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THIS IS OUR NEWSLETTER
PROBLEMS DEMAND DESIGN
We're in a strange season right now: routine versus weather. School is well underway with its new schedules, but the summer heat hasn't gotten the memo. It's a small reminder that the world is full of conundrums lately, many of which we've never had to navigate before, and we need to draw on our natural ability to design now more than ever. Design exists because problems exist. Problems demand design. This month, we're sharing a few opportunities we've had to help our clients solve problems and teach students how to make a difference in the world through design. We hope these stories remind you that you already have what it takes to solve problems like a designer.
Read more for a look at what we’ve been up to and what’s ahead.
PROJECT HIGHLIGHT | 06.30.26
EXAMEN(ED) AT MARQUETTE U. DESIGN THINKING SESSION
It's never too late to engage in design thinking in your innovative process. We recently led a design thinking session with a group of leaders at Marquette University in Wisconsin who lead the Examen(ed) Church initiative. This project is rooted in the Examen of St. Ignatius of Loyola, whose purpose is to help congregations cultivate a posture of prayerful reflection amid uncertainty. They've developed loads of curriculum already. Our job was to examine everything they've developed and design the best delivery system to ensure it reaches the audience it's written for. We moved through the design process of Empathy, Define, Ideate, Prototype, and Test four-hour session leading quick, energetic and insightful activities with the 25 leaders.
Afterwards, we went back to our studio and spent the next few weeks analyzing the data and drawing three key recommendations from it. We presented our findings and suggestions to them and are now designing materials that have a clearer direction and strategy. We'll prototype our ideas and test them with The Examen(ed) leadership to discover the best fit for their audience. We're excited about what's next and can't wait to share with you what's developed in the near future. Check out other design thinking case studies. Check out other examples of our design thinking process in action.
MDC STUDIO | 09.11.26
ART + DESIGN STUDENTS VISIT THE STUDIO
How might empathy change the way a graduating senior designs their resume and portfolio? Last week we hosted a Senior Art + Design class from IWU and challenged them to consider just that. Armed with a mood board representing their own personal brand, we asked them to explore their professional brand through the lens of their potential employer. How might the work they exhibit and the language on their resume meet the business's hiring team in a way that stands out because it empathetically identifies the business's pain points as they read through hundreds of job applications?
We walked them through a new design-thinking method, fresh off the press, called the Personal Brand Assessment Map. We custom-designed this tool inspired by the Brand Assessment Map we offered during our last Design Therapy Mastermind. It takes a person, project, or organization through a process of examining their own brand to see if it's effective in reaching its audience. We hope that, as students develop their portfolios, they present their work in a way that tells the story of why they're a good fit for the company they hope to work for. Photo courtesy of [Ava Hooker, IWU Art + Design]
DESIGN THERAPY MASTERMIND | UPCOMING 10.14.26
YOUR WEBSITE, YOUR FRONT DOOR
We no longer drive by a company's storefront to get a first impression. We go to their website. Your website is often the very first impression someone has of your organization. Too often, businesses treat their website as a box to check rather than the face they're presenting to the world. The result is a gap between who you really are and what your site communicates. That gap costs you trust, clarity, and connection with the people you're trying to reach. In this Design Therapy Mastermind, we're digging into that gap. We'll talk about what makes a website feel like a genuine front door instead of a digital brochure, and how to close the distance between your organization's real identity and the one your website is projecting right now.
Sign up for our upcoming DT Mastermind on October 14th at 10:00 am ET.
GOT AN IDEA? CONNECT WITH US!
If you’ve been carrying around an idea—big or small—and you’re wondering what it might look like brought to life through design, we’d love to hear about it. We believe design is about bringing the soul of your vision to the surface and shaping it into something that moves people.
Whether you’re at the spark stage or halfway there, our process is built to listen deeply, uncover what matters most, and accelerate your idea into something tangible, meaningful, and ready to make an impact. Let’s start the conversation. Contact us at hello@mariondesign.co!
