After working with the Youth Opportunity Center for years, I’ve come to know their mission well: helping troubled youth and their families. So when 2020 threw everyone for a loop, we wanted an annual report that dually reflected on how the staff and leadership had adapted that year, as well as how proud they were of the kids who pushed through their own tough times.

I landed on the concept of a geode; some kids look like they’ve got a hard outer shell, but once you can crack that open you find there’s a lot more than meets the eye. This idea allowed me to play around with their newly brightened brand colors, as well as use nature photography to balance out the more clinical and technical aspects of the content. I also thought this more abstract approach would be well-received by donors, since it was a departure from the usual stock photography and allowed me to break up the large text blocks with callouts.