The Child Mind Institute is a non-profit that is leading the way the world understands the developing brain, and transforming the way we treat kids with mental illness and learning disabilities. To showcase their research and resources, they asked us to create a website that would provide users with a safe, welcoming space to learn about mental health.
Our primary audiences were parents and educators, but the site needed to appeal to a variety of secondary audiences including medical, civic, policy and science professionals along with institutional supporters, corporate partners, research fellows, prospective staff, and press.
Like most non-profits, Child Mind lacked a budget for high-quality photography… but in contemporary design, we rely extensively on photography to motivate people emotionally. We were also dealing with
sensitive subject matter for which it isn’t always appropriate to show imagery of children. We needed to find another way to elicit a relatable reaction from our users while an aspirational space for education.
We focused our creative research in non-digital fine art and design, where abstraction conveys mood and emotion as a means to an end. This alternative research elevated the quality of the work and addressed the specificity of the situation.
We leveraged the geometric shapes often seen in science or children’s toys, and considered rounded edges and line work to relate to our client’s logo. We collaborated closely with our developers to define how we could further personify our shapes through animation. These lighter touches complimented the site reorganization that was necessary to make ChildMind’s extensive editorial content easy to navigate.
We created a website that offers users a space to learn about mental health and learning disorders that feels safe, welcoming, and structured. The editorially rich, flexible templates provide users with relevant content. Multi-layered wayfinding paths surface content framed for specific mindsets. We expanded the brand’s visual system with a dynamic set of patterns and shapes: a framework that allows the content to be emotionally resonant and visually beautiful, while minimizing the need for photography. By embracing abstraction as a storytelling vehicle, the Child Mind Institute website conveys mood and sentiment surrounding difficult subject matters, further reducing stigma.