Case Study · 03 · Social Impact Comms · Brand Design · Film
A social impact brand using editorial design and documentary storytelling to fight Gender-Based Violence — If Threads Could Speak. Identity, narrative framework, campaign photography direction, and digital communications strategy.
RETHREAD began with a single, radical premise: fashion is not neutral. Every garment carries its maker, its wearer, its journey. In communities where Gender-Based Violence is silenced through shame and stigma, what would it mean to put that silence on a body — and make it visible?
The project needed more than a campaign. It needed a complete brand philosophy — a visual language, a narrative architecture, and a documentary film direction strategy that could hold the weight of real stories without exploiting them. The brand had to be both beautiful and uncomfortable, both accessible and unflinching.
If Threads Could Speak became the campaign's central narrative framework — a title that collapsed the distance between fabric and voice, between clothing and testimony, between protest and elegance.
My role was to build the identity from the ground up: name the visual world, direct the documentary storytelling, photograph the campaigns, and architect the digital communications strategy that would carry the message beyond a single moment.
Beauty versus urgency. GBV campaigns often default to distress imagery that shocks but doesn't hold. RETHREAD had to be visually aspirational — to draw people in with the language of fashion — and then make them stay for the harder conversation.
Storytelling without exploitation. Survivors' stories had to be handled with absolute care. The design and film language had to centre dignity above everything else.
Sustaining attention beyond a single campaign moment through a communications architecture that could live across digital, print, and event formats.
Brand Manifesto
"The most political thing a woman can do is dress like she belongs to herself." — The RETHREAD brand ethos
The Creative Thesis
The visual language of RETHREAD had to live comfortably in two worlds simultaneously — the aesthetics of high editorial fashion, and the raw honesty of social documentary. A brand that looked at home in a gallery and on a protest placard. The identity system drew from the vocabulary of protest posters, archival print design, and the deliberate imperfection of hand-stitched craft. Intentionally unpolished. Intentionally present.
Immersed in the intersection of fashion activism, GBV advocacy communications, and East African visual culture. Analysed how existing campaigns communicate about gender violence — identifying a consistent failure mode: imagery that asks audiences to witness suffering without offering agency. Developed the narrative architecture for RETHREAD around three pillars: Testimony (whose voices are centred), Transformation (what the brand invites people to do), and Transcendence (the vision of what endures). This framework governed every creative decision that followed.
Designed the complete RETHREAD brand identity — wordmark, typographic system, colour palette, graphic motifs, and usage guidelines. The wordmark was intentionally constructed to suggest both a garment label and a slogan — stitched, purposeful, worn. The colour system paired deep charcoal with raw textile whites and a single urgent red, avoiding the softness often forced onto women's advocacy work. Developed a library of graphic motifs drawn from stitching patterns, fabric weave structures, and protest typography traditions.
Developed the creative brief and shot list for If Threads Could Speak — the flagship editorial campaign. Directed photography shoots that positioned garments as protagonists: isolated on bodies, draped on walls, laid flat as evidence. Worked with survivors and advocates to ensure the visual language was co-created rather than imposed, centering their agency in the frame. Directed post-production retouching and colour grading to achieve the campaign's dual aesthetic — documentary clarity with editorial weight. Selected and sequenced final image library for print, digital, and exhibition use.
Directed the documentary film component of RETHREAD — a short-form documentary following the journey of specific garments and the women connected to them. Developed the interview format and filming approach to prioritise emotional honesty over polish: available light, stationary camera, unhurried pacing. Wrote and directed the voiceover narrative structure. Handled post-production editing in Premiere Pro, constructing a film that moved between intimate testimony and the broader landscape of gender justice in Kenya, closing with the brand's declaration rather than a statistics card.
Designed the campaign's print materials — exhibition panels, campaign zines, protest placards, and a limited-edition lookbook structured as a hybrid fashion editorial and advocacy document. Applied the brand's visual language across every format, maintaining the tension between beauty and urgency. Designed for both gallery-quality exhibition and grassroots distribution — the same visual identity had to hold across both contexts without compromise. Typography was treated as protest lettering: bold, declarative, unapologetic.
Built the digital communications architecture for RETHREAD — social media content strategy, platform-specific visual guidelines, content calendar, and a campaign hashtag framework designed to invite participation beyond witnessing. Designed a suite of social graphics adapting campaign imagery for Instagram, Twitter, and WhatsApp sharing. Developed a long-form content plan including essays, interview excerpts, and garment stories structured for both the website and medium/long-form digital platforms. Created an email communications template for partner organisations and advocacy networks.
Wordmark, typographic system, colour palette, graphic motif library, usage guidelines, and brand manifesto. A visual language that holds both the elegance of fashion and the urgency of protest.
Full campaign photography direction and image library. Garments as protagonists, survivors as co-creators. Shot and sequenced for exhibition, digital, and print deployment.
Short-form documentary following specific garments and the women connected to them. Intimate interview format, available light cinematography, narrative editing. A film that ends with declaration.
Exhibition panels, campaign zine, limited-edition lookbook/advocacy document hybrid, and protest collateral — designed for both gallery walls and grassroots distribution.
The three-pillar brand architecture (Testimony · Transformation · Transcendence) governing all creative decisions, plus the full campaign copywriting and manifesto text.
Social media strategy, content calendar, platform-specific visual guidelines, social graphics suite, long-form content plan, hashtag framework, and partner communications templates.