Vladimir Herrera · World Bank Group STC since 2009

The bridge between
complexity and clarity.

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Case study · World Bank × Government of Japan · 2012

One project. Three complete worlds.

The Sendai Dialogue required a brand that could hold its own from a printed knowledge note to the event stage. Three distinct systems were each built to full application — so the client chose on evidence, not faith.

Sendai Dialogue plenary
Plenary stage · Sendai, Japan
The brand in the room — stage backdrop, podium signage, and branded event space.
Dialogue concept mark
Knowledge note covers
Colour system
A speech bubble drawn as one continuous line — conversation, exchange, shared work.
Apparel and stationery
View full case study →
Selected work · 2009 – 2025

Institutional design at scale.

Annual Report design
PublicationsAnnual Report
Donor briefing
PresentationsDonor Briefing
Global Summit
EventsGlobal Summit
Conference identity
BrandingConference Identity
Policy brief
PublicationsPolicy Brief
25+
Years in design
Unbroken since April 1993
17+
World Bank years
STC consultant since May 2009
100+
Projects
For the World Bank Group
Featured case studies

The full story behind the work.

Sendai Dialogue
Identity · Print · Digital · Environmental · Merchandise

Sendai Dialogue

A complete brand system for a high-level ministerial event — three concepts, each applied across every surface, letting decision-makers choose on evidence.

View case study →
Opportunity Bridge
UX · Journey mapping · Accessibility · Bilingual

Opportunity Bridge

A mobile-first service concept designed against a World Bank jobs priority — from research to a working interactive prototype.

View case study →
How I work

A senior designer,
working as a small
AI-augmented team.

Strategy, craft, and institutional judgment stay human — built on 25+ years of hands-on mastery of the Adobe Creative Suite. To move faster and take on more without lowering the bar, I pair that craft with today's leading AI systems. The result is donor-grade work delivered with the speed and capacity of a full studio.

InDesignIllustratorPhotoshopAfter EffectsClaudeChatGPTGemini
Three ways to work together

Fixed scope. Fixed timeline.

You'll have a number the same day you write — not after a discovery call.

A deadline rescued
Design Rescue
5 business days

You have the content and the deadline. The design isn’t there yet. Send me the draft and I’ll send it back clear, on your brand, and ready to present.

  • Up to 10 slides, or up to 4 pages of a report or proposal, or one infographic, or one landing page
  • 5 business days from when I confirm the scope
  • Two revision rounds
  • Editable source files included
  • $750 flat, by card up front or by invoice if your organization needs a PO
  • Not a fit: content that isn’t written yet, a full brand identity, or a website built from scratch
Most requested
One idea per slide, in the room where it is judged
The Credibility Deck
4 business days

For a presentation that has to win the room — a board deck, a donor pitch, a ministerial briefing.

  • Full rebuild, up to 25 slides
  • Narrative and structure pass, not just visuals
  • A custom template your team keeps and reuses
  • Two revision rounds
  • Fixed fee, quoted before I start
Dense material cut down to one clear direction
Publication Production
Timeline set by length

Annual reports, policy documents, and flagship publications — organized so people actually read them.

  • Print-ready files, accessible tagged PDF, and a web version
  • Data visualization and infographics included
  • Priced in three fixed bands by length
  • Fixed fee, quoted before I start
How I chargeMy rate is $95 an hour (USD). For a defined piece, like a report layout, a set of charts or a launch kit of summaries and social cards, I can quote a fixed fee instead once I’ve seen your brief. That way you know the number before I start. World Bank STC assignments follow the Bank’s own contract terms.

Every enquiry gets a real answer the same working day — the scope I’d recommend, the fixed fee, and an honest yes or no on your deadline.

If it isn’t clearly better than what you brought me, I refund you in full. You keep the files either way.

Ongoing monthly support starts at $2,500 a month. Ask.

Already inside the Bank?
Available on your charge code.
No procurement, no new vendor setup.
Email me directly Send a TOR

How I think

Design is not decoration. It is a system for helping people understand what matters, decide what to do, and move forward with confidence.

After years working with global institutions, I have learned that the real challenge is rarely the final layout. The challenge is helping complex teams align around a message that can survive leadership review, stakeholder pressure, and real-world consequences.

The estimator

The brief tells part of the story. The file reveals the real work.

Upload your TOR, brief, or project document, describe the scope, and see how the estimator uncovers the hidden effort — the redesigns, the rewrites, the alignment work — that separates a rough brief from a polished deliverable.

Built from experience

Scope the work before the budget is locked.

I built the estimator because Bank teams often discover the real complexity too late. Upload your TOR or brief and get from complexity to a clear, proposal-ready estimate — scope and tiers, without a call.

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Intelligent project estimator

Scope Your Project

Upload your TOR, brief, or source files — or describe the request. The estimator produces a professional price range and a proposal-ready email you can send immediately.

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Drag and drop files here

Files are processed to estimate scope and complexity

Case study · World Bank × Government of Japan

Sendai Dialogue

The challenge

A single, ministerial-level event needed an identity credible to finance ministers, UN officials, and disaster-risk experts — one that could hold its own from a printed knowledge note to the event stage to a promotional t-shirt, without ever looking improvised.

The approach

Three distinct creative directions were developed to full application — Dialogue, Crane, and Globe. Each is a coherent system with its own palette and typography, extended across publications, digital, environmental, and merchandise so decision-makers could see exactly how the brand would live.

Three concepts, three complete systems

Each direction carried a clear idea — and was proven across the full deliverable suite before a single choice was made.

Concept 1 — Dialogue, a speech bubble drawn in one continuous line
Concept 01

Dialogue

A speech bubble drawn as one continuous line — conversation, exchange, and the shared work of reducing risk.

Concept 2 — Crane, origami cranes in flight
Concept 02

Crane

The origami crane — a Japanese symbol of hope, healing, and resilience after disaster.

Concept 3 — Globe, a woven interconnected sphere
Concept 03

Globe

A woven globe — interconnected risk, shared responsibility, and a truly global agenda.

The system in application

Every concept was extended into a working suite — publications, social, environmental, and merchandise — so the brand was judged on how it performs, not just how it looks.

Report and knowledge-note covers
Reports & knowledge notes
Event Facebook presence
Social & digital
Promotional apparel and stationery
Apparel & stationery
Publication suite, Crane concept
Publication suite
Publication suite, Globe concept
Executive summaries
Promotional apparel, Globe concept
On-site & merchandise

Palette & typography

Each direction paired a disciplined type system with its own palette — restrained enough for policy documents, distinct enough to own the room.

  • Body — Univers, for clarity across dense knowledge products
  • Headlines — St Ryde & Archive, for editorial authority
  • Palette — teal & cream, extended to purple, orange, and signal red across concepts
Sendai Dialogue palette and font system

The identity, live in Sendai

Ministers, experts, and delegates convened in Sendai on 9–10 October 2012 for the two-day dialogue — the brand system on stage, on screen, on signage, and on the delegates’ tote bags.

Sendai Dialogue plenary hall with branded stage and screens
Plenary stage & branded backdrop
Sendai Dialogue podium sign and panel on stage
Podium sign & panel
Sendai Dialogue panel session on stage
Panel session
Speaker delivering a keynote at the Sendai Dialogue podium
Keynote address
Speaker at the Sendai Dialogue podium
At the podium
Sendai Dialogue plenary in the ballroom with audience
Plenary hall
Resilience Stories exhibition panels and knowledge products
Exhibition & knowledge products
Sendai Dialogue event tote bag on the venue carpet
Event tote — identity on merchandise
Delegates in conversation in front of the Sendai Dialogue banner
Delegates in conversation
Delegates networking at the Sendai Dialogue
Networking
Delegates arriving at the venue entrance with event signage
Venue entrance & signage
Freestanding Sendai Dialogue event signage
Freestanding signage

Event photography © GFDRR / World Bank Group. View the full album of 104 photos on Flickr ↗

Deliverables

Logo & identityPalette & typographyReport & knowledge-note coversExecutive summariesFacebook & socialPromotional apparelStationeryOn-site materials
Client
World Bank · Gov. of Japan
Event
High-level special event
Where & when
Sendai · Oct 2012
Scope
Print · Digital · Environmental
Plan Your Event's Identity → ← Case studies
← Case studies

Concept UX case study · World Bank priority

Opportunity Bridge

Design & direction
Vladimir Herrera
Discipline
UX · Journey mapping · Accessibility
Deliverables
Seven
Languages
English / Spanish
Mobile-firstWCAG 2.1 AABilingual EN/ESLow-bandwidthVerified contentNever guarantees a job
The brief

From creative brief to working concept

Opportunity Bridge began as a self-initiated creative brief: design a mobile-first service that helps young people (roughly 18–29) turn the skills they already have into real employment — discovering realistic careers, accessing verified training, demonstrating their abilities, and connecting with credible entry-level opportunities. It answers a World Bank priority — job creation as a sustainable route out of poverty — by taking on the three barriers that stall young job seekers:

Information · which careers are realistic, and what skills they require
Access · affordable training that works on limited connectivity
Trust · which programs, credentials, and jobs are legitimate

The six pieces below are the deliverables that brief called for — traced from research to a working prototype.

PDF Read the full creative brief ↗
The deliverables

Six pieces, one coherent journey

Each artifact is a self-contained page — open any of them, and use the EN/ES toggle in the top-right. Together they trace the project from research to a working prototype.

01

User journey map

Amara, 22, across six phases — with an emotion curve, barriers, and design responses.

PersonaEmotion curveTouchpoints
Open →
02

Initial sketches

Paper-and-pencil exploration of all five screens, plus IA and flow doodles.

Hand-drawnConceptIA
Open →
03

Low-fidelity wireframes

Five grayscale mobile screens, stage-tagged and annotated to the brief’s barriers.

StructureGrayscaleAnnotated
Open →
04

Accessible design system

Tokens, type, spacing, and components — every color pairing contrast-verified in code.

TokensWCAG AAComponents
Open →
05

Five high-fidelity screens

Full-color mobile screens in the Trust / Clarity / Progress / Momentum system.

Full colorMobile-firstEN/ES
Open →
06

Interactive prototype

A working click-through — tap through the real flow from onboarding to applying.

ClickableFull flowLive
Open →
Discuss a project → World Bank Jobs agenda ↗ ← Case studies

Portfolio

Selected work includes event branding, executive decks, donor communications, publications, and visual systems for World Bank Group teams.

Executive
presentations

Leadership-ready decks, donor meetings, technical sessions, and conference presentations.

Selected Presentations

Global Summit
Donor Briefing
Keynote Slides
Board Strategy

Reports and
publications

Complex documents turned into polished, readable, brand-aligned knowledge products.

Selected Publications

Annual Report
Policy Brief
Technical Manual
Impact Study

Campaign and
event systems

Visual identities, toolkits, social assets, banners, signage, and coordinated communications.

Selected Campaigns

Global Summit
Conference Identity
Toolkit Design
Event Signage

Strategic visual
storytelling

Data, policy, and technical content transformed into clear visual arguments.

Selected Visuals

Data Visualization
Policy Infographic
Analytics Map
Dashboard UI

Create a Brief

Start your creative brief

Answer a few questions and you’ll receive a professionally formatted creative brief by email — and a copy comes straight to me, so we can move fast.

Send me the brief and I’ll come back with a fixed fee for the piece. If the work is still taking shape, I bill $95 an hour (USD).

You’ll receive a copy by email, and a copy goes to Vladimir Herrera. Your details are used only to prepare and discuss your project.

Tell me what you need

A real answer today.

One minute. You’ll get the scope I’d recommend, the fixed fee, and an honest yes or no on your deadline.

Straight to Vladimir Herrera. No list, no automated sequence.

Prefer to give full detail? Use the long creative brief →