Kelsea Cotnam
Graphic Designer
Council Strategic Plan
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Niagara Regional Council through an extensive process developed their 2019 - 2022 Strategic Plan. A Strategic Plan is a significant document that underpins all the work the Niagara Region will set out to achieve over the next four years. The Strategic Plan provides focus and direction for the organization’s work over the next four years. It includes four priority areas with objectives and an implementation plan that defines how they will achieve these priorities. The Strategic Plan guides the corporate work plan which allows the organization to dedicate adequate resources to address Council’s priorities and be transparent and accountable to the results. The Regional Council needed to present and launch their priorities to regional staff and as well as to key community stakeholders, local area municipality and to the public. As the strategic priorities touch many services and areas of the Niagara Region, a strong look and feel was necessary to visually link all the objectives and goals back to the original priority.
To address all these target audiences the communications plan strategy involved the creation of two booklets one outlined the council priorities and the second booklet outlined the implementation plan of projects. The second strategy was a print based piece to help support the four priorities for employees by the creation of a desk top cube, which they can use as reference when working on reports. As part of this strategy, pop up banners were developed for the entrance ways of Headquarters for employees and public to see when they walk in the office every day. These popup banners were used at the launch of the project at Corporate Leadership Day and ongoing for any roadshows or workshops educating staff and Local Area municipalities about the Strategic priorities. The third strategy was a digital plan that included launching the priorities on the Niagara Region’s intranet site for employees week by week revealing a new priority focus.
The backgrounder reports and research that helped the Regional Council create their four strategic priorities was called Shape Niagara. Tying into these reports in a visual way was important establish consistency and to remind viewers of all the background work that was done to inform these current reports. My design solution was to create a triangular grid that would be used as transparent overlays and texture to tie into the previous created documentation. The triangle was chosen for its strength and sense of direction to perceive that these priorities would help propel the Niagara Region forward while keeping the shared values and history in mind. Use of vibrant and strong colours from the Niagara Region’s secondary colour palette were chosen to represent each priority was used to help differentiate each priority and give each a strong identity of its own no matter what medium it was applied to.
For the implementation plan, digital campaign and the pop up banners it was important to present a photographic solution to tie in abstract ideas from the objectives booklet into actionable and visual representations. Using photos of the actual Niagara Region was important to support employees and residents recognize what they see in their everyday life is what the Niagara Region is working towards improving. Each piece was branded regardless of the medium it was applied to. The visuals were consistent with the use of the coloured triangular pattern and photo overlay to establish continuity no matter where the target audience saw the design pieces in their lives, whether it be in office, on a screen or in their hand.