The Voice of Nonprofit Talent - Research Report Design

Level Playing Field Institute and Commongood Careers have published a new study titled The Voice of Nonprofit Talent: Perceptions of Diversity in the Workplace. The study surveyed a large sample of current and former nonprofit employees to explore the commitment to and perception of racial diversity in nonprofit work environments. Creative was brought on to bring the report to life with a clean and engaging design.

I've found research reports somewhat difficult in the past. While I relish type-heavy projects and clear data visualization, breaking up the rhythm of the walls of text can be a challenge. Photography feels out of place, and the restrictions of anonymity often means resorting to stock photography. Sure, you've got pull quotes to work with, but those feel obvious and do little in the way of breaking apart pages of text.

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Taking inspiration from The New Yorkers sequential micro-illustrations, we decided to break apart the sections of the report with small, abstract squiggles (that's the technical term we used) that would serve as a metaphor for diversity and the unique personality of the individual. We let this concept inform the rest of the design, from cover to cover. Ultimately, I feel it gives the book a nice bit of levity that balances well with the importance of the topic at hand. It further serves to provide a visual rythym of anchors that the eye can travel along while browsing or reading the report.

The result is a research report that feels lively but not frivolous.