Allison Beer

Deaconess Foundation

  • specs / 170mm x 250mm, 1-color, stapled
  • role / concepting, graphic design, copywriting
  • agency / Little Jacket (2026)
  • creative director & copywriter / Roger Frank
  • illustrator / Joey Parlett
Deaconess Foundation is a Greater Cleveland nonprofit helping people impacted by poverty build careers—not just jobs—that sustain themselves and their families. For their 2025 annual report, “Let’s Get to Work,” those who do the work of workforce development every day offered their expertise to spur an urgent understanding of the need for change.

2025 was a particularly destabilizing year for workforce development. Our report increased the visibility of these major changes and emphasized the pressing need to adapt through big, bold typography and tight, powerful pull quotes. We set insights from local workforce development experts—who ranged from CEOs to mid-level managers to frontline workers—alongside handdrawn portraits, cultivating humanity around these issues and creating a stronger sense of community.

A key factor driving the physical format of the report was a resource-constrained environment; a too-long or too-fancy report would not be appropriate to share with the local workforce nonprofits battling funding cuts. We styled the report as a one-color mini newspaper, which—in addition to being cost-effective—conveys a spirit of collective action and community-mindedness.

As it builds on the bold yet approachable voice we’ve established for Deaconess Foundation (both visually and verbally), “Let’s Get to Work” creates a timely and vital dialogue to motivate community members and inspire actionable, sustainable solutions. 

©2026 / Home