Rockefeller Foundation: 2020 Digital Annual Report
Project type: Art direction; Infographic design; Social media design
Agency: Blue State
The challenge: Visually illustrate the focus and direction of Rockefeller Foundation’s organization under Dr. Shah’s leadership in their 2020 Digital Annual Report. When translating a dense amount of quantitative and qualitative analytics, it was important that the visuals felt clean and approachable, yet reputable. As Art Director for this project, I wanted to ensure that the designs supported the tone of Rockefeller Foundation’s vision for the organization. The goal for the visuals was to feel both personal and trustworthy.
The process: The following keywords guided my inspiration when curating style references for the graphics and illustration approach of the annual report.
Informative
Sophisticated
Hopeful
Cutting-edge
Vibrant
Dynamic
The solution: To mimic the paper texture and highlighted markings of a physical report, we implemented a combination of their soft beige and pops of Rockefeller Foundation’s primary teal and secondary yellow in order to emphasize key moments of content. I also recommended that we couple delicate grid-like line-work with hand-drawn elements and photo clippings in order to visually connect the hard data to the real community change the Foundation has fostered across the world. I took inspiration from the examples below that show treatment of data visualization in ways that are visually vibrant while maintaining a sophisticated expression in displaying content.