Portfolio
Gensie Baker
Graphic designer with hands-on experience in multi-platform campaigns, ADA-conscious design, and brand-consistent template systems for public-sector and community organizations across Charlotte-Mecklenburg, translating complex civic information into clear, accessible visual communication.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg State of Housing Instability & Homelessness Report
2023, 2024 & 2025 Editions · Role: Lead Designer, Data Visualization
Lead designer for the county’s 100+ page annual publication, translating aggregate data and narrative research into clear visualizations and a cohesive reading experience for policymakers and the public.
Interactive flipbook of the full report. If the embedded viewer is difficult to navigate with a screen reader or keyboard, use the direct link below.
“Thank you for the incredible work you have done on the State of Housing Instability & Homelessness report over the past several years. Your design, layout, attention to detail, and thought partnership have played such an important role in helping bring it to life. This report has always been about more than data on a page — your work helped shape it into something that could inform decisions, support planning, and tell a fuller story about housing instability and homelessness in Charlotte-Mecklenburg.”
Mary Ann Priester, PhD, MSW, Senior Management Analyst, Community Support Services, Housing, Innovation & Stabilization Services, Mecklenburg County Government
Guiding Principles Framework: CMS Strategy & Accountability
Role: Concept Design, Information Design
Designed for CMS’s strategy management department in 2022 to visually unify the district’s vision, mission, strategy, and four pillars of excellence into a single, legible framework. Still in active district use today.
Guiding Principles framework, designed for CMS’s strategy management department, still in active district use.
Craig Avenue Signage & Wayfinding System
Role: Creative Direction, Design, Vendor Coordination
Led concept-to-completion design and creative direction for the interior and exterior signage system at the Graphic Production Center’s Craig Avenue facility, coordinating directly with the CMS Sign Shop on production and installation for every item shown below.
Establishing the standard: prior to this project, the department’s materials often used the informal “print2gpc” mark. Part of the creative direction here was establishing Graphic Production Center as the correct, consistent primary identifier across every signage piece, from the 48″ building sign down to the 12″ parking signs.
Large-format building signage diagram, Graphic Production Center, Craig Avenue facility. Select the image to view it enlarged.
Snowflake Collection: District-Wide Holiday Cards
CMS · All Schools & Departments · 2025 · Role: Campaign Lead, Design, Templates
Pitched and led creative direction for the Graphic Production Center’s first district-wide holiday card promotion, offered to every CMS school and department, each customizable with their own logo and colors, with free coordinating envelopes included. Designed 6 of the 7 cards in the collection and built the customizable, print-ready templates behind all of them. The promotion was ultimately selected by 21 schools and departments across the district.
Interactive flipbook of the Snowflake Collection template set.
CMS Staff ID Badge Redesign
Role: Concept Design, Presentation
Selected by district leadership from six fully-developed concepts, this design is now the current staff ID badge used across Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, built to hold up at badge scale while staying a clear, consistent brand mark district-wide.
Final staff ID badge design, adopted district-wide.
City Startup Labs: Restorative Pathways Website Redesign
Role: Web Design, Brand Collateral
Led the full website redesign and ongoing maintenance for City Startup Labs, along with their marketing materials and collateral, a multi-year relationship built on collaboration and reliable, timely delivery.
Restorative Pathways website redesign for City Startup Labs.
“Built on strong professionalism, a collaborative process, and reliable, timely delivery — which is why the relationship has continued for years.”
Henry Rock, Founder, City Startup Labs
Center for Community Transitions: Annual Report & Brand Collateral
2016–2023 · Role: Design, Brand Collateral
Designed the annual report and brand collateral across a seven-year partnership, shaping how the organization communicates its impact to funders, partners, and the community.
Interactive flipbook of the Center for Community Transitions annual report.
Reimagining America Project: Truth & Reconciliation Commission Charlotte
2020–2022 · Role: Video Production, Commissioner
Led production and editing of video documentation for the Commission, formed to address the history of racialized oppression in Charlotte. Also planned hearings and served as a commissioner, facilitating testimonies, witnessing, and atonement sessions.
Intro video for the Reimagining America Project’s session on the racialization of the criminal justice system, recorded 9/23/21. Captions are in progress; a written transcript is available on request at gensiebaker@outlook.com.
ADA / WCAG Accessibility Practice
Emerging Focus Area · In Progress
ADA-compliant design is an area I’ve actively pursued training in and have begun applying in live projects, including the Metro School calendar, where I’m working through a real, ongoing tension: many client brand palettes don’t meet ADA contrast standards on their own, so the shift toward full compliance is deliberate and gradual rather than a wholesale rebrand.
The accessibility update to the Metro School calendar was self-initiated, not requested by the client. Metro School serves students with special needs, and improving color contrast felt like a meaningful way to offer support through design, on my own initiative.
Metro School calendar: a self-initiated, hands-on application of ADA-compliant color contrast. Additional before/after examples will be added as this practice develops.