Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians, Gun Lake Tribe
We, the members of the Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians of Michigan, will maintain our elders’ vision, integrity, spirituality, culture, and economic self-sufficiency by protecting our sovereignty, treaty rights, traditions, land and natural resources for our future generations.
Working for the Tribe is one of the most rewarding jobs I have ever had. Learning about the culture and connecting with the community has made it so much more rewarding than I could put into words. In the Communications Department I visually represent the Tribe’s vision, while respecting their practices and cultural teachings in the process.
How do you design for 14 different departments?
Start with Moodboards
One of the design initiatives I’ve brought to the Tribe is the use of mood boards to help create visual identities for different departments. This provides departments ownership over their part of the organization and helps them speak with a unified voice.
Monthly Newsletter, The Tribal Tribune
Every month I create a monthly newsletter, called the Tribal Tribune, which goes out to the Citizens. It provides important proprietary information as well as a monthly birthday/event calendar and other exciting events happening at the Tribe. Lots of information that is in-house by the 1st of the month, every month.
Event Coverage
While at Gun Lake Tribe I’ve been able attend several cultural events, sometimes acting as a participant and other times acting as event photographer.
COVID-19 Pandemic
The COVID-19 Pandemic hit everyone in all industries across the United States and the world. During this time I helped the community by transitioning programs to remote operations, providing Citizens information about the Pandemic on a daily basis, and supported the Tribal Health & Human Services to help distribute COVID-19 Vaccines & Boosters to the Tribal Community when they became available.
Additional Projects
Program Artwork
Designed identity artwork & collateral for the Education Department’s Youth Council & Human Resource’s Wellness Program.
CITIZEN & STAFF EVENTS
With many community events I have had to work extensively on event collateral and promotion materials, a lot of this is flyers and digital graphics to support the event promotion for departments.
2023 Project Highlight
Environmental department
Aquatic invasive species Outreach
How do you turn something as “boring” as invasive species into a design worth sharing? Through the incorporation of native language and inspiration from vintage surfing advertising I created this fun and inviting wordmark to help promote this initiative in collaboration with our Environmental Department.
Other Tasks
As a wearer of many hats my tasks are not limited to Graphic Design.
Project Management
Special Event Coordination
Asset Management
Event Photography
Tribal Member Relations
Social Media Management
E-Mail Design & Creation
Website Management
Video Production
Vendor & Client Problem Solving