#MakerMonday ft Charlotte de Wolfe
Maker {mey-ker} (noun): A person or thing that makes, whether a designer, developer, film maker, illustrator, photographer, and everything in between. This person uses his/her strengths and skills to benefit a local nonprofit in need.
Makers are the backbone of our event. This altruistic group dedicates time and energy to produce high-quality projects for a variety of nonprofits in our community. We’d like to thank them for their work, philanthropic nature, and the marks they’ve made throughout the county, community, and region.
For our first spotlight in our new #MakerMonday series, we’ll introduce an amazingly talented graphic design student from Virginia Tech’s School of Visual Arts.
Meet Charlotte de Wolfe!
In 2013, Charlotte began college studying Marketing Management, but quickly changed course when she realized she had a passion for solving problems via visual solutions.
Brilliant and accomplished, Charlotte has worked throughout Virginia as a graphic design intern at various digital consulting firms such as Venveo, Modea, WillowTree Inc., NewCity, and others. In addition to receiving numerous accolades, she’s been most recently awarded two silver ADDY awards from the American Advertising Federation for her design work with MoLSSI and Virginia Cyber Range.
In academia, Charlotte’s strong design skills have allowed her to fill the role of next year’s Creative Director for PRISM, a student run social-media marketing agency. Here, Charlotte designs the agency’s newsletter in addition to marketing collateral for various clients like Pamplin College of Business, Click and Pledge, First & Main, and more. At PRISM, creativity is unmatched and clients are flexible to allow students the opportunity to develop skills.
It’s no doubt that wherever Charlotte chooses to go with her career, upon graduating, she will continue to design superb work, impact those around her, and do so by inspiring through stunning design.
To see more of Charlotte’s work check out her portfolio.
Charlotte the Maker
This past year’s Make-a-Thon in Blacksburg, VA marks Charlotte’s second year of involvement. She’s worked with both the Roanoke Community Garden Association and On Our Own to re-brand and create and design impactful logos.
As one of the two designers for the Roanoke Community Garden project, she collaborated with the nonprofit to design a new, modern logo. This logo is used for both the website and marketing collateral. As a segment of Roanoke Community Garden’s re-branding goal, the nonprofit also received a new website.
Roanoke Community Garden’s mission is to grow people and build community one garden at a time through opportunities for healthy food, education, and sustainable living.
Roanoke Community Garden directly impacts the lives, bellies, and minds of nearly 500 residents through community gardens and educational programs. This small nonprofit has historically relied on staff and volunteers to maintain and create a digital presence.
“We’ve done ok for amateurs but know we could have an amazing, knock-out, wonderful website that brings our mission to life within the virtual world.” — Tina Badger, Executive Co-Director
Tina was driven to apply because she knew the importance of design for their organization.
“Re-branding our organization to make the community better aware of what RCGA does and who RCGA serves is crucial for us to move forward and remain successful.”
Charlotte and her team’s work did just that. Check out Charlotte’s work on the community garden’s website.
During Charlotte’s first year, she worked on a team to re-brand and create a new logo for On Our Own.
On Our Own promotes recovery by providing a safe, consumer-run alternative for the purpose of socialization, self-help, advocacy, recreation, support, and education.
The new logo is live on both the website and marketing material. Like Roanoke Community Garden, On Our Own’s also received a new website for re-branding purposes. Check it out here.
“Your support of and dedication to help On Our Own is overwhelming to say the least. There are so many things that I have longed for at On Our Own that funding has prevented. I really look forward to the possibility that some of my dreams may come to fruition.” — Jeff Leonard, Supervisor at On Our Own of Roanoke Valley
Both projects have had a direct impact on the local community and so we’d like to thank Charlotte for all of her hard work! We greatly appreciate the time you’ve spent and the logos and designs you’ve created.
Making her Mark
Charlotte volunteers for our 12-hour Make-a-Thon event because
“It’s an opportunity to collaborate with people that I normally wouldn’t, while being under the roof of a really good cause.”
Many times, nonprofits are challenged with budget constraints and lack of resources that do not allow for new logos, marketing collateral, websites, strategy, etc. The Make-a-Thon event showcases Makers’ talents and empowers nonprofits in more ways than just one — nonprofits receive high-quality finished projects, networking opportunities, and an employment base for future design and development contracting.
Did you know?
Charlotte has caught all of the Pokemon and in all of the games. Challenge presented!
