Lucas Maniez · Graphikas · Bordeaux · working with US and international orgs since 2016
Art directionFor orgs doing serious workwith small teams
Ten years setting and building creative direction. When your comms aren't landing, my job is to name why. Then own the direction that follows.
$2,000 · 2-week delivery
Ocean and climate. Mostly, not only.
Ten years of practice. Six within nonprofits. Three at Sustainable Ocean Alliance. One directing Billion Oyster Project's brand. That's where the fluency comes from. It isn't where the work stops.
See the work
It's too early for you to hire. Your comms can't wait.
Usually 10 to 150 people. No one inside who owns design.
You don't need a designer on payroll. You need someone who knows the mission, takes ownership, and moves swiftly when it matters most.
You get the design lead you don't have. Campaigns, reports, decks, funder materials, the site, and the identity under all of it. Same person every time.
Selected work
Four jobs. Fix a brand, carry one for years, land one on the day, build one in nine weeks.
01. Billion Oyster Project
Restoring oyster reefs in New York Harbor, and teaching the students who'll keep it going.
Annual Appeal I designed raised 11% more YoY. Turned the stalled rebrand around in days. And built the comms for the annual party. It sold out in five hours.
Inside the building they knew exactly who they were. Everything facing outside was still asking permission it had already earned.
02. Sustainable Ocean Alliance
Backing young ocean leaders and startups in 165 countries.
One template system for everything SOA published, then a 2022 refresh that carried them through the UN Ocean Conference.
SOA published something almost every day, and that's where people actually met the brand. So the first call was templates, before anyone touched the logo.
03. UN Ocean Conference, Youth & Innovation Forum
SOA's youth forum ahead of the 2022 UN Ocean Conference, co-hosted by Portugal and Kenya.
Over a hundred young delegates in the room, from around the world. Two innovathon teams left with $15,000 microgrants.
Before anyone was picked, the posts sold what you'd get: Lisbon, the UN Ocean Conference, mentors. Once the delegates were picked, they became the campaign.
04. Mangrove Breakthrough
The global push to protect and restore 15 million hectares of mangroves by 2030.
A new identity and website in nine weeks. Six months later, a second pass that the team now runs on its own.
Mangroves flower, and hardly anyone shows it. So the logo is four petals. With that many voices, one route with the reasons written down gets a decision.
How I work
Most teams can feel when something's wrong before they can explain it. Naming it is the job. So is being accountable for the direction that follows.
- 01
I'll tell you what I think.
You're not paying me to agree with you. If something you're about to publish is going to work against you, I'll say so, I'll say why, and I'll present alternatives.
- 02
I argue, then I commit.
Sometimes the right direction isn't the one you'd have picked. I'll defend my case, but ultimately you'll be the ones living with it. Either way, it will be built out properly.
- 03
I build what you can actually run.
A system nobody can maintain gets dropped in months. Yours has to survive daily use by people who aren't designers.
- 04
I direct, and I make.
Directing and designing myself is what makes the direction buildable instead of theoretical.
The offer
It begins witha read
A clear diagnosis of why your comms aren't landing, and what to fix first. Plus one piece reworked, so you can see the difference.
$2,000 · 2-week delivery
One a month. Currently taking them.
What's in it
- 01
What you're trying to do.
Your goals, in your words.
- 02
What's actually happening.
Where the comms work against those goals. Specific, evidenced, and not softened.
- 03
The core problem.
One paragraph. The directional issue underneath the symptoms.
- 04
The demonstration.
Your most important broken piece, reworked. Before, after, and the reasoning.
- 05
What to fix, in order.
Now, next, later, and what to leave alone. Including the things you can do yourselves.
- 06
What each one takes.
Rough shape and effort for each item. Not a proposal.
What comesafter?
The roadmap is the proposal. There's no separate pitch.
Three possible outcomes:
A project
An identity, a site, a campaign system.
Ongoing
I'm your design lead month to month.
Your own work
I'll say which you should do yourselves.
One read a month, a handful of standing clients, and one clear plan at the other end. That's the whole shape of it.
The best part?
You're free to move forward however and with whomever you want.
Who you'd be working with
I'm Lucas Maniez. I run Graphikas out of Bordeaux, mostly with US and international orgs, in English and French.
I started in 2016 on identity and art direction for music and streetwear. Then spent a stretch as art director at a video studio in Sofia, directing a small team. Since 2021, mostly ocean and climate. Three years at SOA. One at Billion Oyster Project. And a lot in between.
Industries changed, the job didn't. It's all about building systems that last.
Tell me what isn't landing
If something specific is coming up — a report, a campaign, a rebrand you're not sure about — say what it is. I'll tell you straight whether a read is the right thing, or whether it isn't.
Or email hello@graphikas.design