Dutchess Outreach

Dutchess Outreach, a Dutchess County non-profit organization focused on widening food access, increasing advocacy, and providing vital community services, hired Katy Dwyer Design to refresh its brand, website, and annual reports.

Challenge: Initially, Dutchess Outreach needed to update its original logo, which felt tired by design, and rethink the organization’s website, which had long passed its shelf life. Cumbersome to update, not mobile friendly, and difficult to navigate, it was clear that Dutchess Outreach would benefit from a completely re-designed and rethought web presence.

More recently, Dutchess Outreach faced multiple challenges with its marketing materials, including a lack of consistency in the way the organization’s numerous sub-brands were used. The organization also hired KDD to design its annual report and update the website as its programs evolved.

Result: KDD began with the logo, creating a refreshed look and feel with cleaner lines and a timeless font that replaced a hand-drawn icon and faux-handwritten tagline. The colors were updated from a dull, heavy blue to a more vibrant take on the palette, which extended to the website. KDD worked together with Dutchess Outreach to create a functional, easy-to-maintain WordPress website that can be kept current with featured items, news posts, and upcoming events, and drives donations and volunteering.

In recent years, KDD developed brand guidelines to help Dutchess Outreach employees create marketing materials that would properly use each of the organization’s sub-brands and portray a cohesive brand identity. KDD also designed the annual reports for Dutchess Outreach, presenting a polished, professional story of what the organization was able to accomplish. The board credited the annual report for contributing to a significant increase in donations.