Rio Tinto RBM SLP
Strategic Data Storytelling for Community Impact
This project was developed for Rio Tinto’s Richards Bay Minerals (RBM) in collaboration with MTS, a data analytics company, as part of the Social and Labour Plan 2020–2024. The document itself communicates complex operational, employment, training, and local economic development information for RBM, a Rio Tinto mining business based in KwaZulu-Natal, serving communities in the uMfolozi and uMhlathuze municipal areas.
I was brought in to provide creative direction, content analysis, and visual communication strategy — translating dense, data-heavy material into a format that was clear, structured, and accessible. My role required more than layout design. I had to interrogate the copy, identify the most important information, simplify messaging, and convert technical data into graphic, easy-to-understand visual narratives that could communicate effectively to an audience with varied literacy levels.
A key challenge was balancing strict adherence to Rio Tinto’s global brand guidelines with the need for local relevance. The document had to remain aligned to the company’s approved photography, colour systems, and visual standards, while also becoming far more approachable and digestible for community-facing communication. The solution was a design system that reduced copy where possible, elevated core data visually, and used infographics, charts, icon-led storytelling, and disciplined hierarchy to improve readability and comprehension. Across the report, information ranging from employee training and literacy to local economic development and financial spend was structured to support quicker understanding and stronger engagement.
From a strategy perspective, this project was about communication equity: making important socio-economic commitments visible and understandable to the people they affect most. The work extended beyond the main publication into a newspaper advert adaptation for local and regional press, ensuring that key messages could reach wider community audiences in a concise, accessible format. The campaign was also translated into Zulu to improve local relevance and accessibility, reinforcing the importance of language, context, and audience-sensitive design in public-facing corporate communication.
This case study reflects my ability to work at the intersection of strategy, content simplification, stakeholder communication, and branded information design. It demonstrates how strong creative direction can transform technical reporting into communication that is not only compliant and visually refined, but genuinely useful to the audience it is intended to serve.
