July 22, 2011 | Read Time: 2 minutes
Which nonprofits are embracing smart design to communicate and serve others?
The Chronicle and Elefint Designs, a company in San Francisco that works primarily with nonprofits and businesses focused on the social good, recently asked readers to share their favorite examples of organizations that are effectively using design as part of their operations.
And you shared some wonderful examples.
Groups like Charity: Water, Heifer International, the Pixel Project, Plant With Purpose, and Save the Children were among the dozens of nonprofits that were singled out for their ability to use design to convey their values in meaningful and compelling ways.
As an incentive for the discussion, Matthew Scharpnick, Elefint’s chief strategy officer, offered to donate his services to help a Chronicle reader develop an informational graphic that highlights his or her organization’s work.
Aissata Camara, executive vice president of the There Is No Limit Foundation, in New York, is the winner of the free graphic because she was the first of several readers to point to Charity: Water for its use of design.
“Charity: Water was mentioned the most, and we can see why,” Mr. Scharpnick says. “Charity: Water sought from its inception to identify typical pain points in the world of philanthropy and then asserted itself as different and innovative through a strategic brand that utilizes beautiful design.”
Mr. Scharpnick says Charity: Water’s design is effective, in part, because it doesn’t try to do too much.
“Their use of icons and simple color palette enables their Web-site audience to quickly understand what they do and why they do it,” he says. “Many service organizations crowd their Web sites with too much information, photos, facts, etc., that ultimately dilute the main message. But Charity: Water uses modern design elements, infographics, motion graphics, and fonts not usually seen on nonprofit sites to give it a clean, young aesthetic.”
The group also has a simple mission and communicates that mission clearly in all of its work, he says.
In the coming weeks, Mr. Scharpnick will work with the There Is No Limit Foundation to develop its graphic, which The Chronicle will publish on our site.
