Designing for Healing: The Logos for Maison Miyoskamin & SARALIKITAAQ
This year, I had the honour of creating the visual identities for Maison Miyoskamin and SARALIKITAAQ, two interconnected Indigenous-led programs in Montreal that are doing transformative work in the lives of Indigenous women, children, and families.
This wasn’t just a design commission—it was a responsibility, and a gift. It reminded me that design is more than aesthetics. It’s storytelling, safety, memory. It can be medicine.
Maison Miyoskamin / Miyoskamin House is a second-stage housing project led by the Native Women’s Shelter of Montreal. Miyoskamin, which means “spring” in Cree, offers 23 subsidized, fully furnished apartments to Indigenous women and their children, creating space for healing, independence, and growth. Residents stay up to five years, supported by in-house programming, empowerment plans, youth activities, legal and cultural supports, and more.
SARALIKITAAQ, named after an Inuktitut word for butterfly, is the on-site Community Social Pediatrics Centre located within Miyoskamin. Based on the integrated social medicine model of Dr. Gilles Julien, SARALIKITAAQ serves Indigenous children ages 0–18 who are experiencing the effects of toxic stress. It brings together health professionals, legal advocates, cultural workers, educators, and caregivers to wrap children in a circle of protection and support.
Together, these two programs form an ecosystem of care rooted in Indigenous ways of knowing, while supporting urban Indigenous families in culturally responsive, accessible, and empowering ways.
When I was approached to design the visual identities for both programs, I knew they needed to feel distinct but interconnected. Each program had its own mission, audience, and energy, yet they were housed in the same building, serving the same community, and sharing a commitment to cultural safety, healing, and empowerment.
The solution: two symbols, speaking the same visual language.
A unique challenge in this project was Montreal’s heritage façade retention strategy, which required the original exterior of the Miyoskamin building to remain intact. That architectural decision influenced the design process when Miyoskamin House was being built, but again, when the logos were being designed.
That architectural decision didn’t just shape the building—it also influenced the design process. When it came time to create the logos, we looked directly to the building’s heritage brick façade for inspiration.
The colours we chose all held significant meaning:
- Teal — calming and healing, reminiscent of the scrubs worn by care professionals
- Deep blue — trust, reliability, stability, calming and grounding
- Purple — honouring the women and mothers at the heart of Miyoskamin’s mission
- Muted reddish-brown — directly pulled from the building’s brick façade, anchoring the logos in place and history
For Maison Miyoskamin, we chose the symbol of a star blanket—a sacred and deeply meaningful design in many Indigenous nations. Star blankets are often gifted during times of transformation or growth, offering warmth, protection, and a sense of belonging. In this context, the star represents:
- The comfort of cultural identity
- The strength of Indigenous womanhood
- The guiding light of community
The geometric form is both modern and timeless—a symbol of home, honour, and hope.
For SARALIKITAAQ, the design features a butterfly, an emblem of transformation, renewal, and healing. Across many Indigenous cultures, the butterfly represents the soul’s journey and the potential for growth after hardship—perfect for a program focused on supporting children through the impacts of toxic stress. Its fragmented geometric wings echo the same visual structure as the star blanket, tying the two logos together through form and colour.
My process with every client begins with a simple philosophy: explore boldly, and refine with care. I ty[ically present four unique design directions, however this project had my creative juices flowing and I gave them 6, each speaking to different facets of the programs’ identities. The clients praised the creativity and intentionality of the initial concepts, and after only two rounds of revisions, we arrived at the final versions. This collaborative, trusting process is core to my work. It’s how we build something that doesn’t just represent a brand—but carries its heart.
Here are the final logos for Maison Miyoskamin and SARALIKITAAQ. Side-by-side, you can see how the two designs speak to one another—grounded in shared values, connected by colour and geometry, yet each telling their own story.
These logos now appear on building signage, community materials, digital platforms, and internal documents. They act as visual anchors—symbols of safety, care, and culture.
I used to wonder if branding and marketing could ever be anything more than surface work. But this project made it clear: they can be deeply meaningful tools for care, identity, and connection.
Design can help reclaim space. It can reflect our values. It can be part of how we heal.
To the teams at Maison Miyoskamin and SARALIKITAAQ—thank you. It was a privilege to be trusted with this work, and to create something that reflects the strength and tenderness of what you offer.
This is what design can do. And this is the kind of work I want to keep doing.