New Westminster School District: Strategic Report

Project Info

Year

2025

Type

Report design, layout & print (In partnership with Roots & Rivers Consulting)

Roles

Graphic Designer

Tools

InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop

Overview

New Westminster Schools partnered with Roots & Rivers Consulting to shape its 2025–2030 Strategic Plan through a deeply collaborative process. Guided by a commitment to inclusive engagement, over 350 students, families, staff, and community partners contributed insights—resulting in a shared vision designed to drive meaningful, lasting change. This report is both a culmination of that work and a tool to help keep the district team aligned with its priorities through 2030.

Challenge

New Westminster School District wanted their 2025–2030 strategic plan to feel grounded, accessible, and inspiring—reflecting the voices of the communities they serve. But their existing visual identity posed challenges: filters over imagery reduced clarity, and previous reports struggled with legibility, particularly where text overlapped images. At the same time, alignment with the existing brand was important to maintain recognition and cohesion.They also requested a one-page teaser that would distill the full plan into a format easy to circulate with staff and partners.

Goals

  1. Improve Readability + Accessibility
  2. Maintain brand alignment, without visual clutter
  3. Bring the community in

Concept

Community at the Center
This design uses thoughtful photography, accessible layout, and narrative structure to reflect the strategic priorities of NWSD—while making the community feel seen, heard, and included in the journey.

Colour & Contrast: Bold inner covers used NWSD’s palette as a striking visual break, with all text checked for accessibility.
Representation: Every page reflects the district’s diverse community—centering voices across roles and identities for inclusivity and resonance.

Approach

  • Main Report:
    A balanced layout alternating between content-rich white pages and calming color-blocked sections in “jade,” “sky,” and “ocean.” Key content areas are introduced with inner covers in brand colors, giving readers natural pause points. Photography was treated as cut-outs or full-bleed panels, designed to avoid text overlap while connecting spreads visually. Shapes and imagery echoed the waves/circles in the NWSD logo—without repeating them directly—adding subtle cohesion.
  • One-Pager Teaser:
    A concise, high-impact piece designed for internal sharing and stakeholder previews. Featuring value icons, brand colors, and an intentionally unconventional layout (with a left-aligned call-to-action link to grab attention).

Results

The final designs offer a clear, engaging layout that communicates NWSD’s strategic vision while centering the voices of their community. With improved legibility, cohesive visual storytelling, and thoughtful brand alignment, the project provides a strong foundation for communicating their priorities—internally and externally.

"Professional, unique
and incredibly creative."

"Joy has been an absolute delight to work with. Her work is professional, unique and incredibly creative. She brings a lot of awesome ideas to the websites she's been building and she also brings a wonderfully positive attitude. I highly recommend working with Joy if you're looking for an amazing experience and beautiful design work done."

Bradley Morris | Majik Media
Via email

" Great communication
and collaboration."

"Joy was a pleasure to work with on a recent graphic design project. She was able to work within the limitations of our deliverables (a toolkit built on Google products and Canva) to produce something truly beautiful and easy for our client to maintain in the future. Great communication and collaboration. I highly recommend engaging Joy for your graphic design needs!"

Hayley Rutherford | Roots & Rivers Consulting
Via Linkedin

" The final prints were perfect
inside and out!
"

“Thrilled to have the first week hit the charts! Thank you so much.
Everyone was pleased and the final prints were perfect inside and out!”

Dr.Melissa Mondala | Dr.Lifestyle
Via Email

" I'd hire Joy in a heartbeat again"

"I hired Joy in the spring of 2022 to design the cover for my book, Vegan Marketing Success Stories. [...] I can tell you working with her was an absolute DREAM — and I've worked with some great graphic & web designers in the past. [...] Joy not only presented 3 options for packages but came up with 3 mockups, outlined key deadlines, stayed in communication with me constantly, and provided 14(!) bonus graphics I could use for promotional purposes. When my first proof copy wasn't all that perfect, she encouraged me to wait until I got the next copy before taking photos—a testament to her care for quality. I am THRILLED with how my book cover turned out and having additional graphics support took one less thing off my plate. I'd hire Joy in a heartbeat again, especially if you want a pro who cares about your work just as much as you do."

Sandra Nomoto | Book Whisperer and Vegan Hype Woman
Via Linkedin

"Very clear on her communication
and super organized"

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Julia Falci | Holistic Business Coach
Via email

"Excellent at taking feedback/ideas to heart and then putting them into action"

“So thankful for the opportunities to work with Joy! She's professional, level headed, wonderfully creative and excellent at taking feedback/ideas to heart and then putting them into action- a dream. Joy delivered a timeless, clean and fun design as part of a very important project for nationally distributed seasonal consumer packaged goods and I could not be more pleased with the end result! Fantastic communication, too. Thank you, Joy! Looking forward to our next chance to work together again.”

Emma Smith | Founder of Zimt Chocolates
Via Linkedin

"Her patience and high level design
skills are second to none!"

“Joy's excellent design and layout skills were key, in producing the design plans and layout for the current Pravada floors website. Since she left Pravada with some of the most beautifully designed branding, we have continued using her templates and branding standards. I truly miss working collaboratively, playing off each others skills and learning from each other. Her patience and high level design skills are second to none!”

Amanda Arsenault | Marketing Wiz & Former co-worker
Via Linkedin

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