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Сustomer stories

IDEO.org

012

What is IDEO.org?

employees using Readymag at IDEO.org

10+

7

projects made with Readymag

IDEO.org is a nonprofit design studio with a mission to build a more just and inclusive world. They partner with social enterprises, governments, and NGOs to design products, services, and experiences that lead to better health, economic opportunities, and wellbeing in communities.

25k+

project views for the impact report

Team:

Chris Larkin, Sr. Director of Impact
Tasha Raman, Impact Design Lead
Emily Sadeghian, Sr. Writer & Editor
Kristin Riger, Design Director
Joan Encarnacion, Sr. Communications Designer
Adriana Crespo, Illustrator & Animator
Maggie Chok, Communication Design Lead
Shauna Carey, Design Director & Chief Communications Officer

What kind of projects do they handle?

In recent years, different design teams at IDEO.org have used Readymag to tell stories about their work. For the creation of their impact report, the Global Communications team wanted to contextualize and demystify data with human stories and lessons-learned. “Our graphic language is intended to celebrate the many collaborators that have helped shape and scale these solutions. We use a bright, diverse color palette, textured collages, and looped illustrations to bring a collective, nonlinear design process to life,” says Kristin Riger, Design Director at IDEO.org.

Why did they choose Readymag?

IDEO.org has previously used a variety of methods for creating websites—from working with developers to pre-made website templates. Readymag turned out to be a platform that gives their designers the ability to play and experiment with new ways to tell stories in a digital space. “We wanted to have more freedom and room for slower transitions as we told stories chapter by chapter,” says Joan Encarnacion, Senior Communication Designer at IDEO.org. “We chose Readymag because it provides our visual designers with complete freedom in how the flow of a story can be structured, as well as opportunities for interesting compositions, typographic expression, and the use of animation,” Kristin Riger adds.

We often tackle complex social issues in our work, and being able to tell clear, captivating stories that connect people to their impact is vital. With Readymag, our design teams can bring project deliverables to life in a way that is both inspiring and accessible. The Readymag platform allows us to lead with human stories and provide one easily accessible URL that connects our partners to all the necessary tools and next steps. — Kristin Riger, Design Director at IDEO.org

Usecase: 10-year impact report

In September 2021, IDEO.org turned 10 and rolled out an impact report as a public measure of their work over the past decade. Beyond showcasing the amount of people reached with their solutions, the team wanted to tell a story about what it means to measure the impact of design and candidly reflect on what they’ve learned. “I think we probably used every possible tool available on Readymag. I would say the visual style of the report is very editorial. We used a combination of collages, videos, and photography to celebrate the diversity of our projects and the people we work with,” says Joan Encarnacion.

Before jumping into the design, our Director of Impact, Chris Larkin and Impact Design Lead Tasha Raman led a rigorous research and reflection process where we looked at the data and impact from the past decade and identified key stories and lessons learned. This phase set the foundation for the narrative and navigational structure of the site. Then a design team consisting of myself, Joan, illustrator and animator Adriana Crespo, and Senior Writer Emily Sadeghian brought the story to life on Readymag. Throughout the process, we brought partners in to reflect on their experience, as well as the wider IDEO.org design community to help explore and push the final product. — Kristin Riger, Design Director at IDEO.org

Workflow for the impact report

To organize their workflow, different designers duplicated the working project and then brought it all together into a single site at the end. “Being able to experiment with different layouts separately while keeping duplicate versions of the test site also allowed us to iterate, and have backups in case we made mistakes along the way,” says Joan Encarnacion.

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