Strategic guides for mission-driven organizations
We help good people doing great work communicate like the humans they are.
We’re Design Rangers. Let’s figure out who you really are, then find the words to say it.
Clarity first. Everything else follows.
The challenge
Organizations that give a damn often sound...
kind of the same.
Jargon-filled mission statements. Websites written by committee. Acronyms everywhere. Internal language that leaves your audience confused and overwhelmed. Sound familiar?
When organizations don’t communicate clearly, everyone is left to make up their own story of who you are. That includes staff, volunteers, donors, and the people you serve.
But when you cut through the noise and land on clear language, something changes. You stop explaining yourself and start connecting with people who already believe what you believe.
Our approach
Guides, not gurus.
Your DNA is already there — it’s just scattered across your organization, sitting in the heads of people who’ve never been asked the right questions.
We invite everyone to the table, and then we listen — connecting dots until the picture becomes clear. When we hold it up, people often say, “That’s what we’ve been trying to say the whole time, but couldn’t find the words!” (Actual client quote) Then we build your Ranger Roadmap, so you know exactly what to do next.
01
Permission to pause
A structured space to slow down with expert guides. We ask questions nobody thought to ask. Patterns emerge, people get honest, and passion comes to the forefront. Strategic work should be engaging, not exhausting.
02
Clarity through curation
What makes you distinctly you already exists. We help you see the whole picture, prioritize what’s important, and let go of the rest. In a world where AI can generate anything, what sets you apart is knowing what to keep.
03
Prototype the path
Once you know what to say, the next step is to put it into action. We take what we’ve learned and make it real through visual prototypes and messaging examples so you can react and remix quickly. No guesswork, no waiting for the big reveal.
What you get
Your map & compass.
No theoretical reports. Just practical tools that show the way forward.
A messaging guidebook
Shared language that everyone from your ED to your grant writers can use to tell the same core story in their own words.
A prioritized gameplan
A grounded direction for whatever comes next — a website redesign, a capital campaign, or even a single fundraising email.
Content that sounds like you
Going beyond guidelines, writing homepage headlines and program descriptions that feel like meeting you in person.
Prototypes you can react to
Interactive prototypes and visuals — built in hours, not weeks — so you can see where you’re headed before you commit.
Process & services
How we work.
We’re not exactly consultants, even though we’re good at getting you unstuck. We’ve built entire brand systems, but designer isn’t quite the right word anymore. Think of us as strategic guides. We come in, get the lay of the land, and help you find your way through it.
Subject
Strategic sessions
Prerequisite
None
Principle
Slow down to speed up
Snacks
S'mores
Camps
These aren’t boring meetings. They’re focused (but fun) working sessions. Usually a few hours, sometimes a full day. We create space for you to pause and reconnect with the work that matters most.
Simple questions that rarely get answered: what is this for, who is it for, and why does it matter?
Every Camp produces a deliverable — a framework, a guide, a map, or a recommendation your team can reference and use right away.
- Name what you believe and why
- Understand who you serve and how they find you
- Turn scattered thinking into language you can use
- Give your whole team the same words
- Get clear enough to be bold
- Make the big decisions before the project starts
Camp Counseling
Everyone starts here. You know your work matters, but saying why out loud comes out clunky, or vague, or just different depending on who you ask. Come away with what you believe, and the key messages that follow.
Personality Camp
It’s hard to see yourself the way other people see you. Name the traits that make you recognizable, and decide how they show up in everything you do.
Brand Voice Camp
By the time everyone has weighed in, your writing doesn’t sound like anyone. Find language that sounds like you. Something your whole team can use, from grant applications to the homepage.
Structure Camp
Your programs, services, and web pages made sense as they grew. Just not to anyone outside. Organize them around what people came to do: give, volunteer, sign up, or find help.
Subject
Visual Exploration
Prerequisite
Camps
Principle
Show, don't tell
Snacks
Trail mix
Prototyping & visualization
Nobody can react to a description. Everyone pictures something different, and the original idea disappears somewhere along the way.
Camps decide who you are and who you’re for. Prototypes decide what it looks like and how it works, so you react to the actual thing instead of imagining it.
- See it before you commit to it
- Catch problems while they’re still cheap to fix
- Test ideas instead of arguing about them
- Give your team one visual language to work from
Subject
Plain language
Prerequisite
Camps
Principle
Write like a human
Snacks
Alphabet crackers
Messaging & content development
Knowing what to say is not the same as communicating it. Most teams leave a Camp clear and still stall on the blank page.
Camps help you define your Why, How and What. This is where they become homepage copy, a grant paragraph, a program description, and templates anyone can use without having to call us.
- Turn your strategy into words you can publish
- Write the pages you keep putting off
- Make writing manageable instead of overwhelming
- Set guardrails before AI fills in the blanks
Subject
Ongoing guidance
Prerequisite
Camps
Principle
Discovery never ends
Snacks
Unlimited
Ongoing strategic partnerships
Some of our best work happens over years, not months.
The value isn’t the quarterly sessions or campaign reviews (though we do those). It’s having someone who knows your story well enough to tell you when you stop sounding like yourself.
Clients tell us it feels less like hiring a partner and more like adding someone to the team.
- Stop re-explaining your organization
- Keep projects on brand and on track
- Bring us into any room, no prep required
- Put time back in your schedule
Who we work with
Organizations that give a damn.
Check the boxes that sound like you. Three or more and we should talk.
Form
Self selection
Created for
Camp attendees
Reward
Ranger Red Socks
If you already have the plan and just need someone to build it, we’re probably not your people — but we know great partners who can help.
Previous and current campers
Mostly nonprofits and mission-driven organizations in Colorado and beyond. Community colleges, family foundations, food banks, human services, outdoor recreation, and education.
- Asheville Humane Society
- Benet Hill Monastery
- Care and Share Food Bank
- Community Partnership Family Resource Center
- D2 – Harrison School District 2
- Echo Canyon River Expeditions
- El Pomar Foundation
- Green Box Arts
- Humane Society of the Pikes Peak Region
- Inside Out Youth Services
- Kids on Bikes
- Legacy Institute
- Manitou Springs
- NAMI Colorado Springs
- Pikes Peak Community Foundation
- Pikes Peak Region Attractions
- Pikes Peak State College
- PRISM Community Collective
- RMFI (Rocky Mountain Field Institute)
- Second Harvest Food Bank
- Silver Key Senior Services
- The Place
- Wildfire Tees
About us
Recovering designers, thriving strategists.
Hi, we’re Jenny and Chris. We founded Design Rangers in 2007.
As designers, we found that the projects with the most impact never just looked good — they had something powerful to say. So now we spend our days in rooms full of people who care, making it comfortable enough for them to be honest. We help good people doing great work communicate like the humans they are.
We’re proud community college graduates (go Aardvarks!), married 26 years, and we love being a two-person team who knows your kids’ names.
Some clients have been with us more than 15 years. Sometimes we make s’mores. Sometimes clients cry happy tears in our sessions. Usually, Jenny does too.
Camp is in session.
We’ll save you a marshmallow.
Drop us a line about what you’re working on. We’ll set up a free 30-minute call to dig into it and figure out together whether we’re the right fit.