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In my last post on the designRoom AI philosophy, I talked about how we think AI fits into our work.

I feel a bit funny writing two blog posts in a row about AI. I am no means an expert and find myself fumbling around with it. And AI is a bit scary and concerning at times. But I am immersing and learning every day, and most importantly, establishing where my boundaries with it lie.

Ultimately, using AI in healthcare marketing lets me spend less time on the work that needs to get done and more time on the parts of the job I’m actually trained for and am good at.

This is the more practical side of that conversation.

Getting up to speed

One of the most useful ways I use AI is to get oriented quickly. When we’re working for a new client or tackling a new problem in the behavioral health space, there’s usually a lot that needs to be understood before the real conversations can start (brand positioning, competition, etc.).

AI helps me move through that material faster, so we can spend more time talking about direction instead of background. And, conveniently, it lists sources so that I can double-check everything.

It’s not about getting answers. It’s about understanding the landscape.

Making sense of interviews

Over the years, we’ve conducted dozens of testimonial interviews as part of an ongoing mental health marketing campaign for a client that provides counseling for veterans. After each interview, I’d read through the transcript. There are often eight to ten pages of wall-to-wall text. I highlight moments that felt right and pass those sections along to our video editor for final cut suggestions.

Recently, for more impactful and diverse videos, we decided that we would create “mashups” from these past interviews - videos that combine multiple faces and viewpoints around shared themes like stigma, anxiety, or transition to civilian life. Instead of manually reviewing five years’ worth of transcripts, we created a project in ChatGPT, loaded the relevant interviews, and used a series of prompts to scan the material.

In seconds, AI was able to generate multiple 30-second script options using exact quotes, complete with time codes, and organized by theme. What would have taken hours of manual review happened almost instantly.

The important part: AI didn’t decide what worked. It surfaced options instantly. I chose what options worked and kept prompting until I found the right mix. The judgment - what felt authentic, what belonged together, what should make the final cut - was still entirely human.

Writing without getting stuck

I’m not a trained writer, but I do have to do a lot of writing. I know all the real good words to use, but not how to put them together fastly. So, writing a blog like this would have taken me hours in the past. I would get stuck with sentence structure and grammar. I’d spend too much time crafting a sentence and lose sight of the overall idea. Those are hours I could be using for something more important that matches my expertise, like developing visual identities for our healthcare clients.

Yes, AI assisted me with this blog. I wrote the first draft and gave it prompts to clean it up. I replaced words I would never use in real life. Got rid of ideas that didn’t match. It is still my idea and my voice, just cleaned up by AI.

Now, if I were a writer by trade, and I was writing specifically for clients, I would rail against my use. I get that. But I am not, and these blogs need to be done quickly-er so I can work on other stuff.

It’s the difference between trying to write something “correct” and just writing.

Planning and day-to-day work

I also use AI for practical things (planning, estimating, organizing work, proposals), the kinds of tasks that eat time but don’t really move the work forward.

Clearing those out leaves more room for thinking and collaboration.

Back to the darkroom

If the idea is the photograph, this is the darkroom part of the process.

The picture is already there. The decisions have already been made. AI just helps bring things into focus faster - revealing what’s already been exposed.

And by shortening the time spent in the darkroom, I get more time to focus on the work that actually matters more to me and the client.

About the Author

Chad Gordon is the Creative Director at designRoom, where he leads original brand development and marketing initiatives for national behavioral healthcare organizations. Since 1991, he has specialized in identity development and photo illustration, earning numerous national honors, including multiple ADDY Awards for excellence in design. Chad holds a degree in photo illustration from Ohio University and studied photography in Edinburgh, Scotland. His design work has been featured in international design publications, and his photography has been exhibited in galleries throughout Northeast Ohio.

The post How I Use AI to Spend More Time on the Work That Matters Most appeared first on designRoom.

Article Summary

AI is reshaping how people search for help. For mental health and addiction treatment nonprofits, visibility now depends on more than keywords. It depends on trust.

This guide explains why E-E-A-T for nonprofits is no longer just an SEO concept but a framework for credibility, discoverability, and sustainability in AI-driven search. We break down what Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness mean for mission-driven organizations and how a thoughtful nonprofit AI SEO strategy ensures the right people find you when they need you most.

From Keywords to Credibility: How AI Search Redefines Nonprofit Visibility

Not long ago, showing up in search meant choosing the right keywords and publishing consistent content.

Today, AI-driven search tools evaluate things more deeply. They assess whether your organization demonstrates real-world experience, subject matter expertise, recognized authority, and trustworthiness.

In other words, they are measuring E-E-A-T.

For nonprofit mental health and addiction treatment SEO and marketing, this shift is significant. People searching for help are often in crisis. AI platforms are prioritizing content that feels credible, transparent, and human.

Kelly Farrell of designRoom puts it simply: “AI is not replacing human connection. It’s measuring it. If your organization is doing meaningful work but not clearly communicating it, AI can’t see it. And if AI can’t see it, the people who need you can’t either.”

That is where a nonprofit AI SEO strategy becomes essential.

What Is E-E-A-T and Why Does It Matter for Nonprofits?

E-E-A-T stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. It originated within Google’s quality guidelines, but it now shapes how AI-driven search engines evaluate and surface information.

Here is what E-E-A-T for nonprofits really means in practice.

Experience

Are you showing lived experience and real impact?

For mental health and addiction treatment organizations, this may include recovery stories, testimonials, staff insights, and community partnerships.

Expertise

Are your services supported by qualified professionals?

This includes licensed clinicians, credentialed leadership, trauma-informed approaches, and clearly explained methodologies.

Authoritativeness

Is your organization recognized in your field?

Do you collaborate with respected partners? Are you cited, reviewed, or affiliated with established institutions? Do you have any awards or certifications?

Trustworthiness

Are you transparent about outcomes, funding, and services?

Clear contact information, updated content, privacy policies, and honest storytelling all build trust signals.

The truth is this. Most nonprofits already embody E-E-A-T. They simply don’t structure their content to communicate it clearly in AI search environments.

Why E-E-A-T Protects Funding, Referrals, and Visibility

E-E-A-T for nonprofits does more than just improve rankings. It protects your long-term sustainability.

When your organization clearly demonstrates credibility:

• Referral partners feel confident sending clients
• Grant funders see transparency and impact
• Families feel safer reaching out
• AI platforms surface your content in help-focused results

Kelly often reminds clients: “You’re not just competing for clicks anymore. You’re competing for trust. And trust is built intentionally through your content.”

Nonprofits are uniquely positioned to demonstrate lived experience and expertise. But without a structured nonprofit AI SEO strategy, those strengths remain invisible in AI-driven search.

Why Small Nonprofit Marketing Teams Feel Overwhelmed

We work primarily with mental health and addiction treatment organizations. Most of our clients have small teams, limited budgets, and no internal AI strategist.

That pressure feels real.

You are trying to:

• Build awareness and generate leads
• Update your website
• Create and manage social media
• Communicate consistently with key stakeholder audiences
• Recruit staff
• Support fundraising and community events

You are now being told to optimize for AI.

It can feel like one more impossible task.

Kelly acknowledges that hesitation: “It’s important to acknowledge that no one is an AI expert right now. That is exactly why it is important to start learning and experimenting. The organizations that begin adapting thoughtfully will be the ones that remain visible.”

E-E-A-T for nonprofits is not about mastering complex algorithms. It is about aligning your mission, your credibility, and your content strategy in a clear, intentional way.

How designRoom Helps Operationalize E-E-A-T

We don’t see AI as a replacement for creativity. We see it as a tool that amplifies human expertise when used responsibly.

Our nonprofit AI SEO strategy focuses on:

• Clarifying authorship and clinical expertise across your site
• Structuring service pages to reflect real experience and expertise
• Showcasing outcome data and impact stories
• Aligning brand voice with trust signals
• Optimizing content for AI search without losing warmth

We translate E-E-A-T for nonprofits into manageable systems that fit your capacity. This is about making sure the people who need help can find you.

A Final Thought on Embracing Change

The nonprofit sector has always adapted. Funding changes. Policies shift. Community needs evolve.

AI search is simply the next evolution.

Resisting it does not protect your mission. Learning to use it wisely does.

Kelly says it best: “The heart of your organization is human. AI does not replace that. It helps people find it. If we approach it thoughtfully, it becomes a bridge, not a barrier.”

If your team is feeling uncertain about where to begin, you’re not alone. But this is the moment to start building a nonprofit AI SEO strategy grounded in E-E-A-T, credibility, and care.

Because visibility is not vanity. For mission-driven organizations, it is access to help.

About the Author

Shaun is the Director of Digital Experience at designRoom, where he helps shape strategy and leads the development of digital platforms and websites. With more than 25 years of experience in digital marketing and web development, he began his career designing and developing websites before moving into a conceptual art director role and later transitioning to a more technical and analytical focus on user experience, accessibility, and performance.

Shaun relies on analytics, user behavior data, and emerging technologies, including the evolving role of AI, to better understand how people interact with digital platforms and guide thoughtful, measurable improvements. Over the past decade at designRoom, he has worked closely with nonprofit organizations in health care, mental health, and substance use treatment to build digital experiences that connect people with the services they need.

The post The Search Landscape Is Changing. Are Nonprofits Ready? appeared first on designRoom.

There’s a lot of noise right now about how companies “use AI.” Most of it centers on speed, automation, or replacement.

We use it for those things too. But that’s not the whole picture at designRoom.

We don’t use AI to create ideas. We don’t use it to think for us. We don’t hand it a blank page and ask it to make something meaningful.

The thinking is the important part. And that part is still very human.

The Idea Comes First

I’ve been thinking about this through a metaphor that goes back to when I used to shoot film photography.

Before the darkroom, there was the work. You had to see the image first. You chose the subject. You framed the shot. You composed it. You decided on the moment, the light, the angle. All on top of having a purpose for the shot in the first place.

That was the thinking.

By the time you pressed the shutter, the photograph already existed in your head. The camera didn’t invent it. It captured a decision you had already made.

That’s how we treat ideas at designRoom.

The purpose.
The strategy.
The concept.
The point of view.

All of that happens before AI ever enters the picture.

AI Is the Darkroom

If the idea is the photograph, AI is the darkroom.

Back then, the darkroom felt like magic. You’d take a blank sheet of paper and slide it into the chemical tray. Slowly, mysteriously, the image would begin to appear. First a hint, then a shape, then the full photograph reveals itself right in front of you.

But the chemicals weren’t deciding what the image was. They weren’t composing it.
They weren’t choosing the subject. They were revealing what I had already seen, thought about and created. The chemicals were the magic that brought the image to life.

That’s exactly how we use AI in the creative process.

We bring clear ideas into it. Ideas that already have a point of view and are on strategy. They may still be rough or incomplete, but the core concept is already there.

We use human-led AI strategy to support that work: to fast-track research, to refine language, to explore alternatives, and to stress-test decisions we’ve already made. It helps us move more quickly through the surrounding work, not replace the thinking that defines the idea.

Of course, thinking and making aren’t perfectly separate. Anyone who’s done creative work knows that ideas evolve through execution. You learn by seeing something take shape, by reacting to what appears, by refining and adjusting along the way.

But there’s a difference between discovering an idea through the process and delegating the thinking altogether. AI can accelerate iteration and expand the space of possibilities, but it still needs a point of view to react against. Without intention, direction, and judgment, all you get is more output — not better ideas.

AI helps the creative process to:

• Expand an idea without diluting it
• See angles we may want to sharpen or discard
• Turn fragments into something cohesive
• Move faster through the “development” phase without skipping the thinking

It’s chemistry, not authorship.

The Danger Is Skipping the Thinking

The real risk with AI isn’t that it’s powerful. It’s that it makes it tempting to skip the hard part.

If you go straight to the darkroom without knowing what you’re trying to say, you’ll still get an image, but it likely won’t mean anything or stand out.

We’re not interested in volume for its own sake. We’re interested in clarity and ideas that hold up because they were thought through before they were developed.

Where We Draw the Line

Just as important as how we use AI is where we choose not to use it.

We don’t use AI to do the actual design work. We don’t use it to develop core concepts. And we don’t use it to generate imagery that ends up in the final creative.

At designRoom, we talk a lot about helping our clients “stand out.” That means telling a story that’s distinctly theirs, that positions and differentiates them in the market. We don’t believe you can truly stand out if you’re relying on AI for creative execution. By its nature, AI optimizes toward what already exists.

Standing out requires originality. It requires decisions that feel a little uncomfortable because they haven’t been proven yet. That kind of work comes from people, not probability.

AI can help sharpen an idea. But the final choices, like the look, the feel, the expression is where authorship lives.

If everyone uses the same tools in the same way, the work starts to converge. And convergence is the opposite of standing out.

That’s the Work

So, when people ask how we use AI at designRoom, this is the answer:

We use it after the thinking. We use it to reveal, not invent. We use it like a darkroom — not a camera.

The magic isn’t in the chemicals.

The magic is in knowing what picture you’re trying to make before you ever turn the lights off.

About the Author

Chad Gordon is the Creative Director at designRoom, where he leads original brand development and marketing initiatives for national behavioral healthcare organizations. Since 1991, he has specialized in identity development and photo illustration, earning numerous national honors, including multiple ADDY Awards for excellence in design. Chad holds a degree in photo illustration from Ohio University and studied photography in Edinburgh, Scotland. His design work has been featured in international design publications, and his photography has been exhibited in galleries throughout Northeast Ohio.

The post At designRoom, AI Is Our Darkroom, Not Our Camera: Why Human-Led AI Strategy Prevails appeared first on designRoom.

How designRoom Supports Nonprofit Marketing During Uncertainty

Right now, many addiction, mental health, and mission-driven nonprofits are holding their breath.

Even with recent federal mental health and addiction grant cuts restored, the volatility has left a mark. Planning feels fragile. Staffing decisions feel heavier. Outreach feels riskier. And for small teams already stretched thin, the emotional weight of uncertainty does not disappear just because a headline changes.

At designRoom, we work almost exclusively in the nonprofit marketing space. We live with this uncertainty alongside our clients every single day. And we want to say this clearly and without hesitation. You are not imagining how hard this feels. And you do not have to navigate it alone.

We Understand the Reality Nonprofits Are Living In

Nonprofit leaders are asked to do more with less, while still showing measurable outcomes, maintaining compliance, and serving deeply vulnerable populations with care and dignity. Funding volatility impacts everything from long-term planning to the ability to tell your story consistently.

Marketing is often the first thing to be paused when budgets tighten. That reaction is understandable. But it is also where opportunity can slip away.

“Periods of uncertainty are not the moment to go silent,” says Kelly Farrell, CEO and Founder of designRoom. “They are the moment to become more intentional, more focused, and more aligned with your mission than ever before. For us, this year is about clarity. Clarity in message, clarity in purpose, and clarity in how organizations show their value to the people who need them most.”

Marketing Can’t Stop. It Has to Get Smarter.

When funding feels unstable, marketing must shift from reactive to strategic. It must do more than look good. It has to work harder, reach the right audiences, and clearly articulate impact.

Effective healthcare branding during moments like this does three critical things:

• It builds trust with donors, grantors, and partners
• It clarifies who you serve and why your work matters
• It helps the right people find the right care at the right time

This is not about flashy campaigns or noise. It is about clarity. It is about credibility. And it is about showing up consistently, even when everything else feels uncertain.

We Are Not a Traditional Agency. We Are an Extension of Your Team.

Most nonprofits we work with do not have the luxury of large internal marketing departments. Teams are small. Roles overlap. Capacity is limited. And burnout is real.

That’s why designRoom doesn’t operate like a typical agency. We embed ourselves into your world. We learn your constraints. We understand your compliance requirements. We respect the sensitivity of the populations you serve.

“Our clients are carrying an enormous emotional responsibility,” Kelly Farrell shares. “We never forget that the work we create has real consequences for real people seeking care.”

We act as an extension of your staff, helping you do more without asking you to be more than you already are.

Mental Health Branding Is Human Work

Branding in the mental health and addiction space is not theoretical. It is deeply human. The words you choose. The images you share. The way your message is structured. All of it can either invite someone in or unintentionally push them away.

That is why mental health branding requires research, insight, and strategy grounded in empathy. It must honor dignity. It must reduce stigma. And it must meet people where they are.

For more than a decade, designRoom has focused on helping healthcare and nonprofit organizations build healthy, sustainable brands. We are proud to be an award-winning national firm, but what matters most is the impact we have. Seeing the right clients find the right organizations and receive the right care is why we do this.

Amplifying Mission to Support Sustainable Funding

Strong branding does not just support awareness. It supports sustainability.

When your mission is clearly articulated and consistently presented, it becomes easier for donors to believe in you, for grantors to understand your impact, and for partners to see alignment.

We help nonprofits tell their stories in ways that support new funding sources while staying true to who they are. Not by chasing trends, but by grounding every decision in strategy and purpose.

A Partner Who Understands the Moment

This is a challenging moment for nonprofits. The landscape is changing quickly, and small teams cannot always pivot as quickly as required.

That is where we come in.

We bring clarity when things feel unclear. We bring strategy when things feel reactive. And we bring partnership when things feel heavy.

“You don’t have to have all the answers,” says Kelly. “That is why we exist. To help you find them.”

At designRoom, we make it our business to find real answers and create custom healthcare brands. We believe effective healthcare branding is grounded in research, directed by insight, and driven by strategy.

And most importantly, it is driven by care. Let’s start a conversation.

About the Author

Chad Gordon is the Creative Director at designRoom, where he leads original brand development and marketing initiatives for national behavioral healthcare organizations. Since 1991, he has specialized in identity development and photo illustration, earning numerous national honors, including multiple ADDY Awards for excellence in design. Chad holds a degree in photo illustration from Ohio University and studied photography in Edinburgh, Scotland. His design work has been featured in international design publications, and his photography has been exhibited in galleries throughout Northeast Ohio.

The post When the Ground Keeps Shifting, Mission Still Matters appeared first on designRoom.

Earlier this year I wrote about my annual theme, Flow, and what it means to me. But now we’re eleven months in, and I want to know what Flow has meant to our team. We asked everyone what flow-related word they’d use to describe their year and why. Here’s what they shared with us.

Angela: Creek

So much of this year has felt like a winding creek that is sometimes shallow and easygoing and other times rushing and daunting. But just like the creek, I’m learning to trust that there’s always a way forward. I’m learning (slowly) to flow around the hard parts and appreciate the ride, knowing that one day, everything will look different.

Anna: Whirlpool

This year, I finished my first year of grad school and started the second. Whirlpool is the perfect word for the blend of energy, intensity, and passion this year has been. Sometimes I’m at the edge being flung around at high speed, but sometimes I’m right in that pocket of air in the middle.

Beth: Tide

I chose “tide” because a tide rises at night and recedes during the day, which feels a lot like my primary focus this year: establishing a solid and healthy daily routine. As someone who lives far inland, any time I go to the beach I’m amazed to see the tide rise and fall. To me a good routine feels much the same way—it moves effortlessly and consistently through each day.

Bob: Stream

Stream describes the year I journeyed. There was a flow to the year that was clear and moving forward at a manageable pace. The year provided many twists and turns through a variety of spaces. The flow enabled refreshment and nourishment. In the physical world that we live in, I have always been drawn to property, land that had a stream running through it. I always felt a stream would always be familiar because you can see it in its form every day, however, it presents unknown opportunities that novel things may pass through from upstream that satisfies my curiosity.

Chad: Whirlpool

Definition: a rapidly rotating mass of water in a river or sea into which objects may be drawn, typically caused by the meeting of conflicting currents.

As this year has unfolded, it’s felt like I keep getting pulled into one whirlpool after another—caught in this fast-moving river where a bunch of conflicting currents all crash into each other at once.

My biggest mix of curiosity/excitement and loathing/fear has been the rise of AI and how quickly it’s reshaping the work I’ve done my entire career. This industry has always evolved, and I’ve always found a way to evolve with it. But this AI river is moving at a speed that sometimes feels almost too fast to keep up with, and it leaves my head swirling as I’m just trying to keep my oars in the water.

Cynthia: Creek

This year felt like moving along a winding creek. After graduation, I wasn’t sure what direction to go or what the next step should be. Starting grad school was exciting, but it also came with a lot of uncertainty and second-guessing. I spent a lot of time feeling unsure about my choices and wondering if things would ever feel stable. But little by little, things started to make more sense. I found my rhythm, gained more clarity, and started feeling more confident in the path I’m on. Now, everything is becoming clearer and finally moving in the right direction.

Nina: Evaporate

Time evaporates, hours into days, into weeks, into months. Where has the year gone?

Grief was strong, but it, too, evaporated, a little at first, then more; not quite gone, just evaporating. Grief recoups the tears of love and loss, then Time helps them evaporate again.

Problems wash in and away, some worsening, some solved, some unyielding. My life is measured out in to-do lists, which replenish and evaporate endlessly.

Gratitude evaporates sometimes, and it takes monumental effort to recover: to once again be grateful, to be merciful, to be renewed.

Rachel: Dew

My year has been comprised of tiny blessings and miracles that accumulate to cover my entire life with gratitude to my Savior Jesus Christ and my Heavenly Father. The picture is just one example of a blessing that my family was able to visit an aquarium together and get close to sharks (with a thick glass between us and them!).

Dew is a meteorological phenomenon and I consider all the blessings in my life to be wonderful phenomena. Even in the trials, there is still joy to be found in the miracles.

Shaun: River

Like a river, I feel like 2025 has had everything from slow flows to fast rough currents & rapids. The combination of both education of AI and using AI, have created easier workflows but also heavy weighted stress keeping up with all the possibilities.

Matt: Waves

Living on Lake Erie, I see the power of the lake water and variety of waves every day. This past year has brought ups and downs both personally and professionally. Everything could be calm and going smoothly – the lake is flat or has small ripples; then some crazy event happens that disrupts your day – like when the waves pick up, become large and pound the shore. But you always know it won’t last, the water will settle down and become calm again. And so it goes, the good and the bad, flowing together.

Peter: Vapor

Closed our company’s office and switched to work from home. Stepping into new ways of doing familiar things that aren’t clear at the start. Also have COVID for the first time, with the brain fog symptoms.

Kelly: Drift

When I look back, the year didn’t move in a straight line or even with much intention at times—it drifted. There were stretches where the water was choppy and unpredictable, moments where I felt pushed by currents I didn’t choose, and long periods of simply staying afloat and trusting I’d reach the next calm.

I look at my photos often. Every month I do a 30-day reflection, and one of the things I return to is my camera. I take a lot of photos, and I’ve learned that when an image keeps pulling me back, it means something. This one did.

The image I’m sharing isn’t of me, but I did take it. It captures a moment, Matt kayaking at sunset. After all the movement, the noise, the storminess of the year, that quiet moment feels like where I landed. Just still. Drift gets a bad reputation, but I’ve learned it can also be a form of trust. Letting the water carry you when forcing direction would only exhaust you.

If Flow taught me anything this year, it’s that not every season is about momentum. Some are about staying present, keeping your head above water, and recognizing when calm finally arrives—even if it’s quieter than you expected.

The post A Year of Flow appeared first on designRoom.

For the past decade, designRoom has been working with Cohen Veterans Network on a mental health campaign—one that has stood the test of time and continues to evolve. When we started, the campaign supported 5 clinics in 4 states. Today, CVN supports 22 clinics across 12 states and Washington, DC. Here’s how we made that growth happen.

How Did This All Begin?

Our partnership began with research—in-depth interviews, surveys, and conversations with veterans and family members. The single most important finding was that veterans trust other veterans above all else.

Additionally, we identified four distinct audience categories:

Veterans Spectrum of Involvement in Mental Health Care

The primary target was that ‘Disconnected and Waiting’ group—veterans who weren’t currently seeking help, but who were open to it when the time felt right.

Our creative strategy took what we learned about CVN’s audiences and their key motivators and we translated that into what we called “reasons to believe.” Those reasons all contributed to our foundational campaign message: Back to Better.

The Life of the Back to Better Campaign

Audience + Campaign Messaging Strategy

Our insights led us to center the campaign on authentic veteran and family stories—stories of hope, change, and community. Our Back to Better theme has guided the campaign from the start.

While the theme “Back to Better” hasn’t changed, the campaign continues to evolve creatively, tactically and strategically. 

For example, in the early years, we sent crews to clinics for professional photography and video shoots. The look was polished, the production high-end, and it worked. These polished stories became the foundation for all ads, web, and social.

Then came COVID. We pivoted to recording our interviews virtually, with lower production value and a more grassroots feel. Unexpectedly, this change improved the campaign by showing our clients more at ease, in their home environments. This authenticity deepened the trust factor, and the results spoke for themselves.

But this isn’t the only change we’ve adapted to on the fly. Over the course of the campaign, we have expanded our targeting to include military family and active-duty military members. And in order to measure our progress over time, we define strategic KPIs and continually evaluate creative performance.

Data Drives Everything

There really aren’t benchmarks out there for mental health, only healthcare in general, so how do you know if what you’re doing is working?

A huge thing for us is going beyond the typical advertising metrics and working with CVN’s IT team to track conversions at the end of the journey—to find out who went on to become a client.

Campaign Evolution – Data Drives Everything

Our process includes data at every step, going through the cycle above during yearly planning and throughout the year. Yearly planning considers every facet of the campaign with data in mind. With monthly and quarterly meetings, we’re able to optimize and analyze nimbly and strategically. Every evolution of the campaign is built on what we’ve learned.

Long-Term Value

Back to Better has stood the test of time because it’s flexible. A long-term campaign doesn’t mean you never change—it means you use the data to make deliberate decisions.

This campaign is complex, with 22 clinics at the time of writing and multiple tactics for each clinic that are reconsidered regularly. Still, we monitor and adjust. We don’t just set it and forget it. We let the data guide us, and when it’s not working, we pivot.

At the same time, the fundamental core of the campaign has not changed. The Cohen Veterans Network brand, our client stories and word-of-mouth, and the Back to Better campaign all align with the ‘Reasons to Believe’ we discovered in our research nearly a decade ago.

• CVN is easy and efficient
• CVN’s specialization in mental health
• CVN helps the whole family
• CVN treats regardless of combat or discharge status
• CVN deals with all mental health, not just PTSD

What’s Next

The latest evolution of the campaign is adding entirely new storytelling angles:

• We are adding active-duty voices.
• Remember, we found that veterans trust fellow veterans the most? With more than 50% of CVN clinicians being veterans, we’re now highlighting their stories, demonstrating CVN’s military cultural competency.
• And we’re integrating AI—a shift that will impact both creative and distribution strategies.

We’re actively working on ways to adapt, from optimizing our content so that it’s visible and relevant within AI-generated summaries, to shifting media spend toward placements and formats that can’t be bypassed so easily. AI isn’t just changing search results, it’s reshaping the client journey to engagement, and we want to make sure the ‘Back to Better’ campaign stays front and center in today’s evolving landscape.

With data at the center of all our decision-making, and years of thoughtful partnership between Cohen Veterans Network and our team, we see collaboration with our client as the true reason Why It’s Still Working.

The post Long Game: Inside a Multi-Year Mental Health Campaign and Why It’s (Still) Working appeared first on designRoom.

The following is excerpted from our White Paper.

If you’re marketing a brand to a broad and disparate audience, a distinct, healthy brand will identify and differentiate you, and promote engagement and connection. It’s been that way for thousands of years. If you believe your behavioral healthcare organization is immune, or that a healthy brand offers little value, that belief is an obstacle to success.

Brand History

The word “brand” has many roots. It derives from the ancient North Scandinavian term “brandr,” meaning “to burn.” It is a reference to the practice of using branding irons to burn a mark into the hides of livestock, and may also refer to the practice of craftsmen engraving brand names into products, tools, or personal belongings. Its practice dates back to at least 2,700 years B.C.E. in Egypt, and was a key component of religious teaching and identification.

Branding can be found everywhere in ancient societies – on signs, coins, artwork, weapons, crafts, and professional services. Artists and craftsmen signed their work in unique fashion, often creating unique symbols, to ensure authenticity and to differentiate from imitators and purveyors of products of lesser quality. Recognition promoted trust. Since most people were only semi-literate, the brand symbol became a primary way to communicate, educate, and engage. Brands were also used to let people know who was in charge – through faces and symbols on currency.

The definition of brand expanded, as did its benefits.

The definition we like:

A brand is a multi-layered consumer experience represented by a collection of images and ideas. Often, it refers to a symbol, name, logo, slogan, design scheme, and voice. Brand recognition and other reactions are created by the accumulation of experiences with the specific product or service, both directly relating to its use and through the influence of conversation, design, and media exposure.

Behavioral Healthcare is a Consumer Industry

More often than not, when speaking to a behavioral health organization about their brand, the response is that they are not a consumer brand. Therefore, the reasoning follows, they do not need to invest much into it.

Today, healthcare brands are consumer brands. The consumer segments they need to engage are distinct and varied.

In a strategic approach to healthy branding, an organization effectively self-identifies and knows its audiences and their needs and wants. They know what makes their organization special and know how to communicate it, and they create a plan for every brand interaction.

Like most every consumer business, behavioral healthcare organizations face competition. But they compete for more than a share of the market. They also must compete for funding, for physicians, for attention, for staff, and for referrals. In the non-profit world especially, they also face increasing payer control that includes reimbursements tied to volume and outcomes. As facilities grow and serve more patients, many organizations also prioritize safety and compliance, often turning to trusted services like www.fastfirewatchguards.com to help maintain secure operations.

A website is not a brand. It is a highly important element to the digital brand, and the primary way consumers engage and connect. It is, however, a marketing tactic, not a long-term brand strategy.

A brand is more than a logo, a slogan, or a website. These are branding components. The heart of a brand connects with its audience when it conveys the essence of an organization, its origins, its reason for being, its unique nature, and its promise.

Brand Attachment

Creating brand attachment is a key issue in today’s marketing world. The strongest attachments are emotional – connecting a good feeling with the mere sight, mention, or thought of a particular brand. We all have them. An effective way to foster these attachments, while maintaining integrity and authenticity, is to match the brand’s personality with the consumer’s self.

With a behavioral healthcare brand, however, the interaction is more complex. You must know your audience, have a good idea of their sense of self, and be able to authentically connect with them over time. Your unique self must be communicated through symbol, speech, and action, and understood by each audience. Your promise must be fulfilled at every point of interaction. This includes advertising, web site imagery and messaging, how you answer phones, the nature and tone of your conversations, and the support you show for their belief, trust, and ongoing relationship.

The resulting attachment is also more complex and less easily broken. Deliver on your promise as a behavioral healthcare provider, and over time you develop brand evangelists and ambassadors; they will influence countless more loyalists.

You can’t deliver, however, if you’re not aware of who you are and the promises you are able to make and keep. 

It is a powerful thing, to build and market a healthy behavioral healthcare brand. Evidence shows that you are a consumer brand and, done right, branding will lead to an energized, unified organization; effective strategic planning; increased brand awareness and attachment; and sustainable success.

The attachment and loyalty a healthy brand creates can last for generations. The good it does in the world will last lifetimes.

If you would like to read our White Paper in its entirety, you can download the PDF.

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Last fall, I began my Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing. As part of this degree, I’m also required to teach English classes. (One secret of higher education: freshman English courses are nearly all taught by grad students or adjuncts.) I was incredibly nervous to take on these new challenges – I’m not sure I could’ve defined rhetoric before I prepared to teach a class on it. The classes I taught were the introductory college composition courses that every student has to take, and the class sizes were only about 23. It’s a great opportunity for students to build their skills in writing and thinking, too. 

As I prepare for the next semester and really reflect on the year I’ve had, I realized just how well-suited I am to teaching. I relished the challenge of working with students and I really connected with the theory of education and teaching. It helped that the class I taught was skills-based, much like my design education. Designing activities to develop skills in students is something I especially took to; I ended up sharing my activity designs with other teachers who were interested. In fact, I found myself overflowing with ideas for how I can take what I’ve learned and bring it to design and brand strategy work as well.

Here are six things from the classroom that I’m intentionally bringing back to designRoom with me.

Goals are the best place to start.

The first thing I learned about lesson planning was to begin the plan with the objectives. I was taught ask to myself a few key questions:

• What are the one or two things I want learners to leave this semester knowing?
• What’s the next bite-sized piece that this time can tackle?
• What activities can teach that skill through doing/writing/thinking?

Designing a day of instruction with these questions in mind ensured that all parts of the class contributed to my goals. In education, this is referred to as ‘backwards design’ because you start your planning with the end objectives.

‘Backwards design’ is a great way to approach branding and design, too. The process of branding or re-branding is often an educational one – our clients are usually engaging with their visual brand deeply for the first time. designRoom starts each project by making sure all parties agree on objectives at the beginning. Along the way we explain how each step will contribute to the final identity, and why we do it this way. That’s been our process since I began here. What might it look like if we apply ‘backwards design’ principles on purpose? I can’t wait to find out.

I do, we do, you do.

There is a phrase that is supposed to help teachers remember how students learn best: I do, we do, you do. That means that first the instructor should demonstrate the skill, then practice it with students, then allow the students to do it on their own. On a basic level, this is a framework for any individual activity in the classroom.

This strategy worked on larger scales, too. For example, I wanted them to write their own essays without the assistance of AI. Rather than simply banning it, I tried this I do, we do, you do approach. On the first day of class I committed to reading every homework myself and not using AI to review papers or write my comments. Together we spent time on the value of doing the assignment yourself as well as generating ideas and getting started on them. I emphasized how much I looked forward to hearing their ideas and thinking about them, and when it came time for them to write their projects, most chose to write it themselves.

My experience got me thinking about how a re-brand is an educational process that follows this flow, too. The “I do” is our experience we carry with us into the room. The “we do” can last for more than a year, and in my mind is most of the branding process. When we’re conducting an assessment and interviewing or surveying people, that’s a step we make to collaborate with the internal team and make it clear that this new brand is being built with and by them. We never talk about it this way, but the whole time we’re working on a brand together, we’re setting clients up for how to work without us —the “you do” phase, I might call it now. When set up properly, a healthy brand is ready to grow on its own.

Genre-Based Pedagogy

Another thing I learned in preparation to teach is the idea of different pedagogies, or approaches to teaching. Each pedagogy has a strength. I was drawn to genre-based pedagogy, which revolves around the idea of teaching students that language should be chosen based on a good understanding of the genre they’re writing in. Practically, this meant:

• Analyzing forms of writing that students already know very well, like texting and email, to understand how writing works there
• Applying that same analysis process to each new major assignment
• Communicating clearly the requirements vs. conventions and let students explicitly know what rules they’re allowed to break
• Fostering a meta-awareness within students of how genre informs language choices

The concept of genre is extremely helpful to me as a creative person. Thinking in a genre-informed way has led to me asking different, deeper questions about projects I’m assigned. It’s allowed me to develop my own writing skills to address different audiences, and it’s a key concept that I think a lot of design education misses.

A social media post will sound – and look – different than a press release. A photograph is sometimes better than an illustration, but not always. Icons can help understanding or get in the way. Genre is everything.

I am a translator – and that’s special! 

One thing I brought with me from designRoom was this idea of being a concept translator. An inherent part of design is interpreting words and making them visual. At designRoom, we take it to another level. Translation happens first when we assess our clients; we explain back to them things that they know but may not have interpreted correctly. Then we translate all this information into a brand with a clear identity and differentiator.

As an instructor, my instinct to re-word and re-explain kicked in all the time. I taught the freshman composition class that’s mandatory for every major. While the topic wasn’t too complex, it was also something I hadn’t thought about since my own college days, and just rattling off a textbook definition was enough for some students, but not all. Through making sure I could translate the information into words they’d understand, my own comprehension of the subject matter deepened.

Since translation already came naturally to me, I didn’t think much of it at the time. I was focused on the day-to-day of assignments and setting my students up for success. It wasn’t until I got student feedback at the end of the semester that I realized I could attribute these successes in part to translation.

When I’m back at designRoom, I’m going to bring my new awareness of translating with me. It takes time, energy, and inclination to do that conceptual translating work. It’s an investment in the person you’re talking to, and it’s difficult sometimes – and I still love doing it!

Every question is a gift. 

Here are just a few of the questions I got from students in my first semester teaching:

• Why can’t an essay be one long paragraph?
• How do I write more words?
• How do I end this? (referring to an essay)
• How do I know the idea is the right idea?
• When you say we need to use the vocabulary words in the essay, do you mean we should use the actual word?

Some of these do sound like dumb questions, I have to admit, but I loved them all. How DO you write more words? It’s an especially fair question when you’re 18 and have never tried to write anything longer than a page before. I think my passion for questions was obvious to my students. They kept asking. One turned in every major project late because they wanted to talk to me one last time about their questions, which were exclusively questions they’d asked me before.

Teaching, and answering a ton of questions all the time, showed me something that isn’t as obvious otherwise: every question is an opportunity for me to show I take the asker’s concerns seriously. If I’m repeating myself, then they didn’t hear it before. If it sounds obvious, that means I need to re-examine “obvious” until I know where they got tripped up.

I’m bringing this energy back with me. There are no dumb questions. Not knowing something is just a chance to learn it. 

There is no substitute for caring. 

From watching my own students and observing my fellow grad student teachers, one thing became absolutely clear: caring about the people in the room with me is something I’ve taken for granted in the past. It’s easy for some to become jaded or overloaded and phone it in. I understand those who feel that way, but I’ve learned that’s just not who I am. I care—hard—and my students felt it.

Early on, one of my classes noticed that I remembered what they wrote about. After that, I overheard students in that class holding each other accountable for not putting the work in. Me caring gave them permission to. When one student who was not usually “good at English” (their words) got a perfect grade on their first major assignment, they moved from the back row to the front of the classroom and stayed there the rest of the semester. I’m emotional just thinking about it. Huge gesture of trust!

I don’t want to pretend I’m inventing something here. Caring, meeting people where they are, is a central tenet of designRoom’s values. It’s also central to the life-saving work our behavioral health and addiction clients do every day. What teaching showed me is the impact that I, myself, can have when I show up full of enthusiasm and sincerity every day – and, what happens when someone doesn’t. I have a new appreciation for how much the whole designRoom team cares about our clients, and I can say with confidence that nothing replaces sincere interest. People know when you’re faking it.

The semester was not perfect. I had days where the activities just didn’t work, or when half the class was sick and I had to replan on the fly. No matter how many extensions I granted, there were still students who simply didn’t do the work. It’s easy for me to get bogged down in the specifics of every minor thing that went wrong, and lose the big picture.

The big picture thought that ties this all together for me is how powerful living my values can be. By helping each of my students learn and understand what was special about them, I think I could finally do the same. The things I believe in—like curiosity and experimentation and personal expression—those aren’t universal values. They’re unique to me, and so is the amount of effort I put in to following through on them.

My values are also why I’ve been with designRoom for so long. I believe in the people I work with and for. Grad school never would have been possible without the support of the people I work with – Kelly, Chad, Matt, Shaun, and Cynthia. I’m so grateful to everyone at designRoom for cheering me on during this challenge. What I’ve learned won’t stay behind at school, it will come with me everywhere I go.

The post 6 Things I’m Taking from the Classroom to designRoom appeared first on designRoom.

From Jaguar’s divisive new pink logo to Walmart’s “blink and you miss it” changes, commercial and consumer industries approach branding with a trend mentality in mind. But what about healthcare? Unlike some industries that rise and fall, healthcare is a necessity of human life, and its branding is often a reflection of its endurance.

Our graphic designers have some opinions and observations to share when it comes to changes they’ve noticed in healthcare branding across their careers in design.

Anna on Trend Resistance

Healthcare brands have additional challenges, compared to other brands; they do vital work that often leaves no time to consider their visual brand. When healthcare brands do have time to consider branding, it can be hard to know what decisions are right, and what brand position would help them stand out in the crowd.

For all these reasons, I think healthcare brands are more trend-resistant than other industries. Many major healthcare brands have been unchanged for decades, so there isn’t industry pressure to freshen up the look. This means healthcare brands making thoughtful, considered rebrands can really set themselves apart.

All industries right now are tending towards simplicity and healthcare is no different. At the moment, most healthcare brands use a sans-serif font and some color blue in their identity—this is not a new trend, but a persistent one!

Chad on Big vs. Small

I think there is a significant gap between how big healthcare organizations prioritize brand (positioning, management, consistency, etc.) versus smaller healthcare organizations. Obviously, the larger brands have much larger budgets to prioritize branding, but that doesn’t mean it is less important in smaller organizations. Healthcare brands evolve and it’s important that the brand identity is truly reflective of the organization as it stands today.

Shaun on Branding Approaches

It appears branding is becoming more simple and warm. Clean, geometric shapes with rounded edges, bold sans-serif fonts, and spacious layouts are trending across healthcare and other industries. Color palettes feel calmer and more refined. Logos are becoming simpler and more flexible, supporting adaptability across digital platforms like mobile phones and social media.

Healthcare providers approach branding as a means to build trust and reduce anxiety. To do that, they’re reducing clutter and increasing white space, adding calming photography, and developing intuitive navigation. Icons and shapes are inspired by wellness and community: curves for care, for example, and smart grids that suggest order and stability.

——————–

Like in any industry, branding is important, but healthcare branding is a particularly tall order. To Anna’s point, healthcare is often resistant to other branding trends, but to Chad’s, a brand has to reflect the business of today. And to Shaun’s, healthcare design also has to adapt to modern technology and standards of accessibility.

Across the board, branding evolves over time to best appeal to their audience. But healthcare is a necessity for every single one of us, and a healthcare organization’s brand should reflect that.

The post Our Designers Weigh in on Trends in Healthcare Branding appeared first on designRoom.

Moving from Benin Republic to the U.S. for college was a big step, one that came with a lot of challenges, but also so many opportunities to grow. After earning my degree in International Business, with minors in Finance and Marketing, I started my journey in branding and marketing at designRoom.

Since joining the team as a Marketing Associate and Research Specialist, I’ve learned so much. The work has been exciting, sometimes challenging (in a good way), and full of experiences that are helping me grow both professionally and personally.

A Role That Keeps Me Learning

Every day at designRoom is different. Whether I’m helping with marketing strategies, tracking project timelines, or analyzing data, I get to use both creative and analytical thinking. I’ve also gotten hands-on experience managing social media, creating content, and coordinating projects, and that’s really helped me build confidence in what I do.

Recently, I even had the chance to dive deeper into the world of AI in marketing. I earned the Piloting AI 2nd Edition Certification from the Marketing Artificial Intelligence Institute, which gave me new tools and ideas for how AI can be used in marketing and operations. It’s been very eye-opening.

The Team and Culture

One of the things I love most about working at designRoom is the team. I’ve had the chance to work with some seriously talented designers, strategists, and marketers and I’ve learned so much just by being around them.

Looking Ahead

As I keep growing in my role, I’m really excited for what’s ahead: new projects, new lessons, and more opportunities to contribute to the team.

I’m proud of how far I’ve come and excited to see what’s next.

The post My Journey at designRoom: Growth, Learning, and Creativity appeared first on designRoom.

Matt and I recently attended the Cohen Veterans Network (CVN) Annual Meeting in San Antonio. The conference was an eye-opening experience. Although we’re not veterans ourselves, we work with several organizations that serve veterans. I don’t know what it was exactly, but this year’s CVN Annual Meeting was really special; it was about how you felt more than anything. Fun and insightful, it brought to light the magic that can happen when you’re passionate about the work you do and the people you do it for and with.

What is CVN?

Cohen Veterans Network is a nonprofit network of healthcare clinics that help post-9/11 veterans, active duty service members, and their families. CVN was founded by philanthropist Steven A. Cohen, who made a $275M commitment to launch the network. They currently operate 22 clinics across 20 states. Since its inception in 2016, they’ve served nearly 79,000 clients, and in 2024 alone provided over 139,000 clinical sessions.

The work CVN does is so important. When we started working for them, our initial research showed that veterans trust veterans. Period. The more real, the better. At that time, many veterans relied on the VA for their medical care, and the idea of seeking mental health support elsewhere was uncommon. Not just any therapist would be a good fit for a veteran. The cultural competency of CVN’s clinicians is a major factor in client comfort. Over and over, the clients we’ve spoken to have emphasized how important it was to have a therapist that understood where they were coming from and what they had gone through.

The 2025 Annual Meeting

The CVN Annual Meeting is a place for clinicians and other affiliates to gather, share successes, and be recognized for their efforts. This year, there were 190 in-person attendees and 150 virtual attendees. The conference hosted 16 workshops ranging from mental health strategies for LGBTQIA+ military communities, to navigating substance use treatment for veterans. We launched our Back to Better campaign there, which is built on individuals sharing their Cohen Clinic experiences.

Opening Keynote from Anthony Hassan, President and CEO of CVN.

I was honored to introduce Kyle Snook, West Point graduate, retired US Army Infantry Combat Platoon Leader, and former COO of PRISM Vision Group. 

Kyle took us step by step through his amazing story.

It wasn’t all business, though…

We enjoyed events including a Fiesta Awards Dinner and a Historic Trolley Tour: Photo Scavenger Hunt!

We can’t wait for next year

This year’s CVN Annual Meeting was a magical experience for us. We typically work with Paul, Elise, and Nicole on the marketing staff, so it was great being able to connect with people throughout the network and really feel how much compassion goes into these clinics. Everyone seemed so engaged, and the entire event was put together with close attention to the details. Once you were there, you felt totally taken care of, from the food to the hotel rooms to the social events. We learned a lot and made meaningful connections with so many people.

The post Leaving a Lasting Impact: Our Experience at the CVN Annual Meeting appeared first on designRoom.