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THIS IS OUR NEWSLETTER
GOOD DESIGN SERVES THE STORY
Have you ever walked into a room and noticeably felt better? You weren’t sure why, but you felt brighter, more settled, calmer, even confident! Good design can do that for your well-being, your story, and your strategy. That’s what Bruce Mau calls “Life-centered design.” In this newsletter, you’ll read stories of design that stays in the background so that a book’s words and illustrations, an innovative organization, and a children’s educational brand can reach people with clarity and purpose.
Read on. We hope these stories leave you feeling brighter, too.
BOOK LAYOUT DESIGN PROJECT HIGHLIGHT | 10.01.26
KARIS PARENTING MOONBEAM AWARD
We’re thrilled to be the design studio behind the Karis Parenting team’s book series, which recently won the 2026 Moonbeam Award for Best Book Series in the picture book category. It was an honor to work with Sam Rogers, Laura Bratton, and Amy Stertz as they engaged talented illustrators to tell the visual stories they had imagined. The series features the work of Ana Equaras, Khoa Le, Wazza Pink, Bella Ansori, and Dikshaa Pawasker. Design serves as a framework that elevates illustration and storytelling, and this award celebrates that.
As the story was written and the illustrations were completed, we generated several layout and design concepts to enhance readability and reflect the joy and delight Sam and his team imagined. The topics of belonging, table time, nature, words, and our relationship with God all needed to feel connected, yet uniquely celebrated. The covers, interior layouts, and book set sleeve feel unified as a set, yet each book stands on its own.
These make wonderful Christmas gifts! I (Wendy) have read them with my grandson. The illustrations keep him engaged, and the stories are poignant and fun to read. I highly recommend them.
DESIGN THINKING PROJECT HIGHLIGHT | 10.26.26
SMCCP DESIGN THINKING WORKSHOP
For the past three years, we’ve had the privilege of leading a design thinking workshop at the Annual Gathering for SMCCP, a Lilly Foundation-funded grant. This year, 90 people attended our session entitled Design Thinking Practices for Program Evaluation. We introduced five design thinking activities they could take back to their teams to build a rhythm for collecting data as they implement innovation projects at their institutions, publishing houses, and churches.
We love developing tools that help organizations and companies generate systems to improve their performance and meet the needs of their customers more effectively. Data shows that companies that utilize design thinking are 228% more profitable. In this case, we’re discovering that the organizations that engage with us in design thinking are developing materials with more empathy and greater results.
BRAND IDENTITY PROJECT | 10.14.26
RUTA 6:7 BRAND IDENTITY
Here’s a real story of what happens when Design Thinking becomes part of the empathetic process of brand identity development! In Newsletter 61, we shared the story of RUTA 6:7, located in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Their mission is to strengthen tweens and their families in their relationship with God and with each other. The goal was to understand more deeply the needs RUTA 6:7 is meeting and how they’re uniquely situated to reach a particular audience. The brand development needed to keep that audience at the forefront. As the brand developed and concepts were proposed, the RUTA 6:7 team realized that their vision was much larger and had a bigger reach than their current brand was communicating. When we proposed three concepts for them to choose from, the one that clearly stated “the world” unified their vision. Good design does that! It gets people thinking and digging deeper into what their honest needs are.
Once the logo direction was selected, the colors, fonts, and logo refinements were completed. The brand guidelines followed. We developed brand guidelines to be user-friendly, so the client can use them as a reference for years to come as the organization grows and more people engage with the brand, applying it to new materials and digital platforms.
A GREAT BRAND | 10.20.26
WHAT CAN YOU DO WITH A GREAT BRAND?
We just wrapped up session five of our Design Therapy mastermind, and what a journey it has been. Since July, a variety of people have gathered each month to ask honest questions about their brands. Does our identity reflect who we really are? Does our story reach the people we serve? Watching leaders find clarity and confidence in their own voices has been one of the highlights of our year. There’s one session left! Join us on Wednesday, December 9th, as we close out the series together. Bring your questions, your ideas, and your story. We’ll save you a seat.
Register below to receive a link to join us!
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!
