Design Equity: You’ve Got a Story to Tell. Tell it Beautifully.
Design is important. A strong visual style will help your nonprofit, and, more importantly, your community.
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The Idea
As we were planning the 2018 NYC Make-a-Thon, we reflected on the difficult decision we were about to make by selecting only 10 nonprofits. Each year we get some amazing project proposals, but are unable to accept all of the nonprofits that apply.
We also discussed the importance of design education for nonprofit organizations, including those that don’t have a chance to participate in a make-a-thon. This year we decided to bring on makers to tackle an exciting project for all nonprofits in NYC and beyond.
The Prompt
Over the past several years, Make a Mark has been working to bridge the gap between the design and technology community and the nonprofit sector. As part of this, we’ve been looking for ways to provide resources to all nonprofits and makers to support their work.
For this project, we wanted a digital resource that could be distributed to all nonprofits and altruistic creators.
The resource created would be an incredibly valuable asset for nonprofits as they advocate for good design in their organizations, as well as a tool for our maker audience to use as they work with these organizations.
The Team
This team was comprised of 3 amazing makers hand-picked for this particular project. Derya Akbaba is an information designer who navigated the most impactful way to communicate the (often difficult) concepts behind design and tell that story to a nonprofit audience. David Green is a copywriter who found the perfect language to express both the tangible value and beauty behind quality design. Riley Walker is a designer who found the ideal way to connect the information and story with a visual identity for this project.
The Results
Derya, David and Riley came up with an amazing set of resources to help communicate the power of design for the humanitarian sector.
Over the course of the next several weeks, we will be introducing a new resource each week with some ideas, tips and resources, so stay tuned!
Interested in learning more about Make a Mark or the Design Equity project? To stay up to date, subscribe to the newsletter or send an email to hello@letsmakeamark.org.
