2025 was a year of newness for us at Lulu Kitololo Studio.
A new company structure, new team members, a new shop and new babies too!
A lot of this happened quietly, behind the scenes, and now we’re excited to officially present to the world our new entity, Studio Njano.
Meet Studio
Studio Njano supports movements to leverage the power of creative communication and transform mindsets, behaviours, communities ... and the world!
It’s a continuation of the work we’ve been doing since 2010, working within the following themes:
• Africa
• Climate
• Creativity
• Feminism
• Health + wellness
• Human rights
• Social Justice
• Sustainability
Studio Njano
Our main tool is information visualisation and it takes many forms:
Illustration, infographics and visual identity systems
E.g. for advocacy + community engagement
Graphic recording/ harvesting
Capturing conversations, whether live or afterwards; in-person or virtually
Publication design
Creating beautiful, accessible and engaging books and reports
Murals and other physical interventions
To bring spaces to life and tell stories
commitment is to produce accessible, engaging and inclusive communications materials.
Below, you’ll get a taste of what we got up to last year.
We strongly believe that creativity has the power to engage wide audiences in the most important issues of our times.
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Our work covered a variety of topics that can be summed up by the following themes:
Everyday
Feminism
Feminism
We can all contribute to a feminist future that’s better for everyone, through our daily acts, no matter how small. In our homes and in our communities.
That’s the premise of Womankind Worldwide’s Everyday Feminism campaign.
A long-standing client, we worked with Womankind Worldwide on a variety of projects last year, including design and illustration for Everyday Feminism: The Anthology.
It’s a collection of stories celebrating 10 feminist activists from across the world, who all contribute to women’s rights and gender equality in their own way. It includes storytelling by
the LAM Sisterhood, and visuals by us – a “feminist artefact, symbolising hope and imagining for the feminist future we can create together.”
Read it here.
We love Womankind Worldwide’s approach to their publications: fresh, engaging and fun! handbook (left) and their annual impact report (right).
fun! We created two other designs for them last year: their internal Her Story
Feminist Economic
Feminist Realities
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Have you ever thought about what the world would look like if…
… there was free housing for everyone
… or if there was free access to water.
Imagine that women and men who care for the sick are rewarded and not penalised.
Imagine that land is revered and not owned.
Imagine that sex workers are protected under the law, that they provide safe care and are safe providing care.
Imagine that you have seeds that come from your grandmothers’ seeds that you share with your neighbours who share them with their neighbours, and they all share and share. Imagine that you do this not in secret, but out in the open.
Dream a little bit and follow your curiosity.
CREATIVITY TRANSFORMS THE WORLD | 19
This is what Feminist Economic Realities look like.
We worked with the Count Me In Consortium, to illustrate and design a report, Feminist Economic Realities, exploring stories from across the consortium. We also created animations and social graphics for the campaign.
The highlighted script is from one of the animations we created for the Count Me In Consortium.
What’s constraining us?
The next step in the journey towards Feminist Economic Realities is asking, why?
Why is that not the reality? What is constraining us?’”
Why are we hungry when our soil is fertile?
Why are we denied entry into hospitals?
Why are the sick dying when the healers are inside the building?
It’s government run like business
It’s profit generated motivation.
It’s neo-colonialism, capitalism and patriarchy
It’s greed without limits
Thievery
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Exploitation
Disconnect from nature
The desire for more and more and more…
We had the opportunity to participate in a session at Wakati Wetu – the firstever reparations festival in Africa. Hosted by AFRODAD, the title was “Reparations and Economics/Tax Justice Roundtable”.
The discussion was grounded in how a lot of what’s not working stems from the persisting impacts of colonial economic structures fed by extraction and exploitation.
See the graphic recording on the following spread.
The highlighted script is from one of the animations we created for the Count Me In Consortium.
While technology provides opportunities for us to highlight and speak out against injustices, the digital space has also been a conduit for new types of violence and suppression of those voices.
We worked with Urgent Action Fund-Africa to design a report, Algorithms of Violence: Uncovering Patterns of TechnologyFacilitated Gender-Based Violence. The result of a research project shedding light on the experience of queer and transgender Women’s Human Rights Defenders (WHRDs) in North Africa and identifying how to support them.
Hope in motion
But there are communities doing and living Feminist Economic Realities.
There are those working to make the dream a reality:
Working in collectives and building alliances
Learning from nature and using it as a model
Redistributing resources and restructuring everything… making the dreams of justice and equality a reality.
Here we listened to so many stories of resilience, creativity in the midst of adversity, and the power of art, community and connection. Here’s just a little of what we captured.
CLASP is a leading international non-profit organization focused on improving the energy and environmental performance of appliances and equipment worldwide. Their mission is to mitigate climate change, improve energy access in underserved communities, and enhance lives through sustainable technology. The illustration on the left and on the next page showcase some of the mural art we created for their Nairobi office.
The Power Collaboration
Power of Collaboration
Alliances for accomplishment
There’s no doubt that we achieve more together when we share values and goals. This continues to be highlighted not just by the work our clients do but, also by how they do it.
There’s EDGE Alliance – a dynamic, pan-European coalition of individuals — innovators, change makers, and transition leaders — affiliated with institutions across European countries. EDGE is dedicated to embedding the twin transition (digital and green) into organisations and education systems.
We designed their new identity and created a design that draws from a visual ecosystem of symbolic references that included: Bold Philanthropy, Extraction and Liberation, Network Ecosystem, Funders Network, Movement Priorities, Praxis, Feminist, Political, and Resource Shifting.
There’s Autonoma: Feminist Accompaniment Fund, the first crossregional feminist fund by accompaniers and for accompaniers, resourcing grassroots abortion accompaniers directly.
Bringing together a Latin American network of organisations (Red Companera) with an African network of organisations (MAMA Network), the Fund decided to also bring together a Latin American illustratordesigner, Monserrat Navas, and an African one (our own Lulu).
Together, Montserrat and Lulu, not only designed the identity for Autonoma but, they led a participatory process with the organisations to come up with the name as well.
Alternative ways of funding the work
Last but certainly not least, we supported Fenomenal Funds in the sunset year of their organisation.
One of the many things we were tasked with involved creating multi-media materials to showcase the results of their Collaboration Grants, so that other organisations can learn from and implement such too.
In 2022 Fenomenal Funds launched the Collaboration Lab — a curated process to facilitate meaningful collaborations among women’s funds members in the Prospera network. The lab supported women’s funds to harness their collective power, wisdom, and creativity, fueled by the question: what happens when a funder asks you to focus on your vision rather than their limits?
Fenomenal Funds also disbursed Resilience Grants, primarily designedto strengthen the internal infrastructure, sustainability, and well-being of women’s funds that are members of the Prospera International Network of Women’s Funds.
Care
Care
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Collaboration is powerful when it comes to doing the work and also when it comes to rest.
Collective care is something we and all our clients believe in: if our wellbeing is interconnected, preserving it also requires communal acts.
And still, everything of course starts with the self – with every single one of us taking responsibility for our own wellbeing. We leave you with these gifts for your own care:
Tools to flourish
One of the most fulfilling things we worked on was developing the creative concept, writing and designing the African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF) Flourish Well-being Journal here.
AWDF created the Flourish Retreat to nurture the parts of the African feminist movement that are burnt out and in need of radical care and political attention. The intention: ensuring we sustain robust, self-reflective, leader-full, engaging and dynamic African feminist movements, a century from now!
The intention of the journal is to create a resource that can be accessible for many, with a variety of ideas and recommendations to meet people where they are.
“ We believe that taking care of our wellbeing – mental, emotional, physical, spiritual, occupational, social, intellectual, environmental and even financial, is a basic human right – a social justice endeavour.”
— from the AWDF Flourish Well-being Journal
Journal with Lulu
And if journaling is your thing, or you’d like to get into it, check out our “Journal with Lulu” series on Instagram for themed prompts.
Journaling for self-love
Journaling for joy
Journaling for inner peace in the midst of challenging times
Journaling for abundance
Looking
Looking Ahead
New products and all-time faves from our art goods brand, Lulu Kitololo
Visit our physical shop in Loresho and our new online shop.
Your gifting sorted For customised gifting solutions for your workshops, conferences or just because. Email maura@studionjano.com
1 Million Thriving Artists
Last June, Lulu put together a collective of creative practitioners to produce a design conference in Nairobi. After the success of LIMINAL, the collective continues on its mission to see 1 million thriving artists in Africa.
Join the community on WhatsApp and follow along on Instagram to stay tuned about upcoming events, access resources and opportunities, and more.
Afri-love Fest
We founded the festival in 2018, dedicated to celebrating creativity
After a long hiatus, Afri-love Fest made a much-anticipated comeback, last December. This year, you can expect two editions!
Save the dates
June 6th | Nairobi
December 28th | Voi
Follow along for updates: Instagram | Facebook
Reach out to maura@studionjano.com and let’s discuss possibilities.
The village
We want to express a heartfelt thanks to everybody who was part of the Studio Njano journey, in 2025, as well as all the 100+ clients we’ve worked with in years prior. We appreciate your support and the learning gained from collaborating with you. We loved
CHEVS team
Our clients + projects
African Women’s
Development Fund
Flourish wellness journal
Annual report
AFRODAD
Graphic recording
CIP - International Potato Center
Murals + other environmental design interventions
Circle + Square
Movie poster design
Australian High Commission
Outback + Savannah Podcast
Branding
60 Years of Australia in Kenya
Branding
Autonoma Fund
Naming and branding
Clara Lionel Foundation
Graphic recording
Social media graphics
CLASP
Murals
Count Me In Consortium!
Animation (one + two)
Publication design
Social media graphics
Front-End Ventures
Graphic recording
DW Akademie
AI in the Newsroom fellowship
branding
Gender and AI fellowship
branding
Graphic recording
Fenomenal Funds
Animation
Illustration
Publication design
IITA - International Institute of Tropical Agriculture
Graphic recording
EDGE Alliance
Branding
MAMA Network
ARJC conference branding
Equality Fund
Publication design
Graphic recording
Mastercard Foundation
Graphic recording
Mercy Corps
Graphic recording
Urgent Action Fund Africa
Publication design
Museum of Illusions
Installation
Nadel
Report cover illustration
Weaving Liberation
Annual report
Wilson Center
Report design
Oxfam
Voice Global Report
Wildlife Warriors
Badge design
UNAIDS EducationPlus
Publication design
Women Beyond Walls
Infographic design
Underwriting Africa
Branding
The studio consistently translated complex feminist ideas into accessible, engaging, and deeply resonant visual products.
Their design work elevated the clarity and impact of our messaging and helped us reach a wider audience with care and intention.
Fenomenal Funds Team
Our team
Lulu Kitololo – Creative Director
Rasoah Mwilitsa – Operations Manager
Stanley Kabicho – Design Lead
Sylvia Wanjiru – Designer
Maura Ndamu – Project Manager
Vera Phoebe – Marketing Manager
Our suppliers + other partners
Bezelel – Printing, Kenya
Calverts – Printing, UK
Dragonfly Designs – Screenprinting, Kenya
Ethos – Printing, Kenya
Evans Ngige – Carpentry, Kenya
Felix Owaga – Illustration + graphic design, Kenya
George Oloo – Tailor, Kenya
Irene Atalala – Tailor, Kenya
Malcolm Kariuki – Animation, Kenya
Montserrat Navas – Illustration + graphic design, Ecuador
Provisions Kenya – Artisan products sourced in Kenya
Ramco – Printing, Kenya
Rose Kibara – Illustration + graphic design, Kenya
EDGE was deeply impressed by the Studio’s kindness, openness, and attentive listening.
The project was always clearly structured, with well-defined deadlines and milestones that made it easy to follow each step and kept us motivated to push forward, even amidst our busy schedules.
Martina, EDGE Funders team
The process for collaborating was extremely thoughtful, timely, and constructive.
In my world of working to support allies in advancing social change, the sensitive, responsive, and talented graphic expression that represents the Studio experience is vital.
Karina, Capacity Consulting
Instagram: @studionjano
LinkedIn: Studio Njano
Email: maura@studionjano.com
Phone/WhatsApp: +254 799 847 826