BRANDING
The Lotus flower is a symbol of resilience, prosperity, and enlightenment. These are concepts I wanted to cultivate through the Lotus Porject. The choices of typefaces and colors were chosen to represent growth, optimism, and femininity with a tone that is friendly but refined.
Products
There are three main components of the Lotus Project. The first is the Blossom Box. It is a physical toolkit of resources meant to educate and empower. It provides basic supplies like sticky notes and pens, as well as a contact book, a monthly planner, and a budget planner. It also includes two booklets; the Well-Being Workbook and the Financial Literacy Workbook. These are meant to help women through mental health and financial independence journeys with digestible information and simple exercises. Since these women are often in unstable housing situations, the box itself is portable and provides space for keeping important documents or small items in one place.
The second product is the Petals mobile app. It acts as an organizational tool, a means for community building, and a companion to the workbooks included in the Blossom Box. The content is divided into three sections, or Petals: Well-Being, Finance, and Community. The Well-Being Petal includes tools like a to-do list and reminders of upcoming events as well as daily journal prompts. The workbook companion section provides information and activities that expand upon the content in the book. The Finance Petal allows the user to track her budget and expenses and includes a companion to its respective workbook. The Community Petal provides a space for users of the app to connect and create a support system for sharing experiences, resources, and encouragement.
The final piece is the Like a Lotus Instagram campaign. It features stories and photographs of formerly incarcerated women who have been helped by the Lotus Project. This serves two purposes: to catch the attention of women in similar situations so that they might find the help they need, and to garner empathy from the public as an effort to decrease the social stigma that comes with a criminal record.
