Professional by Design — Presentation Slides for Community Cycling Center
A volunteer project creating PowerPoint and Keynote master slides for a North Portland nonprofit bike shop — designed to garner investor interest, encourage donations, and look professional enough to carry the organization's mission forward.
A community-first bike shop that needed a presentation worthy of its mission.
Community Cycling Center believes that all Portlanders — regardless of income or background — should have the opportunity to experience the joy, freedom, and health benefits of bicycling. Their North Portland shop is a community institution, but their presentation materials weren't doing justice to the organization they had become. I came on board as a volunteer designer to create a set of PowerPoint and Keynote master slides they could use to increase their presence, garner investor interest, and encourage donations. Working with a non-profit was a wonderful experience — their feedback was generous, direct, and constructive, and it encouraged me to continue giving my time to good causes.
The Problem
Slides that needed to look as important as the organization behind them.
Community Cycling Center had a strong brand and a compelling mission — but their existing presentation materials didn't reflect either. They needed something professional enough to put in front of investors and donors, versatile enough to use across different topics and events, and grounded firmly in their existing brand stylesheet.
Three options, many rounds, and a system they could own.
As is my process, I started with three distinct design directions. The guidance was clear — stay within the brand stylesheet but elevate it into something that could hold its own in front of investors and donors. A mid-process concern about the grey placeholder images was quickly resolved once I explained they were simply placeholders, swappable for real photography when the client built their own presentations. From there we moved through feedback rounds efficiently, landing on a final system that was versatile, professional, and delivered in both color and greyscale.
Master Slide Layouts
Adobe Illustrator PowerPoint KeynoteFour core layout types were developed — a full-color intro slide, a picture-left text layout, a two-picture text layout, a text-only layout, and a break slide — giving the client a complete toolkit for any presentation scenario.
Volunteering teaches you things client work doesn't.
Working with Community Cycling Center was a genuinely refreshing experience. Non-profit clients often bring a directness and openness to feedback that can be harder to find in commercial work — they know what they need, they're grateful for the help, and they don't have time for anything that doesn't serve the mission. The feedback throughout this project was constructive, specific, and given in good faith, which made every iteration feel productive rather than frustrating. Delivering a system they could maintain and build on independently was just as important as the design itself. Knowing they walked away with something versatile, professional, and truly their own made the volunteer hours worth every minute. You can read more about how this project came to be in my blog post about getting back in the design game.