When Einhorn Collaborative decided it was time to refresh our branding and website, the consideration of how we would do it was as important as what we wanted to accomplish through this process.
True to our namesake, we believe collaboration unlocks collective wisdom, sparks fresh ideas, and creates shared solutions that last. Our approach to philanthropy centers on trust, connection, and genuine partnership every step of the way, and it was only right that our design method embodied the same ethos.
Instead of handing this task to a single external agency, we decided to invite a constellation of creative minds who brought different perspectives and experiences to the drawing board. We built a sandbox where writers, designers, videographers, animators, developers, sound engineers, and storytellers joined together in a spirit of experimentation and co-creation.
We divided the project into three phases – Perception, Play, and Production – and our months-long collaboration resulted in what you are seeing here today.
Design Principles
In my initial message to Mari Nakano, a civic designer and the first person I invited to join the project, I wrote:
“Our foundation is embarking on a website redesign. The goal is to bring joy, awe, and human connection to the redesign process so that we can envision what the future could look like if Einhorn Collaborative’s mission is accomplished: a socially connected and socially cohesive society.”
Mari led the design research, kicking off the Perception phase of our project. Through many soul-searching conversations with our team and creative partners, we surfaced nine principles to guide the redesign and development process — all of which retained the original intention in my first missive to Mari: joy, awe, and human connection.
Some of the principles that we upheld during Play and Production included:
Design for a sense of belonging
Our site is where people can feel connected to people who hold different values and beliefs, encouraging us all to see our shared humanity.
Design to prompt introspection and reflection
Our site seeds introspection and fuels our audience’s imagination of what is possible.
Design for awe and surprise
Our site seeks to highlight the moral beauty of others. (Check out the science of awe by Dr. Dacher Keltner, Founding Director of the Greater Good Science Center, whose work inspired this principle.)
Put trust in the power of stories
We lean into multimedia storytelling to humanize people across many lines of difference and model how we can nurture relationships, resolve conflict, repair, and collaborate.
Be clear in our communications
We make it easy for audiences to understand what we do and why and how we do it.
You will see these principles translated into our new website in a few ways.
No matter what you believe in or where you live, you will find stories, practices, and resources under the Belonging US Journal to help you build stronger bonding relationships with people who are like you and bridging relationships with people who are different from you throughout various life stages. We hope these illustrations of our grantee partners’ work offer a different narrative about who we are as a country, give you a sense of agency, and inspire you to tend to the connections in your family, neighborhood, and broader community. Reality is, we are not as divided as we are told.
You will also see the design principles manifested as pop-ups defining certain terms that we use in our work, but the public may not have a universal understanding of their definitions.
We surfaced nine principles to guide the redesign and development process — all of which retained the original intention: joy, awe, and human connection.
We also provided a clearer description for our strategies and why they matter. Each strategy page — Bonding, Bridging, Building, and Belonging — houses our why and how, as well as examples of partners’ work in action. Our goal is to share our reasoning for each strategy; how it closely ties with our mission to bring people together, build trust, and form enduring collaborations; and how individuals and organizations can participate in our collaboratives and networks.
Whether you are a nonprofit leader, peer funder, researcher, or community member, we hope this site is a place where you can see the possibilities when we come together across lines of difference and invest in relationships.
I invite you to explore our website with the same curiosity and openness that guided its creation. Engage with the ideas, read the stories, share them with others, and let us know what resonates with you. May this digital space serve as a bridge — connecting people and communities who are curious and committed to shaping a culture where each of us feels a sense of belonging.
Acknowledgement
Growing up Buddhist, a version of Thich Nhat Hanh’s teaching was instilled in me: “Walk as if you are kissing the Earth with your feet.”
This effort was shaped by many hands and voices. Their wisdom and creativity made it possible for our team to “walk” down the path of this project with great intentionality and care. For that, I’m incredibly grateful.
Thank you:
Benjamin Berkowitz, multimedia producer, for beautifully capturing and telling our partners’ stories.
Sahar Ghaheri, multidisciplinary designer, for creating an information architecture that scaffolded our new digital home.
Njoki Gitahi, visual designer, for translating our strategies into icons that embodied our mission and approach, and to Sean Donnelly, animator, for bringing this design to life through motion graphics.
Mari Nakano, design researcher, for creating a knowledge base upon which we could build.
Nicole Okumu, content strategist, for making our language sharper and more accessible to more people.
Stephen Peake, developer, for building every design vision code by code.
PlusOne, a design studio, for telling our brand story through hand-drawn designs and animation.
And our friends at BBMG for building Einhorn Collaborative’s first brand system inspired by a prism, an element we continued to bring forward in this new iteration of our work.
