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values led. equity centered.

rootid is a branding, web development, and communications agency that believes values are not mere buzzwords; they are the guiding principles that underpin every decision.

We are an agency that crafts captivating brands that tell stories of authenticity and purpose. We are a team of talented designers, strategists, developers, and writers who work tirelessly to understand the essence of each client’s vision, infusing it with a unique identity that captures hearts and minds.

Whether you’re a nonprofit or a socially conscious business, we can help you tell your story in a way that resonates with your target audience. With a focus on innovation, creativity, and social responsibility – we are committed to using communication for social change.

Our Values

Our values are the roots that nurture everything we do.

  • Anti-racism — We challenge systems of oppression in our work, our partnerships, and ourselves.
  • Equitable Access — We believe everyone deserves the tools and opportunities to thrive.
  • Partnership Through Listening — We build trust by centering the voices of those closest to the work.
  • Community-led Breakthroughs — Solutions emerge from shared wisdom, not top-down design.
  • Fearless Curiosity & Reimagination — We stay open, adaptable, and ready to grow.
  • Health & Healing — We nurture sustainable practices that care for people and the planet.
Learn more about our values

Guiding Principles

At rootid, what matters most is how we show up for people. Our work begins with listening, building trust, and creating space for voices that often go unheard. Rooted in community, every project we take on starts with building trust, listening deeply, and co-creating solutions that reflect lived experience.

Equity shapes each step of the process and we focus on relationships, growing capacity together, and supporting long-term, sustainable change. Our hope is to contribute to work that strengthens connection, deepens impact, and helps build a more inclusive future.

Learn more about our principles

Our Story

rootid began in 2008 when our founders met through Habitat for Humanity, sparking a vision for a larger purpose. By 2011, a values-led design agency focused on trust, creativity, and social good was established. We’ve since grown intentionally, prioritizing depth over scale, and fostered a culture of co-creation, curiosity, and care.

We are real-world dreamers and practical idealists. Every project we take on is an opportunity to amplify voices, strengthen communities, and design the more equitable and inclusive future that together, we believe is possible. Because when you succeed, we all succeed.

Learn more about our journey

our services

branding & identity

Match your target audiences to messaging. Create community-centered logos and visual language.

campaign strategy & design

Deliver the right message to the right person. Marketing assets your team can reuse to save time and resources.

website design & development

Content strategy meets beautiful interface design. Building websites in WordPress and Drupal.

analytics & site optimization

Select the metrics that are meaningful to your organization. Learn to tell a story from your website analytics.

community capacity building

Work with nonprofit peers to build communications strategy and processes that work for your organization.

equity-centered process

Who will benefit most from what is about to be designed? Who’s voice is missing from the design process?

We have standardized all of our processes in alignment with the Design Justice Network principles and the Liberatory Design process*.

This approach reframes our processes as one of partnership with versus designing for. Allowing us to embrace our role as community conveners, strategic thought partners, and a trusted resource.

We work closely with communities to understand their needs, concerns, and aspirations, and use this information to create solutions that are truly responsive. This approach is essential for creating equitable and inclusive design.

*Liberatory Design is the result of a collaboration between Tania Anaissie, David Clifford, Susie Wise, and the National Equity Project [Victor Cary and Tom Malarkey]

This experience completely changed the way we think about our strategic communications. As we have grown, this has been critical to building partnerships and our support base.

Elizabeth Knight, Executive Director, Upward Roots
rootid's leadership structure

diagram: flow of power

Our initiatives around rotational leadership shift how power and leadership are understood. In our scope, the scale changes; power sharing and leadership are in constant motion. Team members move around to make room for others within a complex spatial relationship via “circles” overlapping groups based around four integral functions of our organization – and within the circles themselves. Information sharing and decision making happen when we collectively meet, discuss, and vote at our All Hands meeting, shown as the epicenter of the spiral, which is in constant motion.

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rootid’s democratic leadership structure

Our company governance structure mirrors our values: we are community run.

It is comprised of semi-autonomous groups called circles. Each circle focuses on tasks and decision making for a different integral function of our agency where everyone shares equal power. Our circles are:

  • Client Services
  • Community Engagement
  • Operations
  • Visioning

Everyday decisions are made within these circles (e.g. if something only affects the members of the relevant circle), while larger decisions like hiring, budget, new product offerings must have everyone’s approval.

We are a proud collection of nerds, community builders, designers, story-tellers, researchers, content creators, program managers, facilitators, organizers, engineers, and food aficionados…  

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