In the Nation’s own voice.

Overview

Everything the Nation says, in one place.

Tl’etinqox Government serves its members in the Chilcotin region of British Columbia. For any Nation, the ability to tell its own story clearly, authentically, and in its own voice is fundamental.

Tl’etinqox engaged Burst across four connected areas of work: a new visual identity, a public website, a documentary film, and a secure members portal. Each addressed a distinct need, but all four needed to feel unmistakably part of the same Nation.

The brief was never really four projects.

It was one voice, carried consistently from a mark, to a film, to a website, and ultimately to a secure member sign-in.

The Challenge

Four projects. One voice.

Identity, storytelling, and digital infrastructure are often developed independently, by different teams and at different times. The result can be a collection of disconnected experiences.

For Tl’etinqox, that approach would not be enough.

The identity needed to reflect the Nation. The film needed to tell its story authentically. The website needed to make government information accessible. And the members portal needed to provide a secure, practical foundation for digital governance.

Together, these requirements created a larger challenge: build a cohesive system that could speak to every member, across generations and devices, while remaining practical for the people responsible for managing it.

The platform also needed to be sustainable. Staff needed to be able to publish information, manage content, and adapt the system without relying on an external agency for every update.

It wasn’t four deliverables.

It was one system for how Tl’etinqox presents itself, communicates with its people, and supports its community.

Strategy

The community sets the terms.

The work began with listening.

Burst worked with leadership, staff, and community members to understand how Tl’etinqox wanted to represent itself, what it wanted to communicate, who it needed to reach, and where information was currently getting lost or difficult to access.

Just as importantly, those conversations helped establish what should not be shared publicly. Cultural knowledge and community stories require care, context, and consent, and that understanding informed the work from the beginning.

The resulting strategy became the foundation for every decision that followed: the identity, the structure of the website, the approach to documentary storytelling, and the permissions and access within the members portal.

The community wasn’t simply consulted on the work.

It helped define the terms on which the work was built.

Brand

An identity the Nation owns.

Burst developed a visual identity designed to belong to Tl’etinqox, not to a passing design trend.

Cultural meaning informed the mark, colour palette, and typography, creating a system that could carry the Nation’s identity across every context in which government communicates: from signage and printed materials to digital interfaces, clothing, and mobile screens.

The system was designed to work at every scale while remaining recognizable and consistent.

The result is more than a visual identity.

It is a shared presence, one that gives Tl’etinqox a clear and recognizable voice wherever the Nation shows up.

The Film

A documentary, not a promo.

Burst produced a documentary that tells the story of Tl’etinqox through the voices and experiences of the community itself.

The approach was intentionally collaborative. Time was spent on the land and in the community, allowing conversations to happen naturally and at the pace people were comfortable with. The Nation remained involved throughout the process, from the conversations captured on camera through to the final edit.

The distinction is important.

A promotional film tells an audience what to think. A documentary creates space for people to speak for themselves.

The finished film gives Tl’etinqox something that the other elements of the project cannot: a lasting record of the Nation’s story, told in its own words and held by the Nation itself.

The Website

A front door that moves with the Nation.

The public website brings Tl’etinqox’s identity, story, and everyday business of government together in one accessible digital experience.

The information architecture was built around what members actually need to find: governance and programs, to events, announcements, and contact information. The experience is mobile-first, recognizing that for many members, a phone is their primary way of accessing the internet.

Behind the scenes, a flexible content management system gives staff control over the experience. Announcements, events, and other information can be published directly by the Nation, without requiring technical expertise or agency support.

But the website was designed to do more than communicate information.

It was designed to reflect the rhythm and identity of the community.

The Seasons

A digital experience rooted in the seasons.

The site’s colour system draws from the medicine wheel and moves through four seasonal states, creating a digital experience that changes throughout the year.

Rather than treating the seasons as a decorative layer, the system is integrated across the entire website. Colour, accents, and key interface elements shift with each season, allowing the experience to feel connected to the natural and cultural rhythms of the community.

The transition is managed directly by Tl’etinqox staff through the same content management system used to manage the rest of the site. No development work or agency involvement is required.

The result is a website that feels alive and connected to place, one that changes with the year while remaining unmistakably Tl’etinqox.

The Nation decides when the season turns, and the digital experience follows.

The Portal

Governance, behind one sign-in.

Citizen, Burst’s customizable members portal, provides Tl’etinqox with a secure digital hub for governance and member services.

The portal brings important information into one place, including meeting minutes, calendars, notices, funding opportunities, employment opportunities, and other member resources.

The experience is designed around clarity and secure access, helping members reach the information available to them without unnecessary barriers.

Because the platform is configurable rather than rebuilt from scratch each time requirements change, it can evolve alongside the Nation, supporting new programs, content types, and services as they emerge.

Most importantly, the portal supports self-governance by giving Tl’etinqox a secure digital environment in which to manage and share its own information.

The Nation’s information remains under the Nation’s control.

One system. One voice.

Brand, story, and platform — built so the Nation speaks for itself.

The identity, documentary, website, and members portal were designed as connected parts of a larger system.

Each serves a different purpose, but together they create a consistent experience of Tl’etinqox, from the first impression of the brand to the everyday experience of accessing government services.

The brand establishes a recognizable presence. The film creates a lasting record of the Nation’s story. The website gives members a clear and accessible place to find information. And the portal creates a secure digital environment for governance and member services.

Nothing exists in isolation.

Each piece reinforces the others, creating a system that feels considered, cohesive, and distinctly Tl’etinqox.

The Impact

A stronger connection between the Nation and its people.

The project created more than a new brand or digital platform. It established a connected foundation for how Tl’etinqox communicates, shares information, and tells its story.

For members, it means clearer access to government information and services across the devices they already use.

For staff, it means greater control over content and communications, without depending on technical support for everyday updates.

For the Nation, it means having the tools and infrastructure to represent itself on its own terms.

The seasonal system gives the digital experience a living connection to the community and its annual cycle. The documentary preserves the Nation’s story in its own voice. The identity provides a consistent visual language. And the portal creates a secure foundation for digital governance.

Together, these elements create something larger than the sum of their parts: a digital and visual ecosystem that can grow with the Nation.

In Closing

Owned by the Nation.

The measure of work like this isn’t simply how it looks on the day it is delivered.

It is what the Nation can do with it afterward.

Tl’etinqox now has an identity it can carry forward, a digital platform it can manage, a secure environment for its members, and a documentary that preserves its story in its own voice.

Each was built to be used, maintained, and extended by the people it belongs to.

That was the intention from the beginning: not to create something the Nation would depend on an agency to maintain, but to give the Nation greater control over how it communicates, how it shares information, and how it tells its own story.

Burst’s role was to listen, build, and create the conditions for the work to live beyond the agency.

Because the strongest work isn’t work a Nation needs to keep coming back to you to own.

It is work that gives the Nation greater ownership of its own voice.