I partnered with the international development charity Practical Action for over a decade, frequently leading design on their highest-profile work as a trusted collaborator through Click Creative. 
From high-performing direct mail and legacy appeals to their flagship magazine, Small World, they consistently returned to us because our work delivered against ambitious fundraising targets. In this senior, hands-on role, I managed all design aspects from initial concept to finished assets, working alongside a senior project manager, a small team of copywriters, designers, and client-side stakeholders.
When Practical Action underwent a major brand refresh, they entrusted me to act as an external brand steward and guide the rollout at a time when they did not have an active in-house design team. Leveraging my deep knowledge of the organisation and their audience, I advised on how to deploy the new visual identity consistently across all channels. I smoothed out initial snags, resolved issues in real time, and helped shape how the brand would strategically evolve into the future.

Client
Practical Action
Agency
Click Creative
What I did
Editorial design
Creative team
Mark Pentney – Designer
Adam Marek – Copywriter
Sarah Pryer – Project Manager
Small World Magazine
I led the design of this flagship supporter magazine, steering it through a major brand refresh and a strategic shift from a passive stewardship piece into an active, high-performing fundraising tool. Working alongside a copywriter, I applied direct-response fundraising principles to the layout – structuring pages to build urgency and using compelling storytelling to deliver a tangible, emotionally driven reader experience. By deploying engaging imagery, infographics, and illustrations, I clearly demonstrated donor impact, making the charity's ingenious, climate-focused solutions highly accessible while integrating prominent calls to action and tangible breakdowns of how funds are spent.
The most recent issue I worked on exceeded all targets, achieving response rates of over 8% and raising more than twice its ambitious target, leaving the client 'completely blown away by the final result'.
Client
Practical Action
Agency
Click Creative
What I did
Direct mail design
Creative team
Mark Pentney – Designer
Adam Marek – Copywriter
Sarah Pryer – Project Manager
Peru - disaster risk reduction warm appeal
An example of our direct mail work was a Christmas appeal, their biggest appeal of the year, with a challenging brief to focus on their flood resilience projects with communities in Peru. We knew that this part of the client’s work wasn’t usually popular with supporters and so, we used a longer A4 4pp letter from a local coordinator to explain the devastation caused on the ground by floods in greater detail than in a standard A4 2pp format. A concertina-fold lift clearly explained the different pieces of the solutions that the supporters were funding – something we knew this gadget-loving audience would be keen to see.
We came up with a cost-effective engagement device to add into the pack aimed directly at the older audience; a handy checklist to go on the fridge with useful contact numbers in case of their own emergency. With the older audience in mind, we worked hard to ensure that the donation form was easy to complete knowing that this was their preferred way of giving.
The appeal raised 33% (over £30k) more than the appeal done in-house the year before and had response rates ranging from 8% to a whopping 17%.
Client
Practical Action
Agency
Click Creative
What I did
Direct mail design
Creative team
Mark Pentney – Designer
Lisa Pember – Copywriter
Sarah Pryer – Project Manager
Ingenious ideas warm appeal
We chose to differentiate Practical Action’s ‘empowering local ingenuity’ approach from the types of aid that are helicoptered in and that therefore have a limited impact. To this end, we wanted to give an ‘on the ground’ view of how the charity’s long-term partnership with a community went beyond the provision of clean water to also include knowledge sharing and training on how water could be used to increase farming yields and improve public health. As a mark of our collaborative relationship, the staff member on the ground hand-wrote the diary you see replicated here.
“The Click Creative team have worked with Practical Action for many years. They have built a deep understanding of how we tick, our audience, and what we’re trying to achieve. Which means they consistently deliver high quality work that meets objectives and exceeds targets. 
Click Creative also produce our supporter magazine, as well as fundraising appeals and legacy marketing…the magazine has gone from strength to strength. We have increased its frequency, and it has developed into a major pillar of our fundraising activity. 
They are also just really nice people to work with - creative, collaborative, adaptable, and happy to build on our ideas when needed. Everything you want in an agency partner!” 
Head of Brand and External Engagement, Practical Action.
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