AVP LGBTQ+ Branding

THE NEW YORK CITY ANTI-VIOLENCE PROJECT

I worked full-time for 3 years at the New York City Anti-Violence Project (AVP). AVP is the nation’s largest organization supporting LGBTQ+ and HIV-affected survivors of violence, providing hotline, counseling, legal, and advocacy services since 1980.

In my time at AVP, initially as a Brand Manager, and then as the Senior Communications Manager (Communications Director), I managed to implement and spearhead projects that AVP hadn’t been able to accomplish in decades, as a one-person Communications Department.

SOCIAL JUSTICE DESIGN

My brand strategy focused on a utilizing holistic approach to LGBTQ+ issues. In practice, that meant representing the people AVP serves accurately, developing language and communications that reflected their experiences, and prioritizing bi-lingual content (English/Spanish).
I developed campaigns and posts that pushed AVP’s values forward, instead of shying away from them, such as those tackling issues with ICE, policing, prison, sex work, hate crime, transphobia, etc.
I spearheaded the organization’s culturally competent public statement in support of Palestine and developed a strategy to deal with backlash.

Here’s a selection of that work.

Date

2023-2026

Services Provided

Animation, Art Direction, Branding, Brand Guidelines, Brand Strategy, Communications, Campaign Strategy & Development, Copy Writing/Editing, Graphic Design, Illustration, Layout, Logo Design, Marketing Collateral, Merchandise, Print, Social Media, Video Production, Video Editing, Web Design, Web Development

NEW BRAND GUIDELINES

The challenge: AVP’s brand hadn’t been revised in over a decade and all their assets were out-of-date.

The work: Branding Discovery

I worked closely with staff by first introducing a branding workshop, where I collected dreams, aspirations, and identified gaps.
After that initial phase was done and I analyzed the data. The main takeaways were:
- Move away from the orange as the most dominant color and to make AVP’s brand more approachable.
- Outdated tech that makes it hard for constituents to find resources and access services.
- Outdated language that no one can relate to or understand.
I developed a strategy to roll out new assets in waves: first by revamping the language, second by revamping the aesthetics, third by updating tech such as forms, and lastly by testing them.
Once the assets were tested and refined, I moved on to updating the website more substantially.
I established a brand that truly represented its constituents and created systems in place that ensured its consistency.

NEW WEBSITE

The challenge: AVP’s website was over 2 decades old. In addition, all their assets and language were outdated.

The work: Phase I

I audited all pages and identified the top 10 and archived out-of-date ones.
I redesigned the menu, masthead, and footer.

Phase II – The next stage involved migrating AVP to Elementor. This new tool ensured updates were easy to make and the interface was easy to use by staff. In addition, I improved on the following:

Bring forward the hotline, report violence access, and AVP’s programs in a modern and easy-to find way. They became a bold right-side sidebar on the homepage. Now, there’s no question to where these services are located.
Modern-design.
New consistent templates across the site.
Updated and automated forms.
Fully mobile-friendly.

See below the before and after.

INCREASED TRAFFIC TO KEY PAGES: +209% GET INVOLVED, +150% RESOURCES, +94% DONATE, +78% HOTLINE, AND +51% TRAINING.

The redesign got substantially more people to the parts of the site where they needed to access AVP’s services.

SELECT SOCIAL MEDIA

A selection of social media pieces from various campaigns, featuring original illustrations.

I created social media and language guidelines that outlined clearly who AVP is and how it behaves.
I produced clear categories, closely analyzing which ones do better.
I engaged with partners on social and built relationships that resulted in collaborations.
I created more video content than ever before.
I also focused on designing original illustration as mean to elevate AVP’s stories.

COMMENTARY POSTS

The posts that resonated the most with AVP’s constituents were illustrated resources and commentary posts, where I dove deeper into cases relevant to the community.

SELECT VIDEOS

Average watch views: +4.5k.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by NYC Anti-Violence Project (@antiviolence)

ACHIEVED 6.42%

average post engagement rate across measured social channels from 2025-2026.

SELECT FUNDRAISER CAMPAIGNS

Campaign strategy, copy writing, editing, web design, email.

Violence Doesn’t Keep Business Hours

A fundraiser campaign to reinstate AVP’s 24/7 hotline hours, due to changes in local and federal government funding. A lot of thought was put into this campaign since several grants were tied to the hotline operating at a 24/7 capacity.

Still Here, Still Queer, Still Fighting

A Pride campaign driven by resilience in the face of a challenging time for AVP due to loss of funding. The campaign was kicked off at C’om Everybody and focused on the fact that despite resources being taken away, the need for AVP’s services continue to rise, and that they are “still here, still queer, and still showing up for their people.”