Offering a moment of inspiration.
Democracy Fund’s grantees — organizations protecting and improving elections, supporting local news, making government more inclusive, and defending civil rights — were under enormous pressure in 2020. Our task was to create a product that offered our grantees a moment of inspiration and reminded them of the important role they’re playing.
A long line of champions.
We realized that heading into the 2020 election, our grantees needed the emotional and inspirational support to keep up their energy while their work faced serious challenges — and especially in the face of changes coming out of the Covid-19 pandemic. A communications campaign couldn’t do this alone, but we hoped to offer a moment of rejuvenation. Our strategy was to remind our audiences that their work didn’t exist in a vacuum — that it was both important and part of a long-standing history of change and progress. We wanted to remind our grantees that even the face of setbacks and challenges, their work was critical because it built on the efforts of those who came before — and sets up the next generation of leaders. The result was Champions of Democracy, an engaging coffee table book sent to all partners and grantees.
Champions getting in the way of history.
The core design conceit of this book built from the theme that key people who have championed progress throughout modern and distant history have often gotten in the way of business as usual. Each spread told the story of a historical figure or organization and connected it to the work of a grantee today that continues to move us towards a more open and just democracy. The text for each vignette was laid out around the photos documenting these stories, with the imagery pushing the text into strange and dynamic shapes. The layout reinforced that these people and organization had presence and effect.
Roles
Strategy, Design, Production Management
Team
Abby Holcomb — Design
Anne Maher — Art Direction
Anna Kegler — Copywriting
Ironmark — Production