333 Seymour St.
Vancouver, BC
The core challenge: making harm reduction resources feel peer-created and culturally grounded rather than another healthcare organization attempting to brand themselves as "cool" for youth audiences. With Minister oversight and $552 million in public health investment at stake, the "With Open Arms" campaign required extraordinary cultural sensitivity while navigating complex stakeholder coordination across 200+ First Nations communities.
Working as creative contractor to Myron Advertising & Design, I developed the campaign visual identity while collaborating directly with FNHA's communications team and Youth Advisory Committee. I attended every stakeholder presentation throughout the six-month engagement, ensuring creative decisions aligned with cultural protocols and community needs. A critical component involved mentoring emerging First Nations artist Shianna Allison, who contributed illustrative elements through FNHA's open call for Indigenous artists.
The strategic challenge required making harm reduction resources feel peer-created rather than institutional. I addressed this through systematic discovery with FNHA stakeholders and youth advisors to understand how First Nations youth actually engage with health information online. The methodology prioritized three strategic layers: honoring Indigenous cultural traditions through authentic artistic integration, maintaining organizational credibility by connecting to FNHA's established brand, and speaking contemporary youth visual language through digital-first thinking.
The creative development process centered on a sticker visual system. Integrating Indigenous artistic forms with elements youth recognize from social media. Every design decision was tested against the core question: does this feel like something a First Nations youth would create and share with friends, or does it feel like a healthcare campaign? This approach ensured cultural authenticity while avoiding the institutional aesthetics that cause youth to immediately dismiss public health messaging.
The campaign identity integrated Indigenous artistic elements throughout every touchpoint. Working with Shianna Allison's artwork, I developed a logo system, youth-focused typography suite, and vibrant teal-orange color palette that expanded FNHA's existing brand. The distinctive sticker-style iconography system became the visual cornerstone. Blending First Nations design traditions with contemporary digital aesthetics that youth actually use online.
I created five static advertisement concepts, each optimized across three social media dimensions for Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat. The sticker visual system maintained campaign recognition while feeling authentic to how youth communicate on social platforms. Video title cards featured five distinct concepts with integrated calls-to-action, adapted for both landscape and vertical formats to support youth testimonial content across all digital channels.
The campaign microsite (harmreduction.fnha.ca) functions as the central resource hub. The long-scroll architecture mimics social media rather than traditional healthcare sites, optimizing for mobile-first youth behavior. I designed and built the fully functional Webflow site (later moved to Wordpress) including resource sections, integrated video content, and toolkit downloads.
