Designing a brand and website that turn giving into something you get back.

OurKarma is a social enterprise that connects generous people with businesses, not-for-profits and communities. Every donation earns credits that can be spent with partner businesses on coupons, surprise rewards and experiences. My job was to give the idea a face and a home: first the brand, then the website it lives on.

Bridging the gap. Bad news makes it easy to lose sight of the many communities still working to make a difference. OurKarma set out to connect generous givers with the businesses that want to support them, and build a culture where good deeds are not only encouraged but rewarded.

The logo is an abstract cairn: four stones, each one a step forward. Balanced stones read as calm and as progress at once, which suited a brand about small deeds adding up. Each stone carries one of the four brand colours, so the mark doubles as the palette.

• The name. Karma is the principle of cause and effect: good intent and good deeds lead to good outcomes. OurKarma makes it collective, and the stones show the path between challenges as progress made together.
• The colours. Each colour stands for part of the mission, such as blue for compassion and kindness and green for sustainability. Together, the rounded stones give the mark a sense of movement and energy.
• Lockups. A stacked version for squares and social, and a horizontal version in full colour, violet and black for headers and narrow spaces.
• Rules. Always use the logo in full, never modify it, and keep it consistent with the rest of the identity.

Rewards on OurKarma are often physical, so the brand had to work off screen too: on donation boxes, gift bags, volunteer T-shirts and keyrings. The one-colour versions keep the mark legible on kraft and fabric; full colour is saved for places where it can shine.

We set out to understand the needs and motivations of people who might use a charitable marketplace that rewards good deeds.

Why people give

• To help others. The most common reason, and the one people mentioned first.
• To feel good about themselves. Giving is also personal satisfaction.
• To make a difference in the world. People wanted their giving to add up to something visible.
• To earn rewards. Welcome, but an extra rather than the reason.

What gets in the way

• Not knowing where to start. People didn’t know where to find good deeds to do.
• Not enough time or resources. Researching causes felt like a project in itself.
• No way to track progress. Nobody could see what their giving had added up to.

What they asked for

• More variety. A wider choice of good deeds.
• More convenience. Easier ways to do them.
• Better tracking. A clear view of their progress and impact.

What we recommended, and where it went

The charitable-marketplace space was growing quickly. Three platforms were closest to OurKarma, and each rewarded people for giving in some form.

• Goodr. Connects businesses with surplus food to non-profits that need it; donors earn points for giving food.
• Givebutter. A crowdfunding platform for many kinds of causes; donors earn points for giving to campaigns.
• Impact Hub. A global network of social enterprises; members earn points for taking part in activities.

I ran a SWOT analysis on the two closest, Goodr and Givebutter.

Goodr

Givebutter

Where OurKarma stood

The goal. Help people like Ashley find the right cause in minutes, and show them what their giving achieved.

Visitors arrive from social media, from search or directly. I mapped the journey in Lucid so each of them had a short path to a cause, followed by one shared route to the reward.

• Find a match. Choose an activity, the beneficiaries and how to help, and get matched to an initiative.
• Choose for me. The system suggests five charities, for people who just want to give now.
• Let me search. Browse every charity and offer, filtered by featured, passion, local or global.
• Offer first. Visitors who arrive for a reward pick the offer, then a charity that unlocks it.

From there, every path meets: review, cart, checkout, karma credits by email, choose an offer, receive a QR voucher, share, and redeem in store.

Visitors needed to understand OurKarma at a glance. The hero leads with an illustration of people giving, which I drew in Procreate, then a search for initiatives or offers, trending causes, and the two quickest starting points: Find a match and Choose for me. The tone is professional, but written as a partner rather than a charity asking for money.

• Home page. How it works in three steps, featured topics, fundraising for yourself, friends or a charity, and top initiatives.
• Initiative page. Progress towards the goal and a donate panel stay in view, beside the story, updates, organisers, beneficiaries, FAQs and words of support.
• Trust. Charity profiles show verification, tax-deductible status, registration number and rating before anyone is asked to give.

The Figma file covered every role: visitors before login, donors, brands and initiatives, plus beneficiary pages and donation pop-ups. Underneath sat a small system.

• Colour. Violet and the four stone colours, each in a 100–700 scale, plus accent scales for success, information, warning and error.
• Type. General Sans in four weights, from Display 56 down to Metadata 10, with separate web and mobile styles.
• Elevation. Shadow, drag and inner-shadow tokens for light and dark backgrounds.
• Handoff. Sections marked Locked or Under review, so developers always knew which screens were final.

• Tie each finding to a screen. Research and design lived in separate chapters. Linking every finding to the decision it shaped makes the reasoning visible to clients and developers.
• Design the reward as carefully as the donation. Credits only motivate if the offers are worth having, so the partner side deserves the same attention as the giving flow.
• Let the mark carry the system. Taking the palette from the four stones kept brand and product in one visual language, and made later decisions faster.