Mellon Foundation
The goal of this redesign was to create a digital manifestation of Mellon’s mission that illustrates grantees’ impact on social justice challenges, and empowers visitors to repeatedly engage with the world-changing power of the arts and humanities.
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Concepting
Detail design
Development
Agency: Work & Co
Role: Associate Design Director
Design Partner: Fabricio Teixeira
Brand story: Nick Parish
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The Mellon Foundation is the largest funder of the arts & humanities in the United States. With a new president came a renewed focus on social justice.
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Many target users do not know about the foundation, its work, its renewed focus, or understand how the arts and humanities can help solve social problems.
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Introduce people to the foundation as it is today
Position Mellon as a problem-solving thought-leader
Center on the foundation’s grantees and their work
Run on a manageable and scalable infrastructure
Design site structure and content around users needs
Prioritize in service of both user needs and accessibility
A joyful reintroduction to a broader audience
To reach active and engaged users—a group we called Ambassadors—we had to present Mellon differently than they had in the past. Building on top of the dynamic identity framework Pentagram created for Mellon, we wanted to ensure an experience that was vibrant, ever-changing, and adaptive, bringing the content to the forefront.
Focus on ideas that inspire multivocal conversations
Instead of dividing Mellon’s influence by our org structure, we advanced with ideas. Using common language paired with grantee work to shape and focus visitors’ existing ideas, adding nuance and texture to bigger discussions.
Illustrating impact through storytelling
Mellon’s work enables ideas in many fields, and the site is their showcase. We strived to frame their efforts in ways that are beyond quantitative, trading dollar amounts for community impact.
Consolidating and sharing Mellon’s knowledge
As the largest funder of the arts & humanities in the US Mellon has a responsibility to lead its peers with a site modeling best-in-class guidance, inclusive materials, and clear processes.
