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Social Movement Technologies
Activists fight gentrification of Chinatown, Philadelphia, U.S. (Photo: Joe Piette) (Collage by Marie Walz)
Good design is part of strong organizing. Reports on digital and print communications, as well as signage at public actions, consistently show that strong visual content generates more engagement. Running grassroots campaigns requires communicating effectively across many platforms, and good design can dramatically activate and broaden your base.
This 11-session Certificate in Visual Design for Organizing will rapidly scale up your visual communications skills. From building a visual identity for your organization to applying time-tested graphic design techniques to navigating industry-standard (and emerging!) software, you will be able to efficiently create designs that inspire action. You’ll also be able to lead your organization to support distributed design by volunteers and staff who are not designers.
Learning model: The program is designed to apply your learning by trying your hand at new design skills. The pedagogical approach includes large group live sessions, supplemental resources via recorded presentations, and design assignments meant to support campaigns you have underway. The 11 live sessions include four small group sessions (up to 15 participants) for coaching, problem-solving, questions, and feedback from instructors with deep experience in design for movements, and for peer support. After the small group session and critique, participants seeking to further improve their designs may revise and resubmit their assignment for additional written feedback.
This program is for you if:
What we’ll cover in this in-depth training: view the curriculum here.
The curriculum will include sessions and recordings covering: design principles, design psychology, visual identity, accessibility, A.I. design tips, design and photography ethics, and building design templates and supports so that non-designers in your organization can do their own design work. Live sessions and recordings will also introduce or deepen the use of tools like Canva, Photoshop, and Illustrator. See the full curriculum here.
The program builds on SMT’s design programs held annually 2019 – 2023 making a powerful library of resources and design examples available to participants. In response to requests, we’ve deepened skill-building with libraries of recordings and resources in Canva, Photoshop, Illustrator, accessibility, and more.
The program’s goal is to enable participants to level up significantly in their design skill level and in their ability to scope out the design needs of an organizing moment. It is also to build a community of practice in this design work. Participants will be paired up for support if they want, and they will engage with each other and instructors via an ongoing Slack channel.
Micky Jordan, SMT Staff Partner: Micky is a Black queer and genderqueer visual artist and organizer who has called Richmond, Virginia home for over 20 years. He’s a mostly self-taught designer who has developed his design work with a range of organizing groups. He is currently Graphic Designer at NDWA and previously worked with Southerners on New Ground (SONG). He loves art, media, stand up comedy and dreaming about building a safer, beautiful, more affirming world for trans and queer people of color to not just survive in, but thrive in.
Cécile Pillon Hue, SMT Staff Partner: Cécile is a feminist artist and communicator. Working with international non-profits and local groups for over 10 years, she has experimented with various digital design tools to mix her passions for visual arts, social & environmental justice into her work. She uses design as a way to connect people across regions, cultures and technologies as she believes this is the key to a more respectful and inclusive world.
Audrey Desler (she/they), SMT Staff Partner. Audrey is an art director, designer, and illustrator constantly dreaming of better, more equitable futures. Her career started with design stints @ Nike and creative agencies, working on a myriad of brand and campaign projects, championing sustainability initiatives at every turn. In order to align with a passion for social and environmental systems change, she now largely focuses on community organizing. Audrey enjoys growing communal food, natural spaces, baking, and talking about feelings.
Deivid Rojas (he/him), SMT Staff Partner. Deivid is an organizer, storyteller, communicator, and visual artist with 10+ years of experience supporting and building organizing campaigns that tightly intertwine field organizing, communications, and digital, including over six years as the Communications Director at Fight For 15 Chicago, where he led the communications work for hundreds of actions, strikes, and protests. He developed and coached dozens of workers to become effective campaign spokespeople and landed national stories with national and international press, created content shared thousands of times online, and produced iconic protest visuals. As a queer man from Colombia, he is fluent in Spanish and has deep experience working with groups focusing on labor, Latine, racial justice, Black/Brown solidarity, and LGBTQIA+ issues.
Presentation sessions will be two hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays at noon ET (See this time automatically converted to your timezone.) Session recordings will be available for those in time zones that make it difficult to attend live. Small group sessions can be scheduled to meet all time zones.
To receive the Certificate, participants must attend and be an active participant in at least 75% of required live sessions (6 of the 8+) and complete all assignments (exceptions will be made for those who need to watch recordings due to time zone issues). Assignments will be completed each week and will as much as possible relate directly to the participant’s current campaign work.
Participants who don’t already have access to the Adobe Suite will need to subscribe for a minimum of one month to at least Illustrator. We suggest starting a free trial of the Adobe Cloud at the beginning of the program.
Full group sessions will be held in English, with live captioning in 39 languages. Small group sessions can be set up to meet time zone and language needs. Contact us at [email protected].
See testimonials from some of the more than 400 alums of previous years of this program from across the world.
In order to support a movement organization learning space, SMT trainings are for staff of non-profits – NGOs, unions and electoral campaigns. Trainings are not for consultants or agencies. Consultants & agency staff who register will hav their registrations refunded. Alternatively, on demand trainings are available to all on SMT’s course platform.
| Region | Organizational Budget (USD) |
Early Bird Rate (by June 30, 2024) | Regular (cost after June 30) |
|
North America & Western Europe
|
$2M+ | $700 | $770 |
| $500K-2M | $630 | $700 | |
| Under $500K | $560 | $630 | |
|
Outside of North America &
Western Europe |
$2M+ | $560 | $630 |
| $500K-2M | $490 | $560 | |
| Under $500K | $350 | $420 | |
| Additional seats from the same organization (same email domain) |
$420 | $473 | |
|
Group Rate Global (up to 10 seats) – designed to help networks and funders make this program accessible to their communities.
|
North America & Western Europe | $4,200 | $4,900 |
| Outside of North America & Western Europe |
$3,500 | $4,200 | |
Learned invaluable skills, gained practical knowledge, and connected with inspiring professionals.It helped me better understand, through the experience of like-minded organizers, how to use accessible digital organizing tools to support the efforts on the ground.SMT’s training on using WhatsApp to activate our bases helped us activate more leaders by creating conversational WhatsApp groups for members and assigning different leadership roles to volunteers.Taking this course really transformed my organizing skills to be more effective. Highly recommend it for individuals in civic organizations looking to enhance their technological campaigning skills!SMT's expertise in social media, ads training, and particularly their personalized coaching, has been invaluable for navigating the unique challenges of the non-profit sector. SMT's guidance has empowered us to adopt new technologies and strategies, leading to our most successful social media ads campaign to date. Their support is a game-changer for organizations stepping into unfamiliar digital territories.The program made me think holistically about offline and online impacts.
I implemented lessons on personal narrative, public narrative and emails directly into my campaign, so this was an instant gratification. I loved learning from the other Digital Campaigning Certificate Program participants who came from around the world, working on different topics.The SMT trainings I’ve taken have helped us mobilize and deepen engagement in our communities. Through Twitterstorms, phone banking, and other tactics that I learned through SMT’s trainings, we succeeded in our call to #ExtendtheReg for a million young people who would otherwise be disenfranchised by anti-poor COVID policies.
This program helped us harness effective tools and tactics that are aligned with our movement's needs and organizational values.The program offered interesting case studies, expanded my digital campaigning knowledge, introduced new organizing tools and strategies, and enabled connections with professionals in the progressive space.SMT helped us craft an effective public narrative for our campaign to get a mine closed. SMT helped us finalize a campaign strategy and come up with an effective plan to raise visibility and engage the public. Our campaign led to a pause in the mining. We will keep fighting!
The program gave my team the tools and time to strategise how our grassroots migrant organising translates to a digital context. I picked up tools like source codes, which then enabled us to see that more people were registering from Instagram than through any other platform and caused us to adapt our strategy. We also became SMT an Outreach Partner to enable our network to benefit from trainings at lower pricesIt was powerful hearing directly from groups across the country using these powerful tools to win campaigns and create real change.This training provided invaluable clarity and direction for my digital organizing work, empowering my team to work more effectively.I felt supported by a community of hundreds throughout my learning journey.The digital training was expertly executed and helped me develop new ideas and best practice to implement in our campaign.
SMT's training helped me use my journalistic skills effectively to highlight people's struggles and create change. Using Twitter more effectively, we supported Syria's refugee camp hospital to get more media attention and raise funds to respond to the hospital's needs as well as build visibility on the issues affecting refugees.
Working with SMT was easy and collaborative. The training helped our Greenpeace Southeast Asia team get new insights into campaign best practices across the globe.We’re starting our third straight year providing grantee partners with Social Movement Technologies training and coaching…our grantees are in good hands.
Our staff took a lot of SMT courses – including the intensive Digital Campaigning Certificate Program. It helped us take our digital campaigning and collectivizing actions to the next level! We used various tools to increase our follower base and successfully target authorities to take action at the village and municipal levels in India.
SMT supported our coalition so we could play a more powerful role in advocating for our work and priorities with funders and elected officials. They facilitated a process to take a loose group of collaborators across a large geography and worked with us to build a cohesive understanding of shared values and how we could present ourselves.I'm still digesting the valuable information from this training and applying it to my work. Meeting activists worldwide and learning about important campaigns was inspiring.The program was an incredible journey of meaningful learning and connections with amazing advocates nationwide.
I took the workers organizing in the digital age training. We really need this kind of training in Finland, which people in the US have had access to for some years. The training was effective to start organizing for instance on Twitter.The assignments provided a better understanding of how the nuts and bolts of digital organizing fit together.
SMT helped us create a social media presence to expand our cannabis worker organizing campaign. Our organizers have enhanced their social media capabilities. We have succeeded beyond our expectations. Working with SMT has been a great experience. They really understand organizing and communications.This program is very comprehensive and provides tons of tools and resources that have strengthened my skillset in digital organizing. This is a great program that I highly recommend.I strongly recommend SMT. Their strong organizing background, preparation and thoughtfulness made our strategy assessment with them enjoyable and really helpful.The course provided invaluable tools and strategies, real-world case studies from different cultural contexts, and a supportive learning environment that encouraged interaction and peer learning.This program greatly helped integrate our thinking on organizing and digital campaigning. I wish all our organizers and digital staff could undergo this training.Without SMT we would not have been able to move our organizing from the field to the digital arena during COVID. They helped us set up systems, coached and trained our folks, helped us troubleshoot and launch digital outreach efforts all in crucial campaign moments. Can’t speak highly enough about what their help meant!For anyone who wants to dive into the world of digital communications, this is the training for you!I'm grateful for the opportunity to expand my organizing knowledge with SMT. It's sparked creativity, and I'm excited to put new ideas into action.SMT has been a great partner to co-design and launch a set of offerings that meet the growing digital and remote needs of the organizations we support, including bilingual access for our Spanish-speaking partners. The team is relatable, attentive and knowledgeable and their use of case studies helps to make complex information accessible!This program has been a great experience for me personally and for my work. With the few campaigns going under way I’m excited to show my colleagues what I have learned from SMT! I found this course inspiring, especially the strategies part. Learning from diverse students with different backgrounds was enriching."=I had an amazing time. I am already applying the valuable content in my organization.
The Design Apprenticeship course helped me become bolder in my design choices. I became confident enough to push for a more systemic approach to design in the team, developing templates and guiding other creative colleagues. This program was pivotal in my development as a designer!The program offered interesting case studies, expanded my digital campaigning knowledge, introduced new organizing tools and strategies, and enabled connections with professionals in the progressive space.I was able to immediately use the tools I learned and apply them to our organization. The program was intense, but I loved every minute of it and learned more than expected.The program offers excellent support, knowledge, and peer collaboration for learning about organizing and campaigning.SMT has worked with us to develop and implement a broad and integrated social media strategy. They helped our leadership understand the importance of such a strategy and taught our activists the basic skills to execute it. From website maintenance to targeted twitter campaigns, they are there when you need them and they understand that it is all about movement building.
SMT helped GAIA use LinkedIn to reach a key constituency we were having trouble reaching - thousands of people who play a specific role in the waste management industry. We got responses from key players.The Digital Campaigning Certificate Program was immensely helpful, and I continue to apply its learnings in my daily communications and strategizing.This program was very useful for understanding the digital aspects of organizing workers and incorporating them into a comprehensive campaign toolkit.
Having access to experts through the certificate program was amazing. The course is so practical. I set up google ads for the first time and created our digital security policy and implementation plan. Our whole team uses the campaign strategy template now. Now we know how to improve our email deliverability and started a texting program.Each session was well-facilitated, skillfully blended presentation, discussion, and practical exercises, allowing me to immediately apply techniques to my work.We’ve heard really good things from our grantee partners. SMT has a strong, grantee-focused way of working.I learnt a lot on grassroots movements, digital campaigns and communications in times of state intrusion or threats.The trainings are terrific–geared for every level of experience. And being rooted in social change movement, especially helpful to organizers.
SMT helped us think through what type of CRM we need and choose a texting platform to reach our base. SMT’s coaching has been instrumental in helping us develop a social media strategy that communicates our message through the voice of the young people involved in our organization. The program allowed me to deep dive into specific campaign strategies, learning from diverse examples of what worked and what could be improved.The program was an eye-opener and better positioned me as a Communications Officer. I learned about digital mobilizing, online community building, and more.Our coach was an everyday reminder of what we needed to do. He checked in and followed up on us. It really helped us activate Twitter in our campaigns and tighten up digital security. We moved from just having a Twitter handle to building on a hashtag that saw a jailed human rights activist released from prison.The DCCP program enhanced my skills and provided valuable support. I've applied these skills in my job and community work. Well-designed and presented program!I appreciated connecting with passionate changemakers across the U.S. to discuss effective digital campaigning strategies.SMT's coaching was incredibly supportive, encouraging and accessible. SMT had a huge impact on evolving La Semilla's storytelling program. Through SMT coaching, we diversified our digital communications. Having SMT as a source of resources and as a thought partner has been incredibly impactful to our work.We have had a fantastic experience with SMT…they have been highly responsive to the needs of our grantees.This program has boosted my confidence in organizing and sustaining digital campaigns.SMT is the only training I know of that speaks our language of activism and uses the tools we use everyday in the field. They are a go-to resource to help raise the bar for communications in the labor movement.This program was pivotal in my early organizing career, providing a strong foundation for recognizing technology's power in social movements. It equipped me with tools to create effective systems for our organization and broader membership base.For change-makers looking to harness people power for good. Expert presenters and experience sharing with classmates enhanced my knowledge and provided valuable, immediately applicable skills.SMT developed a custom training for our youth climate fellows from around the world. It was a holistic training on creating campaigns from strategy to implementation and building our activist base. We appreciated SMT’s attention to detail around language and inclusion and always thinking about power building.I really liked the A.I. custom training session, especially the parts tailored to our workstream and with examples pulled from our staff. It really helped to situate the tools in our work and open our team's minds to the possibilities.I initially thought this program was centered around communications, but it offered so much more. It provided an inside perspective on organizing work and how communications integrates with it.I found a lot of value in this Certificate Program that I use in my everyday work: from using social media effectively; significantly growing accounts and activating people online, pressuring targets in campaigns, and running Twitterstorms. Even when using other tools, I still apply the principles I learned!SMT coaching enabled us to expand our presence within human rights spaces in Kenya beyond an LGBTIQ audience. It helped us use Twitter to connect with allies in the environmental justice and land rights movements. It was amazing to have someone to work with who knows our work and give us templates just when we needed them.I received input on how to align field and digital work which is directly connected to the advocacy research that we are doing.
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