Creating Environmental Graphics for Nonprofit Organizations
Herter Design Group recently completed work on environmental graphics and wayfinding for the New York Legal Assistance Group’s (NYLAG) new office. This project gave us an opportunity to consider the joys and challenges of partnering with nonprofit organizations on graphic design for their own spaces.
A strong message provides design inspiration
Nonprofit organizations serve a vital role in communities by educating and promoting missions that are often times unglamorous. That mission defines these organizations and often gives them powerful stories to convey. Our designers then have a great deal of material to draw on for inspiration and a number of directions to pursue in order to create a visual representation of their mission. “Understanding the essence of who our clients are and the stories and information that they need to tell is critical to our own personal mission. It’s common for clients to have an idea of what they want to say but little idea of how to say it. Having an open dialogue between the client and our designers unearths ideas that may have been hiding in plain sight,” says Derek Koch, one of HDG’s partners and a senior designer.
A client’s devotion to their work can be a catalyst for the creative process. In the case of NYLAG, their cause of increasing social justice and fighting for equality through access to the legal system gave our designers the idea to utilize the equal sign, a prominent feature of NYLAG’s branding, as a defining motif. They augmented that motif with the powerful words of leaders for change, past and present.
“Having an open dialogue between the client and our designers unearths ideas that may have been hiding in plain sight.”
For NPR’s new headquarters in Washington, DC, the institution’s long history of informing listeners over the radio inspired a wayfinding program amplified by sound waves that reverberated throughout large scale typography.
In the new headquarters of a nonprofit agency dedicated to increasing their city’s economy through the support of small businesses, there is a hallway with a large scale collage of retail store signs. Some of those signs go back decades, others only months, but together they tell the story of a vibrant economy aided by this nonprofit’s work.
Access to leaders unifies the design direction
When we work in the for-profit sector, we usually coordinate with a working group that conveys information to and from the top decision makers. That method can result in beautiful design, but the process may be lengthened, and our designers don’t have the same sense of deep connection to a mission. When we work with nonprofits, more often than not our design team has direct access to the organizational leaders, allowing for quick decision-making.
“One significant advantage to working with nonprofits is, in our typical experience, that the leaders of the organization are part of the process from the very beginning. The design process is more streamlined when we meet with the primary decision makers early and often. They can impart their vision for the organization, enabling us to design something more meaningful and resonant,” says Erik Herter, HDG’s principal and partner.
For NYLAG, we worked directly with their decision makers. In a case like that, senior leaders are presented with our concepts and the ideas behind them directly from the creators. Having leadership at the table ensures that concepts are not misconstrued or watered down.
Budget limitations can actually aid in design
When we collaborate with nonprofits, it is inescapable that budgetary restrictions will be a primary consideration of the design and especially the fabrication and installation. As Sherry Leung, one of HDG’s partners and senior designers, observes, “From my own experience volunteering with nonprofit organizations, many lack the resources to communicate their mission in an effective way. As a graphic designer, I feel my skills are best put to use to help organizations that lack a graphic designer on staff to convey their message whether that’s through print, murals, or even merchandise. A strong message clearly delivered can help an organization immensely when they are in a competitive environment for visibility and grants.”
Materials like vinyl and acrylic supply more bang for the buck and give the physical space a strong visual impact for a lower price point. In some ways, the lack of financial resources can result in a bigger reliance on the graphic design and allows for those graphics to make a bigger impression on the viewer. In the case of an urban nonprofit providing resources and support for economic development and small businesses, being limited to vinyl encouraged our designers to look to photography overlaid with geometric designs to tell their story. The result is a story that is told in a clear and powerful way by relying on large scale and impactful imagery rather than more subtle and integrated architectural materials.
“A strong message clearly delivered can help an organization immensely when they are in a competitive environment for visibility and grants.”
Small nonprofits often have few resources for marketing or development; in many cases, their own offices become a tool in transmitting the focus of their mission or their organization values. Our goal for projects like these is to ensure that any visitor can grasp the ideals of the organization just from viewing their space.
Nonprofits often go bold
Nonprofit organizations usually don’t look to appeal to broadest common denominator of the population, so their design sensibility doesn’t always play it safe. Every employee of these groups knows the mission, understands the story, and tries to work within the values. They may not always know how best to portray who they are but they are very sure of who they are. That often translates to a comfort level with bold graphic expressions to tell their story. Bright colors, large scale graphics, and strong pattern are definitely in our designers’ toolbox when they’re creating environmental graphics for offices or facilities for nonprofits. “Nonprofits tend to allow for more expressive and enthusiastic work, not being confined to design-by-committee approaches or the inertia that can sometimes hamper bigger businesses. To the contrary, nonprofits are proud of their work and want to express it in a very outward way that’s not limited by fear of any backlash,” explains Erik Herter.
For a client like the Richland Library system in Columbia, SC, going eye-catching with their wayfinding and environmental graphics was an obvious choice. Their library system has won awards for their embrace of the 21st century library ideal and for their vibrant community spaces. Anything less than bold would get lost in the shuffle. Our designers are using colorful, large scale numerals to guide the diverse population of library users through the Main Library and will adapt the same system to the other 12 branches of the system.
“…nonprofits are proud of their work and want to express it in a very outward way…”
A staff designer working on the Richland project, Noora Manchanda notes, “Nonprofit clients tend to be open-minded and willing to assimilate high-quality design thinking; they have in their DNA a fearlessness that inclines them to take design ‘risks’. It is an inspiring yet intimidating challenge for us as designers to translate their capability and influence into their visual identity and space.”
One project brings it all together
Our project at NYLAG is an excellent example of all of these points. NYLAG had a limited budget for environmental graphics and wayfinding for their new office, a very powerful story, an involved leadership, and an appetite for bold graphics. The final result is design that energizes their space and communicates to their clientele that they have found a place of welcome and assistance. For Herter Design Group, collaborating with people motivated to improve the world however they can makes for some of the most meaningful work we do.
