Revolutionizing the future of volunteering
Helping others doesn’t have to be so hard. Whether it’s organizing a
volunteer event or even just checking in as a volunteer, the process
of volunteering is complicated, time-consuming, and sometimes a
little stressful.
Bugle is revolutionizing the way we volunteer with seamless check-in
integrations, digital waivers, and event organizer dashboards. The
Stripe for social good, Bugle quietly powers volunteer events for
The American Red Cross, The Special Olympics, and more as an
all-in-one solution.
ROLE
Bugle initially approached me to build a scalable, human-centered
brand for them, as well as build out their MVP digital product.
Over the past two years, I’ve continued to build out the brand
with email templates, illustrations, and new product features.
This includes:
- Setting the mood, tone, and brand direction for Bugle
- Developing the brand traits, values, and manifesto
-
Designing a custom, scalable logo (and secondary, illustrative
marks for the logo)
-
Creating custom single-line illustrations and building the
brand system of colors and typography
-
End-to-end product design for both a client-facing event
dashboard and a volunteer-facing web app
-
Building a robust, comprehensive UI component library of
interchangeable, organized components that the Bugle team can
use to build future features
-
Designing a responsive promotional landing page and email
templates
- Merchandise and application design
-
Desktop and mobile prototyping for the Bugle team to use for
user research, product testing, and investor pitching
RESULTS
Bugle was recently launched out of beta in 2024
(Reuters).
DURATION
April 2022 - July 2024
SKILLS
Strategy
Brand Identity
Visual Identity
Logo Design
Illustration Design
Product Design
Email Design
UX/UI Design
Design System Architecture
Prototyping
Developer Handoff
BRAND IDENTITY
Lending a helping hand
1 in 4 Americans volunteer and Bugle will be their digital-age
“helping hand”. I wanted to play with this idea of a “helping hand”
with hand-drawn, single-line illustrations throughout the brand to
create a human, friendly feel. Bright colors in the palette have
slight tones of gray to ground them and create a playful, but not
overbearing visual look.
BRAND IDENTITY
Fine-tuning the horn
The word “bugle” itself has such a strong mental image and visual
identity as a horn. So, to stay aligned with that mental model, I kept
the horn as the primary logo icon, but created simple, sleek lines
that allowed the horn to be easily recognizable at any size. The
bright coral color brings a playfulness to the simple sans serif
logotype, and a sense of excitement.
I created a secondary logomark in an illustrative, hand-drawn style to
bring a bit of fun to the brand, while still having that human touch
and feel. The secondary mark is often used to tie elements back to the
brand in a subtler, less official way.
product DESIGN
Multiple flows, one design system
Bugle had two products to design: a QR-code based check-in for
volunteers that seamlessly allows them to add their personal data and
sign digital waivers, and a robust event dashboard for organizers to
create events, keep track of volunteer data, and transfer this data to
their CRM. Beyond the two complex web apps to design, I also created a
two-page website that the Bugle team could use to explain who they are
and what sets them apart to volunteer organizations and investors,
email and social media templates, and a comprehensive UI component
library.
The custom Figma library is inclusive of standardized breakpoints,
typography rules, and UI elements (form fields, buttons, tabs, and
more) to set the Bugle team up for success.
With each successive round of work, we built the MVP out from a simple
event dashboard to a powerful platform that can send out mass text and
email updates, create digital waivers, and set organization admins and
groups.
FROM THE FOUNDERs
“Sylvie is a creative, focused, and brilliant designer. From branding
to UI/UX, Sylvie's passion for design, insightful perspective, and
thoughtful attention to the smallest of details, is as refreshing as
it is powerful. She took our vision for Bugle and single handedly
created a brand that we are very proud of today. Her work with Bugle
has been nothing short of formative for us.”
– Ryan Johnson, Co-Founder and CEO
