Hero banner image featuring Araisa’s colorful quilt-inspired nonprofit branding design for organizations in Canada and the US.

Atlantic Region Association of Immigrant Serving Agencies

How a family quilt sparked a thought about immigration

The Atlantic Region Association of Immigrant Serving Agencies (ARAISA) is a nonprofit that supports the settlement and integration sector in Atlantic Canada through training, professional development and national advocacy. Half Twelve was commissioned to expand the existing brand and design a new bilingual website that clearly communicated ARAISA’s purpose and gave members easier access to resources like training programs and webinars.

During the initial stages, inspiration struck in an unexpected place. Our creative director happened to be framing a photograph that featured handmade crazy quilts belonging to his wife's family. Whenever the quilts were pulled out in front of family members, someone always had a story or memory to go with a specific scrap of fabric found in each square.

Quilt textile photograph used as creative inspiration for Araisa’s nonprofit brand design.

This inspired the idea of how we could visually represent Canada's immigration story and the role that ARAISA's member organizations play in it. Each scrap represented the unique culture and heritage of a newcomer to Canada. This diverse collection of scraps were then formed (settled) into squares (communities across the region) by the settlement and integration organizations and eventually these squares came together to form a quilt (Canada).

Geometric quilt-style illustration created as part of Araisa’s nonprofit brand expansion.

We evolved ARAISA’s brand into something more flexible and adaptable by creating an expanded toolkit. It featured a collection of interchangeable quilt block graphics, a colour palette inspired by once-vibrant hues that had softened over time (like fabric gently faded by years of washing) and a typographic system that ensured accessibility for readers with impaired vision.

Nonprofit brand guidelines spread featuring Araisa’s quilt motifs, color palette, and visual identity system.
Tote bag and lanyard decorated with Araisa’s quilt graphics, representing nonprofit brand merchandise for organizations in Canada and the US.
Stack of nonprofit business cards showcasing Araisa’s quilt-inspired brand identity for organizations in Canada and the US.

Once the brand identity had been expanded, we turned our focus to designing a new website—one that clearly conveyed ARAISA’s mission and values while also enhancing its function as an accessible, bilingual educational resource for member organizations.

Nonprofit website homepage mockup for Araisa with bold quilt-inspired patterns, designed for organizations across Canada and the US.

A clear and intuitive information architecture was designed to guide users towards key resources that included articles, webinars and professional development courses as well as access to a library, events calendar and an integrated learning management system (LearnDash).

We also built a secure members’ area for access to private resources and an interactive, filterable map that helped users quickly identify the settlement and integration organizations best suited to their needs.

Smartphone mockup of Araisa’s nonprofit website design showing online course content, created for North American organizations.

Website Development: Tibbits Consulting

Services
Branding
Brand Expansion
Copywriting
Graphic Design
Website Design

FAQ

  • No two projects are the same, but on average a full branding and website project takes 4–8 months. If your brand identity is already established and you’re only looking for a new website, the typical timeline is 3–4 months.

  • Of course! If you already have an established brand, we can use your existing visual identity (logo, colours, fonts, etc.) as the foundation for a fresh new website.

  • Budgets vary depending on the scope but most projects start in the high four figures.

  • We begin by breaking the work into two stages. Stage 1 focuses on branding and begins with a discovery session to learn as much as we can about your business, your audience and your goals. From there, we distill that insight into a cohesive brand identity that covers both messaging and visuals. Once the branding exercise is complete, we move on to Stage 2 — the website build.

  • Yes! We have experience building sites in multiple languages.