Photo credit: Ana Isabel. SRHR launch at the Ford Foundation for Social Justice.
Case Study
SRHR Health Index
Creating Health Equity
The opportunity
The U.S. government recognizes sexual health and reproductive rights and spends almost $11 billion a year on global health programs. The Center for Health and Gender Equity (CHANGE) [now Fòs Feminista] wanted to know, “is the spending meeting the government’s commitment?” To answer this question, CHANGE needed a digital tool to evaluate government health assistance and hold it accountable. This tool lived clearly within the vision of CHANGE’s brilliant staff. Our job was to bring it to life.
Approach
We worked closely with the client and a team of researchers to understand the data, the vision, and the features need to evaluate and compare programs across government programs and health categories. What started as a blank canvas turned into a first-of-its-kind tool to review and analyze global health actions.
My role:
Design Lead responsible for creative vision, color strategy, concepts, page design, and promotional material. I worked closely with a UX Lead to prototype the tool before creating high fidelity designs and we collaborated with the development team on technical capabilities.
Awards
AVA Digital Award, 2020
Davey Award, 2019
W3 Award, 2019
Cited by:
CNN, Fortune, Newsweek, and more. (Links open in a new window).
“I could cry. It’s exactly what we were hoping for.”
Visual Direction & Concepts
The client envisioned a product that was clean, approachable, and felt visually similar to their core brand. I presented three concepts to better understand the look & feel, the underlying theme that would drive visual decisions, and the basic structure that the Index would take.
Minimalist by design, I wanted to ensure that the content, data, and data visualizations were approachable and easy to understand.
The Index Takes Shape
The Index offers some pretty cool functionality. You can compare scores for six government agencies across three health areas and add or remove policies to see their impact on grades.
“[CHANGE] deserves our profound thanks and admiration for creating [the Index]... This carefully constructed and skillfully implemented and presented measurement of U.S. government ... is a great service to everyone who cares about our country’s commitment and contributions to this vitally important area of human rights and human well being...”
Former director, USAID Office of Population and Reproductive Health; Former director general, International Planned Parenthood Federation
“The Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights Index is extraordinary. It doesn’t just hold the various agencies ostensibly controlling policies and purse strings accountable to humanity, the American people, funding recipients, and each and every one of the millions of individuals whose health and wellness may depend on such funding, it is centered on actionability — it activates those who are in a position of privilege to demand compassionate, responsible, and responsive decisions from the government.”
CEO, Remote Harbor; executive director, The TRIAD Trust
Custom Iconography
The original design used each agency’s logo seal. Shortly before launch I wondered if using the actual logo in this context might be problematic. To avoid any issue, the team decide to pivot. Within a few hours, I created customized icon seals. This was not only a lot of fun to do, but added a personalized, branded feel to the Index.
The Launch Party
CHANGE hosted media-attended launch events in Washington D.C. and New York. It was surreal watching people interact with the Index amongst an atmosphere of excitement.
All images are credited to Ana Isabel of Ana Isabel Photography.
