ARORA
Brand strategist & designer
New York / 2025–Present
A living identity for A New York neighbourhood.
A connected brand and digital transformation for Stuyvesant Park Neighborhood Association—bringing its website, campaigns, and community communications into one adaptable system.
View live siteA clearer path to participation.
Website traffic after launch
Social media reach
Event RSVPs year over year
Fundraising supported by design
Metrics reflect SPNA-reported results following the website launch and campaign activity. They represent the organisation’s broader engagement outcomes, not the result of design alone.
The challenge
Connected community.
Disconnected touchpoints.
SPNA is a Manhattan nonprofit caring for Stuyvesant Square Park, between 15th and 17th Streets along 2nd Avenue. Its seasonal events, fundraising, and civic partnerships needed a clearer public presence: one that made the organisation’s purpose—and ways to take part—easier to understand.
01 / Findability
A website that obscured the next step.
Legacy WordPress navigation and unclear information architecture made events and participation routes difficult to discover.
02 / Inclusion
Different generations. Different needs.
Younger residents and adults aged 65+ needed an experience that felt current without depending on digital familiarity.
03 / Recognition
No shared visual foundation.
Web, social, email, and print had evolved separately, making campaigns feel disconnected from the organisation behind them.
04 / Operations
Too much work recreated.
Concurrent programmes relied on manual coordination, while fundraising, volunteering, and donation channels remained underused.
Before the visual system Understand the participation system.
01
Website & journey audit
Reviewed the WordPress experience and mapped event discovery, membership, donations, and volunteer sign-up to identify friction and unclear calls to action.
02
Stakeholder conversations
Spoke with the SPNA board, staff, community members, and partners to connect audience needs with the realities of maintaining a volunteer-led organisation.
03
Peer & competitive analysis
Reviewed comparable New York community and cultural organisations, focusing on how they communicate purpose, organise programmes, and invite participation.
04
Brand & audience mapping
Audited logos, posters, social graphics, and event materials alongside journeys across age groups, establishing the need for a recognisable but flexible system.
Design direction: communicate mission clearly, make participation visible, and build a system the team can maintain.
One direction.
Connected delivery.
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01 / Define
Brand audit & audience mapping
Connect SPNA’s public character, stakeholder needs, and participation journeys into a clear design direction.
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02 / Build
A flexible identity
Develop warm neutrals, considered greens, clear typography, and adaptable graphic motifs that can accommodate different programmes.
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03 / Connect
A redesigned website
Rework navigation, homepage, events, membership, and donation journeys, migrating the experience from WordPress to Squarespace.
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04 / Enable
A communications toolkit
Create reusable templates across social, email, web, posters, signage, and fundraising so the volunteer board can maintain consistency independently.
A shared visual language
Structured.
Not identical.
The identity takes its cues from the park’s public character. Colour, typography, and graphic motifs provide continuity, while leaving space for each event and partner to have its own voice.
From finding information To taking part.
The redesign connected SPNA’s mission with practical next steps. A clearer structure supports event discovery, membership, donations, and volunteering across desktop and mobile.
01 / Discover
Make events easier to find.
Reorganise navigation and event information so residents can understand what is happening and where to go next.
02 / Participate
Clarify the next step.
Give membership, donation, volunteering, and event participation clearer routes rather than competing, disconnected calls to action.
03 / Include
Design for different levels of confidence.
Prioritise clear typography, readable hierarchy, straightforward language, and familiar navigation for a broad community audience.
04 / Maintain
Make the system usable by the team.
Use repeatable page structures and content templates that support updates without rebuilding the experience for every event.
Local action. Shared responsibility.
An early test of the identity: a campaign that felt green, fresh, and inviting, with accessible typography for a multigenerational audience.
SPNA collaborated with Assembly Member Harvey Epstein’s office and GrowNYC to bring residents, local schools, and environmental organisations together for composting education, a giveaway of 50 compost bins, and hands-on sustainability activities.
The system stretches. The organisation stays recognisable.
Music, fundraising, public art, and civic partnerships each call for a different tone. Shared hierarchy and adaptable templates let the work change character without losing its connection to SPNA.
Summer in the Square
01A repeatable promotional structure for a seasonal music programme.
Spring Gala & Silent Auction
02A fundraising moment connected to SPNA’s wider public identity.
Nurturing Tree
03Communications supporting the public-art campaign by sculptor Judith Modrak.
Community partnerships
04Flexible applications that accommodate civic and cultural collaborators.
Programmes across the system: Earth Day Celebration · Spring Gala & Silent Auction · Summer in the Square Music Series · Bingo Night · Sound Bath · Children’s Storytime · Historic Walking Tour · Holiday Tree Lighting · Menorah Lighting · Halloween Dog Costume Contest · Nurturing Tree.
Partners and collaborators: Assembly Member Harvey Epstein · New York State Senator Kristen Gonzalez · NYC Department of Sanitation · GrowNYC · Local Nature Lab · NYC Parks · Judith Modrak.
Beyond launch A stronger foundation for participation.
The work supported SPNA’s broader engagement and fundraising activity, while giving its team a more consistent way to communicate. The value was both public-facing and operational.
Website traffic after launch
Social media reach
Event RSVPs year over year
Fundraising supported by design
Government grants supported by design materials
Metrics reflect SPNA-reported results following the website launch and campaign activity. They represent the organisation’s broader engagement outcomes, not the result of design alone.
Enough structure. Room for character.
SPNA reinforced that community design is not about making everything look the same. It is about creating enough structure for an organisation to move quickly, while leaving room for the individual character of each event, partner, and neighbourhood moment.
The most valuable outcome was operational: a system that volunteers and staff could use confidently, helping SPNA maintain a consistent public presence beyond the initial redesign.