impact
FEEDBACK
“Valeria effectively took over and advanced the work from the previous consultant, delivering more high-quality outputs, including Workstream icons, brochure design, and the initial CEO newsletter placemat, while maintaining alignment with IW’s branding. Although some adjustments were needed due to differing design style preferences from IW, she managed feedback gracefully, adapting her designs and ensuring smooth collaboration. The consultant’s openness to constructive feedback and willingness to revise designs promptly reflected a collaborative and solution-oriented approach. Her initiative to provide multiple design options, openness to feedback, and proactive communication were particularly valued, facilitating decision-making and driving project progress.”
Carolyn Guevarra – Investing In Women Marketing and Communications Manager
Insights and Growth
This project highlighted the value of aligning UX, branding, and communication design. It also demonstrated the importance of iterating through feedback and prototyping stages to deliver cohesive and scalable results. If revisiting, I would explore incorporating accessibility audits and user testing sessions earlier in the web design phase.
