About Women Built
Women Built was created to honor and celebrate the women that have helped build my community and myself. Because capstones are a reflection of the work done during ones college career, I wanted to speak about the strong women in my life that inspire me and have helped me achieve my goals. Over the course of the Spring 2025 semester I conducted three stages of the Women Built project in hopes of greater discussion and activism towards this topic.
Stage 1
Research & Community engagement
In the first stage of Women Built, I focused on connecting with my broader community through visual communication and participatory research. I designed a series of posters that included a QR code linking to a survey, which invited people across campus to reflect on and share stories of the women who have influenced their lives. These posters were displayed in key locations to encourage public engagement and collective storytelling. In tandem with this outreach, I collected images and narratives from my own family that highlight the strong women who helped shape our history. These photographs, paired with the survey responses, offered a richer, more diverse portrait of the strength, resilience, and influence of women across generations. This phase of the project not only deepened my understanding of community but also emphasized the power of shared memory and visual storytelling as tools for reflection and change.
Stage 2
Design & activation
In the second stage of Women Built, I translated my research and community engagement into a physical artifact by designing a book that serves as both an archive and a celebration. Using collected photographs from my family alongside responses from the campus survey, I created a visual narrative that honors the powerful women who have shaped our lives. Through careful image archiving and editing, I preserved and enhanced the visual history of these women, embedding their stories within the layout of the book. Each page is a blend of personal and communal memory—pairing intimate family images with handwritten messages, quotes, and reflections from participants who shared about the women who inspire them. The book not only activates the stories gathered in the first stage, but also creates a lasting, tangible tribute to the strength and influence of women in our communities.
Stage 3
Activism & Results
The final stage of Women Built focused on sharing the work with the community as a form of visual activism and ongoing dialogue. I showcased both the book and the posters in a public display, inviting viewers to engage with the stories, images, and voices collected throughout the project. To further encourage empowerment and participation, I created custom-designed women empowerment stickers that were available for attendees to take and share. The book itself also included interactive pages prompting readers to write down and reflect on the names of strong women in their own lives—turning the project into a living, evolving piece of community storytelling. This stage was about not only honoring the women represented, but also inspiring others to recognize, celebrate, and build upon their own connections to the powerful women who shape their world.
About Me
Hi! I’m Jordyn Holland, the designer of this website. Women Built was created to honor the incredible women who have supported me throughout my life and college journey. As a student in the Design and Visual Communications program at UW–Milwaukee, this project allowed me to apply the skills I’ve learned while celebrating the strength and impact of the women who inspire me.
Through this process, I’ve gained a deeper appreciation for the power of community, storytelling, and design as tools for recognition and change. Moving forward, I hope to continue creating work that explores archival and commemorative themes, drawing from both my design background and my minor in Journalism, Advertising, and Media Studies.