As a new marketing team, we haven't had the opportunity to support a country enterprise team with a campaign or event design. The Alight Rwanda team came to us for help in creating a design for their Umuganda event the last week of July, 2023, and our team was excited to collaborate. Umuganda is a reoccurring event every last-saturday of the month. It's government-mandated, and communities are encouraged to use this time to plan and implement improvement projects in their neighborhoods. Alight Rwanda wanted to use the design specifically on T-shirts they would wear at the Umuganda event to increase visibility since there would be press present. The words they wanted to inspire the design were "bright," "joyful," and "beautiful" - something to specifically represent Rwanda.
I started with research for this design. I got books from the library and visited tourism and museum websites to try to understand the challenging history behind Rwanda and how the people are moving forward. I was also looking for textile patterns in my research to see the shapes and layers used in the designs. I played with patterns, colors, and shapes to create something unique for team Rwanda while still fitting within Alight's master brand.
After gaining approval from my manager, I presented 3 different designs to the Alight Rwanda team. Their team voted on the final design:
The stacked half circle shapes, hand, flower, butterflies and sun represent the strength of the Rwandan people as they build towards a positive and joyful future for sustainable growth as a unified community.
I had the opportunity to travel to Rwanda to meet the team and person and help photograph the Umuganda event. We all helped build a house for a widow and mother of 6 children for the Umuganda task; this included loosening dirt with shovels, adding water to make mud, forming rows of bricks with the mud, and letting them dry in the sun. The team was pleased with their media coverage and visibility at the event that day. The Enterprise Director told her team that it's more than just a T-shirt - it's how Rwanda shines.
