Recognition without fragmentation
Build on the existing Landforce identity. Test how much distinction RWP actually needs before creating additional names, marks, domains or social accounts.
THE DESIGNFACTORY
Prepared for Landforce · September 2026
One mission.
Many strengths.Unmistakably
Landforce.
A connected brand and digital experience for the people building their futures, the clients investing in their communities, and the customers giving local wood another life.
People. Land. Possibility.
One identity.Connected opportunity.
$40,000Proposed integrated base scopeJan 31, 2027Brand completion targetMar 31, 2027Core website launch targetBased on the September 8 RFP
01 / The Landforce proposal
Your work is connected.The experience should be, too.
Landforce’s challenge is clarity: preserve the trust already earned while making a growing organization easier to understand, buy from, work with and support.
The organizing idea
Workforce Development
runs through both enterprises.
Land StewardshipResponsible Wood Production
Paid training, coaching and transitional employment connect the work. We would make that relationship visible without asking visitors to decode an organizational chart.
Commercial clarity without losing the mission
Lead service and product journeys with useful details, quality and next actions. Carry the employment story through the experience with dignity.
A richer website without more staff burden
Give recruitment, products, projects, events and impact measures clear owners, reusable fields and realistic review routines.
02 / The Landforce proposal
Strategy you can see.A system you can use.
The concept is a researched starting point. Funded discovery, participant input and brand approval would shape the final work.
01Listen before deciding
Review communications, analytics, search, accessibility, systems and social channels. Facilitate 12 interviews, two decision workshops and six usability sessions across staff, leadership, Crew Members, alumni, board and priority external audiences. Landforce approves recruitment; no unsolicited participant contact.
02Choose the right brand relationship
Compare unified, endorsed and hybrid architectures. Test naming and RWP descriptors for comprehension, trust, market credibility, future growth and maintenance effort. Include preliminary domain and naming-conflict screening; legal clearance remains counsel’s responsibility.
03Build an identity with range
Develop two creative directions, refine one approved system through two consolidated rounds, and deliver positioning, messages, descriptor hierarchy, logo/lockup assets as needed, typography, color, Phosphor icon rules, photographic direction and an editable brand guide.
04Carry it into the real world
Deliver six prioritized application masters: recruitment/referral sheet, stewardship qualifications sheet, project case-study sheet, Mill sign, product/material label and vehicle/uniform identity master. Sizes and production specifications are agreed before artwork. Eight social templates are included separately.
Explore the concept by audience
A next step that feels possible.
Prospective Crew Members need plain answers about paid training, timing, eligibility, certifications and support. Referral partners and employers need their own direct routes.
Explore the crew experienceSee recruitmentReferral partnersEmployer partnershipsDemonstrated: audience navigation, editorial layouts, filtering and guided inquiries. Production delivery: approved identity, connected CMS, live inventory and verified integration workflows. This concept does not accept applications or process donations.
Structure before styling.
Build the sitemap, content inventory, taxonomy, wireframes and priority journeys first. Every retained URL gets a destination: retain, revise, consolidate, archive or redirect.
Distinct, still connected.
One domain is our starting recommendation. Documentary crew imagery, confident service proof and tactile wood photography give each area its own character within a shared identity.
03 / The Landforce proposal
A clear path forward.With people at the center.
Brand approval leads website design. Content planning and technical discovery can progress alongside it without locking in an untested identity.
November 2026
Discover & align
Audit, interviews, audience priorities and baseline measures. Agree inventory, integrations, scope and decision owners.
Landforce decision: Approve discovery findings and the project plan.December–January
Define & express
Test architecture and naming. Develop identity, priority collateral and social conventions. Approve the brand by January 31.
Landforce decision: Review two creative directions; approve one system.February–March
Build & prove
Complete responsive templates, CMS, priority copy, photography, migration and integrations. Test with representative users.
Landforce decision: Approve content; rehearse publishing and priority tasks.By March 31, 2027
Launch & transfer
Complete acceptance, DNS cutover, monitoring, backups and handoff. Begin 60 days of defect stabilization.
Landforce decision: Authorize cutover and confirm account ownership.Ari Raphiel
Project lead & design directionYour accountable contact. Scope, design, communications, reviews and delivery coordination.
Sederrick Raphiel
Creative direction & brand strategyArchitecture, positioning, identity and consistency across physical and digital applications.
Armon Raphiel
Technical directionCMS, integrations, performance, security, quality assurance and technical handoff.
TDF has confirmed capacity for this delivery team and scope. A Pittsburgh-area professional photographer will be selected within the $3,000 allowance, subject to Landforce approval. TDF remains accountable for art direction, delivery and rights; photographer identity and terms will be disclosed before booking.
A realistic commitment from staff.
Plan for a 30-minute weekly lead check-in, approximately 2–3 hours a week of coordination and consolidated review, two 90-minute workshops, scheduled participant sessions and three 60-minute training sessions. Specialists join only the decisions they own. Five-business-day consolidated feedback is the scheduling assumption; holidays and access are settled at kickoff.
Participation is voluntary, accessible and strengths-based. The $1,000 incentive allowance supports 20 contributions at $50 each. Participants may decline photography or storytelling without affecting program access.
04 / The Landforce proposal
The craft. The judgment.The people doing the work.
The Design Factory is a Dallas-based studio working nationally, with brand, digital and communications practice dating to 1996. The relevant evidence is the work and the exact contribution behind it.
01 / Nonprofit / Public presence + staff workflowsA stronger public presence.
A stronger public presence.
A useful place to participate.
Dallas–Fort Worth Urban League
Program and career pathways, participant and volunteer forms, giving and membership experiences, and campaign communications. Our work connects the organization’s public story with practical ways to take part.
Explore the live websiteWhat the work includes
- Program pathways & participant forms
- Giving, membership & campaign communications
- Staff and leadership working areas
Why it matters
for Landforce
for Landforce
Landforce needs both: a clear route for people seeking opportunity and dependable workflows for the team supporting them.
02 / Community / Content + participationMany reasons to visit.
Many reasons to visit.
One connected experience.
St. Luke Community UMC
A rebuilt website bringing worship, events, giving and community information into clearer pathways. Content migration, mobile navigation, archive continuity and staff editing support the everyday life of the organization.
Explore the live websiteWhat the work includes
- Visitor, event & giving pathways
- Searchable community business directory
- Mobile navigation & staff copy editing
Why it matters
for Landforce
for Landforce
A single organization can serve very different needs without making visitors learn its internal structure. That is central to Landforce’s crew, client and supporter journeys.
03 / Association / Training + resourcesInformation people return for.
Information people return for.
Easier to find and use.
Code Enforcement Association of Texas
Website updates and improvements to training information, regional classes, leadership content and career opportunities. The experience gives recurring information a clear place to live.
Explore the live websiteWhat the work includes
- Training dates & registration pathways
- Career opportunities & member resources
- Clearer content organization
Why it matters
for Landforce
for Landforce
Recruitment, events and service information change. Landforce’s team needs an organized publishing system that keeps those changes useful to visitors.
These examples describe TDF’s existing work. Landforce’s $40,000 scope is defined in the investment section; features shown in other client engagements are not automatically included.
BRAND / PHYSICAL APPLICATIONS / DIGITAL DESIGNMore dimensions
More dimensions
of the practice.
The following portfolio examples complement the nonprofit website work with the brand and application disciplines this RFP calls for.
01 / Brand architecture
Tycor
Sederrick Raphiel carried out brand-architecture work for Tycor representing The Design Factory. The published portfolio presents this work as part of TDF’s brand practice.
For Landforce: a disciplined naming and visual hierarchy.Contribution: brand-architecture work by Sederrick through TDF. Relevance: considering how brand relationships are expressed. No specific restructuring or measured outcome is claimed.View the published work
02 / Retail & physical applications
Motions
TDF designed a connected point-of-purchase display and campaign collateral system, organizing product, benefit and supporting information for quick comprehension.
For The Mill: material labels, sales visuals and customer-facing hierarchy.Contribution: retail display design, visual hierarchy and campaign collateral.View the published work
03 / A website for multiple audiences
A Chance To Learn
TDF’s UX strategy, information architecture and responsive design gave families, educators and supporters distinct routes through one education-access experience.
For Landforce: direct pathways within one coherent mission.Contribution: experience strategy and design; no unverified conversion or revenue claims.View the published workTwo authorized references are included in the formal PDF: Robbie Douglas at Dallas-Fort Worth Urban League and Ronnie Hughes at St. Luke Community UMC. Direct contact information remains in the submission packet.
05 / The Landforce proposal
One integrated scope.A transparent investment.
Our $40,000 base offer, organized in Appendix A order. TDF has confirmed the scope, allocation and delivery capacity; a signed agreement authorizes the engagement.
Recommended base project · proposed
$40,000Brand strategy through core website launch.
New professional photography and handoff included.
Discovery, research & stakeholder engagement
Audits, 12 interviews, two workshops, six usability sessions.
Brand architecture, naming, identity & guide
Three architecture options; two creative directions; one approved system.
Collateral, physical applications & social
Six priority application masters and eight social templates.
Website strategy, content, migration & photography
20 priority page rewrites, 60 migrated pages, 150 assets; photography allowance included.
Website design, development & CMS
12 reusable page types, responsive components and staff publishing.
Forms, integrations, impact & RWP catalog
Six form workflows, Salesforce/Mailchimp continuity, catalog and dated metrics.
Testing, launch, training & documentation
Acceptance checks, migration, three training sessions and handoff.
Hosting setup & post-launch support
Staging, production setup and 60-day defect warranty. Recurring fees separate.
Travel, participation & other allowances
$1,000 participant compensation and $500 travel allowance.
Total proposed base fee$40,000
Proposed payment milestones
25% at signed kickoff ($10,000); 25% at brand approval ($10,000); 30% at staging acceptance ($12,000); 20% at launch and handoff ($8,000). Net 30, subject to the eventual grant-funded contract.
Explicit operating costs
Planning allowance: $75–150/month for hosting, database, media and transactional email, paid through Landforce-owned accounts. Existing Salesforce/Mailchimp subscriptions continue separately. No new paid service is purchased without approval.
Have a scope question?
Discuss the base project and any selected future work with Ari + Sederrick.
Opens your email app with selected options included. This expresses interest only; no purchase, appointment or contract is created.Support, additional work & exclusions
Base includes a 60-day warranty for defects against accepted scope, with critical availability or form-delivery reports acknowledged within one business day and routine issues within two. Optional maintenance: proposed $250/month for up to two hours of updates, backup checks and minor assistance, with one-business-day critical and two-business-day routine response targets during business hours. This is not 24/7 monitoring or a resolution guarantee.
Additional approved work: proposed $125/hour. Extra standard migration pages: $35 each; new design or substantial rewriting is scoped separately. Printing, fabrication, installation, legal naming clearance, translation, ad spend, ongoing social posting, video, live commerce and additional integrations are excluded from base. Vendor quotes govern third-party costs; allowances are reconciled to actual approved spend.
06 / The Landforce proposal
Beautiful on launch day.Useful every day after.
Our preliminary recommendation is an open-source Payload CMS on its supported Next.js stack, with client-owned hosting, database and media storage. Final selection follows a staff editing rehearsal and a total-cost comparison.
Everyday publishing
Model pages, navigation, recruitment status, services, projects, stories, events, hours, products and metrics. Staff get drafts, preview, revision history and role-based permissions. Supply 12 reusable page types; a brand-new component remains development work.
Forms that reach the right people
Inventory all current workflows. Base covers six configured families: recruitment/referral, employer, stewardship, wood/logs, volunteering/partnership and general contact, with routed variants. Preserve essential Salesforce and Mailchimp functionality; donations use the approved provider. Verify mapping, consent, delivery and error handling before launch.
Inventory that staff can keep current
Provide a catalog with material, dimensions, condition, price/inquiry state, last-updated date and availability. Staff can update stock daily and post material-in-process notes. Quote, reservation, payment and fulfillment requirements inform the next phase.
Impact with context
Include editable workforce and environmental metrics with period, definition, source and owner. Assess carbon-retention reporting separately, documenting units, assumptions, dates and methodology. Do not invent carbon benefits or merge incompatible historical measures.
Privacy and security by design
Minimize applicant data; keep sensitive records in authorized systems. Define retention and deletion with Landforce, role access, MFA where supported, encrypted transport, backups and restoration checks. Assess language needs and legal-review questions early. No applicant details belong in analytics.
Discovery you can measure
Maintain titles, metadata, redirects and crawlable content. Support local service/product discovery and national visibility for the model. Track application handoffs, service inquiries, product actions, donations and engagement against discovery baselines. Evaluate Google Ad Grant suitability separately from organic results.
Acceptance is a demonstrated result
Test the actual release.
Target WCAG 2.2 AA across the agreed website scope. Combine automated checks with keyboard, screen-reader, focus, contrast, motion, validation and mobile reflow testing. Test Chrome, Safari, Firefox and representative mobile devices; verify every priority audience journey, form, redirect and analytics event.
Deliver a findings-and-retest record, not an unsupported compliance badge. Historical PDF remediation is assessed during inventory; difficult documents and HTML alternatives receive an agreed treatment before scope approval.
A handoff staff can rehearse.
Three recorded 60-minute sessions cover publishing and recruitment, products/projects/impact, and forms/analytics/administration. Include concise guides, role checklists and a successful publish-and-correct exercise.
Ownership that travels.
Transfer approved design files, source, CMS schemas, content/media exports, licenses and credentials. Document daily backups, retention, restoration, updates and vendor contacts. Cutover includes redirects, DNS coordination, rollback and post-launch monitoring.
RFP §3, §5D–H / From concept to accepted release
Prove the handoffs.
Give every update an owner.
The concept demonstrates audience routes and interactions. Production acceptance must also prove that information stays current and each action reaches the right system.
Recruitment, referrals & consent
Workforce Development owns recruitment status, cycle dates, eligibility and referral instructions. Review at every cycle change. Test a permitted sample submission through Salesforce, staff receipt, error recovery and the applicant confirmation. Sensitive records stay out of ordinary email and analytics.
Wood stock, quotes & material in process
The RWP lead owns daily availability, last-updated dates, species, dimensions, condition and the inquiry or price state. Publish an update, correct it, mark a record unavailable and verify the customer-facing result. Keep material-in-process updates distinct from sale-ready stock. Advanced checkout and reservations remain separately priced.
Calendar & service availability
Program and stewardship owners maintain recruitment, training cohorts, public events and seasonal guidance. Each record needs an owner, status, date or season, destination and review date. Test cancellation, expiry, filtering and an empty state. The current calendar is an inquiry planner, not a confirmed event feed.
Mailchimp, donations & measurement
Communications owns subscription wording and consent. Test opt-in, duplicate handling, unsubscribe continuity and staff visibility. Fundraising approves the donation provider. Measure outbound handoffs separately from completed applications, gifts or sales; completion reporting requires access to the receiving system.
Impact, governance & staff confidence
Assign each published measure a definition, period, source and reviewer. Staff demonstrate a publish, correction and rollback in training. Before launch, reconcile the content inventory, redirect map, accessible document treatment, backup restoration and unresolved QA findings.
Owner roles are proposed for discovery confirmation. Production system access, approved data, publishing workflows and end-to-end acceptance are engagement deliverables, not completed integrations in this concept.
The current concept uses a demonstration runtime. It is not proof of a connected production CMS, live CRM integration, staff-interface acceptance or WCAG conformance. The supported production stack would be built and tested during the engagement.
07 / The Landforce proposal
Real work. Real texture.A story worth seeing.
New professional photography is part of the base, as the RFP requires. The imagery should reveal skill, place, material and agency across the whole organization.
Existing Landforce archive · new photography planned in the base scopeTwo half-day sessions.
Forty edited photographs.
A $3,000 professional photography allowance sits within content and photography. Plan one training/coaching and field session, plus one Mill/materials/product session. Include staff, Crew Members and consenting customers or partners, with wide environmental frames and useful process details.
TDF supplies the shot list, art direction, scheduling and selection. The photographer supplies edited high-resolution masters and web crops. Landforce coordinates safe access, participants, locations and a weather contingency.
Consent is part of the craft.
Use plain-language permissions covering the intended channels and duration. Record releases alongside image metadata; offer hands, tools and non-identifying angles when preferred. Avoid deficit framing and protect participants’ control over their stories.
Contract for transferable usage rights sufficient for web, social, print, signage and grant obligations. Photographer terms are confirmed before booking. Generated concept images are illustrative, not documentary evidence of Landforce people or projects.
08 / The Landforce proposal
No hidden handoffs.No unclear decisions.
A shared decision log keeps the scope, evidence, schedule and budget aligned. Work changes through a written change request showing cost and timing before approval.
What Landforce provides
An authorized decision-maker, consolidated feedback, system access, existing brand/source files, verified program and impact information, participant introductions and safe photography access. Landforce owns factual and final content approval, payment-provider decisions, inventory rules, legal review and launch authorization.
What we document before contracting
TDF has confirmed the stated scope, delivery team capacity and reference use, and reports no known conflicts of interest for this proposal. Photographer selection is disclosed as a post-award arrangement within the stated allowance, subject to Landforce approval. Final contracting details and required declarations will be completed before work begins. Open-source dependencies and any proprietary third-party services are disclosed with cost, licensing, export and replacement implications. No undisclosed proprietary CMS is assumed.
Grant-funded obligations
The eventual contract requires debarment/suspension certification, EEO and Title VI compliance, and the stated federal/state/funding-recipient public-purpose copyright license. TDF must provide the required declarations and ensure subcontractor and purchased-asset rights are compatible. This page does not assert that certifications have been executed.
Procurement and timing
Questions are due September 23; answers are scheduled for September 30. The proposal is due October 7, 2026 at 11:59 p.m. Eastern as one PDF to Elijah Johnson, elijah@landforcepgh.org, using the RFP subject line. Confirm receipt. Interviews are October 23 and 26; selection October 30. The RFP says November 2 on the cover and November 1 in the schedule; confirm kickoff before committing the calendar.
How to review this response
The formal PDF follows the RFP’s eight required narrative sections. This interactive presentation adds the working concept, an audience-pathway guide, optional-scope planning and a searchable requirements crosswalk. We will reconcile any material September 30 procurement clarifications before the submission deadline. The concept and this page supplement the required PDF.
09 / The Landforce proposal
Every workstream.A visible response.
Use this crosswalk to find the proposed treatment of the RFP requirements. Coverage describes a response, not completed production work or an approved contract.
20 requirement groups
RFP 5ADiscovery & participation
Audit brand, site, SEO, analytics, accessibility, systems, social channels and staff capacity. Include representative internal and external voices with consent and compensation.
Go to our responseRFP 5BArchitecture, naming & identity
Compare unified, endorsed and hybrid options; test RWP naming; document positioning, descriptors, visual rules and preliminary naming-conflict screening. Formal legal clearance is separate.
Go to our responseRFP 5CPhysical & digital applications
Six production-ready application masters, eight social templates, practical guidelines and vendor-ready files. Printing and fabrication are separately quoted.
Go to our responseRFP 5DAudience journeys & architecture
Sitemap, taxonomy, wireframes, search, content disposition, priority-path testing, governance and a decision on separate digital environments.
Go to our responseRFP 5EContent, photography & migration
20 priority rewrites; 60 migrated pages and 150 media assets; two half-day photography sessions and 40 edited selects; consent, rights, captions and redirects.
Go to our responseRFP 5FVisual & interaction design
One responsive system with distinct crew, stewardship and wood expressions; reusable components, clear actions and balanced imagery.
Go to our responseRFP 5GCMS, accessibility & performance
Supported CMS, WCAG 2.2 AA target, responsive behavior, backups, staging, security updates, search optimization and performance checks.
Go to our responseRFP 5GForms, Salesforce & Mailchimp
Map existing fields, routing, consent and data ownership. Preserve essential functions and test successful delivery, failure handling and staff receipt.
Go to our responseRFP 5GImpact & carbon methodology
Staff-edited dated metrics in base. Assess a carbon display with units, sources, assumptions and update rules; advanced visualization is optional.
Go to our responseRFP 5GRWP inventory & commerce
Daily manual stock status and materials-in-process updates in base. Evaluate quote, reserve and checkout options; advanced commerce separately priced.
Go to our responseRFP 5GPrivacy, language & ownership
Data minimization, retention decisions, protected applicant routing, multilingual assessment and Landforce-controlled source, data and accounts.
Go to our responseRFP 5GSEO & Google Ad Grant
Local service/product discovery, national model visibility, redirects and measurement. Assess Ad Grant suitability; paid campaign management is optional.
Go to our responseRFP 5HTesting, training & launch
Representative usability testing, current browser/device checks, migration, DNS, rollback, monitoring, role-based training and documented acceptance.
Go to our responseRFP 5HWarranty & ongoing support
60-day defect warranty and a separately priced optional maintenance plan with defined response targets.
Go to our responseRFP 6Team, capacity & collaboration
Accountable lead, named proposed disciplines, photography subcontractor selection, review effort, milestones, approval gates and change control.
Go to our responseRFP 7 / App ABudget, quantities & options
Nine Appendix A cost categories total $40,000. Quantities, allowances, payment milestones, optional scope and recurring expenses remain distinct.
Go to our responseRFP 8 / 9.4Experience & references
Three portfolio examples with stated contributions, two comparable nonprofit website engagements, and two authorized references in the formal PDF.
Go to our responseRFP 9.7Photography & social pricing
Production quantities, creative direction, rights, consent, staff responsibilities and sustainable channel/template guidance.
Go to our responseRFP 9.8Responsibilities & disclosures
Approval responsibilities, legal review, proprietary dependencies, conflicts review, scope exceptions and grant clauses.
Go to our responseRFP 11 / 12Procurement & submission
October 7 deadline; one PDF to the named RFP contact. Reconcile September 30 answers; confirm kickoff discrepancy and delivery receipt.
Go to our responseTHE DESIGNFACTORY
The Design Factory × Landforce
Let’s make the next chapter
work beautifully.
A strong identity. A useful website. A practical system your team can carry forward.
Ari Raphiel · Project lead
213-216-1965 · ari@thedesignfactory.com