Getting the message across

Jean Baptiste and I had so much fun designing a booklet for a client. In this blog, I will share some of our experiences and learning.

A non-profit organization called CORDAID contracted Three Mountains to make a small handout, a booklet, that will be used to teach 200 smallholder farmers entrepreneurship and business skills. A training manual had to be summarised to make the booklet.

My colleague and I, like designing educational and inspiring materials.

We skimmed through the proposed content and found topics such as challenging traditional gender roles, shared decision-making at home and business, becoming a successful entrepreneur, setting up a business, stages of business growth, and bookkeeping. This fascinated us because Jean Baptise and I studied business and finance back in university. We were both happy to take on this interesting assignment as we saw it as an opportunity to make a positive impact and showcase our creativity and skills.

We came up with a simple layout that makes it easier for the learners to love the content and learn something from it. We decided to leverage the power of storytelling and visuals with case studies to make the booklet fun and engaging. We decided to work with a  character called Mariyana, who was also in the training manual. She is looking to start a business, make a living, and support her family including her son Gasore who needed school fees. Mariyana guides the learners throughout the booklet with real-life experiences as she embarks on her entrepreneurship journey.  We wanted the learners to feel like they were part of the story, and to learn with examples.

We also needed to create an attractive and professional design for the booklet. We worked hand in hand with a talented colleague of ours to draw realistic and meaningful images that matched the story and the tone of the booklet. It was a challenging yet amazing experience. We had to work against a tight deadline and communicate complex visual ideas to the illustrator with clarity. Sometimes, images had to be redrawn six times! We improved our skills in design, collaboration, and ability to communicate effectively. Together we made the booklet layout simple, elegant, and attractive.

We received positive feedback from the client, who was very satisfied with the final product.

We are proud of what we designed and we hope that the content in the booklet will equip members of smallholder farmers with the capacity to thrive in their entrepreneurial journey with the necessary skills they need to become successful.

If you are interested in our work, please feel free to contact us at info@threemountains.academy or visit our website. We would love to get to know each other and maybe collaborate with you on your next project.

Hesron Byiringiro