Crafted Liberation by RK Collective: Digital storytelling through website and social media

The brief: clarity, emotion and reach

• Understand the emotion drivers behind support for the Crafted Liberation movement

• Establish RK Collective as the umbrella brand, with Crafted Liberation as its signature project

• Consolidate a clear brand message that leads with artistry and storytelling

• Design a website and Instagram presence that feels respectful, powerful and consistent

• Build a growth strategy that turns online attention into real-world participation and media coverage

01 Audience research

We conducted a series of surveys and interviews with 15 participants, a mix of Iranian and non-Iranian individuals who had engaged with or heard about the initiative to understand the emotional drivers behind support for Crafted Liberation.

This research surfaced 2 primary audience groups:

• Iranian women in Australia and overseas, deeply connected to the Women, Life, Freedom movement.

• Non-Iranian women, who resonated with the project’s message of empowerment and resistance.

These insights informed every aspect of the brand strategy, guiding the tone, the visual direction and the content created to engage both audiences emotionally and effectively.

02 Brand positioning, tone of voice and key messaging

Collaborating with RK Collective, we helped refine and articulate a clear positioning for Crafted Liberation, one that aligns with the studio’s philosophy of ‘lead with ethics, design for impact, focus on change.’

Crafted Liberation is anchored in 3 foundational pillars:

• Artistic expression & aesthetics: the initial draw towards a broader audience’s appreciation of art and design.

• Women’s empowerment: the core message and deeper narrative that connects people to the founding story and movement.

• Design for social impact: the guiding mission behind RK Collective’s work and Crafted Liberation’s role as a platform for cultural change.

We also supported the ongoing development of a unified tone of voice, strong, confident, and inclusive to guide every communication touchpoint, from the website to social media.

03 Brand design and umbrella architecture

The brand design embodies RK Collective’s philosophy of ‘design for function, not decoration.’ The aesthetic for RK Collective itself is minimalistic and modular, using earthy, neutral colours and a clean, sans-serif font.

For Crafted Liberation, we introduced a vibrant Persian-inspired colour palette, reflecting the cultural significance of the project. This differentiation in design established RK Collective as the umbrella brand, with Crafted Liberation as its signature, more emotionally expressive project — a distinction that gives the studio room to grow beyond a single campaign.

04 Web page design and development

We crafted a seamless digital experience that feels respectful and powerful, giving visitors an immediate sense of the project’s purpose. The website features bold photography, clear storytelling, and split-screen transitions that highlight the parallel journeys of the donated headscarves and the stadium chairs, both symbols of resilience and the enduring spirit of Iranian women.

Simple calls-to-action Support, Share, and Donate make it easy and anonymous for anyone to get involved.

Developed in Webflow, the site was built for performance, achieving 96/100 on desktop and 69/100 on mobile in Google Lighthouse. We also set up basic SEO foundations to ensure the page appears first when people search for Crafted Liberation.

05 Instagram content design & creative direction

Building on the research and positioning work, we collaborated with Nila to design Crafted Liberation’s first month of Instagram content leading up to the exhibition launch at the Australian Design Centre.

We advised on the creative direction, helping shape a powerful visual statement by centring the fearless Iranian women at the heart of the story. This concept guided the approach for the videography and photography, produced by the client’s own creative team.

Co-designing with Nila, we created a full month of Instagram content, including carousels, reels, stories, and brand collaborations. Each piece balanced strong visuals with emotional storytelling; several posts sparked viral engagement, including one reel that generated over 30,000 views.

06 Growth strategy and tactics for wider reach

To scale the movement and reach new audiences, we collaborated on a growth strategy that prioritises high-impact storytelling, visual virality, and values-aligned partnerships. The strategy included:

• Optimised content planning for reels, carousels, and stories designed to trigger saves, shares, and follows.

• Community-led messaging, inviting supporters to participate and advocate by re-sharing stories.

• Strategic partnerships with aligned media outlets, cultural institutions, designers, and influencers to tap into new audiences and gain earned media exposure.

• A clear call-to-action funnel that directed online interest toward real-world participation, including exhibition visits, press coverage, and grassroots support.

This approach strengthened Crafted Liberation’s ability to not just be seen but to be shared, talked about and remembered.

Project impact

• Website traffic grew by 400%

• Social media reach increased by 600%

•  Strengthened RK Collective’s position as a global voice in design for social impact

• Shared Crafted Liberation’s mission with renewed clarity and cultural relevance

• Featured nationally across ABC, SBS, Marie Claire, DesignBoom and Australian Design Review

Key takeaways for culture, arts & creative organisation communication

1. A clearly defined brand strategy drives visibility, credibility and engagement

2. Purposeful and emotionally resonant storytelling magnifies audience connection and media impact

3. Clear messaging builds stronger emotional connections than persuasion alone

4. Consistent design across web and social creates trust

5. Authentic storytelling, led by the people at the centre of the story, drives organic growth

Crafted Liberation: FAQs

How do you build a brand strategy for a social design project?

Start with the emotional drivers, not the politics. Crafted Liberation sits at the intersection of art, identity and activism, and that combination can overwhelm a message if it isn’t structured. We ran interviews and surveys with 15 participants to understand what actually motivated people to support the project, then built a 3-pillar framework: artistic expression, women’s empowerment, and design for social impact, so every piece of content sits under one idea rather than competing narratives. Leading with artistry and storytelling, rather than political advocacy, kept the project accessible to a much wider audience.

How do you position a studio and its signature project as two distinct but connected brands?

Through deliberate visual differentiation. RK Collective’s own identity is minimalistic and modular, built on earthy, neutral colours and a clean sans-serif font, reflecting the studio’s ‘design for function, not decoration’ philosophy. Crafted Liberation, as the studio’s first and most emotionally significant project, was given a vibrant Persian-inspired colour palette to reflect its cultural weight. That contrast is what establishes RK Collective as the umbrella brand while letting Crafted Liberation stand on its own as a signature movement.

What makes a website work for an emotionally-driven cause?

Respect and clarity, ahead of decoration. The Crafted Liberation site uses bold photography, split-screen transitions, and clear storytelling to communicate the parallel journeys of the donated headscarves and the stadium chairs, without needing dense copy to explain it. Calls-to-action like Support, Share, and Donate are kept simple and anonymous, so involvement never feels like a barrier. Built in Webflow, the site was optimised for performance first, scoring 96/100 on desktop in Google Lighthouse, with basic SEO foundations so the project is easy to find.