Building Resilient Organizations
We designed an award-winning interactive workbook for Rockwood Leadership Institute, transforming complex political theory and leadership guidance into an accessible, actionable toolkit for building resilient, joy-filled organizations.
MasterPrize
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Rockwood Leadership Institute
Rockwood Leadership Institute (RLI) provides training and transformation for social justice leaders, helping to sustain a powerful and interconnected movement for change. They partnered with The Progressive Leaders Group to launch a new resource based on Maurice Mitchell’s visionary essay, Building Resilient Organizations.
The essay addresses a critical moment of discord in progressive spaces where internal conflict, burnout, and toxic narratives threaten to rupture political vehicles. RLI needed to take this dense, high-level analysis and turn it into a practical, hands-on guide. To do so, they asked Beacon to design a zine-style workbook that would help leaders and activists navigate these challenges, moving from diagnosis to solution without getting bogged down in theory.
Our solutions
We developed a dynamic, "zine" aesthetic that balances the weight of the subject matter with a sense of energy and possibility. To make the content digestible, we broke the text down into clear, colour-coded sections: diagnosing common negative trends (e.g. "Maximalism" and "The Small War") and offering concrete solutions across Structural, Ideological, Strategic, and Emotional domains.
Our design strategy focused on interaction and reflection. We incorporated "Let’s Talk It Out" speech bubbles and designated note-taking spaces to encourage users to actively engage with the material rather than simply passively reading. Visually, we used a collage style with ripped paper textures, vibrant custom illustrations, and hand-drawn elements to create a human, grassroots feel that resonates with the activist community.
The payoff
The project was a resounding success, winning the 2024 Design MasterPrize Award for Special Publications.
The design successfully amplified the reach of Mitchell's essay, transforming it from a static document into a global resource used by organizations in Canada, Brazil, and beyond. By creating a tool that is both visually engaging and deeply practical, we helped empower progressive leaders to shift their organizational cultures from conflict to connection, ensuring that their movements are built to last.
OMG CFS Brand Strategy
