Creating tools for empathy in education
HARVARD GRADUATE SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
Harvard's Making Caring Common project faced a challenge many organizations know well: exceptional content that wasn't reaching its full potential. Their educational resources had the potential to be transformative, but outdated brand expression limited their impact. Through strategic design systems, we helped them bridge the gap between academic excellence and accessible communication that resonates with real audiences.
When content excellence outpaces brand expression
THE CHALLENGE
Making Caring Common (MCC), a Harvard Graduate School of Education project, helps educators and parents raise caring, responsible children. As they prepared to launch 15 new reports expanding their resource library, they faced a pivotal moment: their transformative content was powerful, but their brand expression hadn't evolved to match the sophistication and impact of their work.
How do we ensure that transformative educational content reaches and resonates with diverse audiences without losing its academic credibility or emotional impact?
THE QUESTION WE ANSWERED
Treating design as a window into organizational priorities
OUR APPROACH
We began with our Question Catalyst process, conducting stakeholder discovery sessions and a comprehensive content audit. We uncovered that MCC's challenge wasn't just design—it was about creating systems that could serve multiple audiences across different contexts while maintaining Harvard's institutional standards.
Rather than simply making things look better, we treated the brand expression challenge as a window into deeper organizational questions about audience priorities and sustainable growth.
Balancing academic rigor with accessible communication
THE STRATEGIC SOLUTION
We developed a comprehensive design system that balanced academic rigor with accessibility:
Content architecture that prioritized human stories and practical application
Flexible design systems that maintained consistency across report types and audiences
Brand expression that carved out distinctive space within Harvard's broader identity
Implementation guidelines that empowered the team to maintain quality independently
The resulting system used typography, color, and imagery strategically to ensure dense educational content remained engaging and actionable.
Transforming how mission-critical work shows up in the world
THE IMPACT
The new brand system transformed how MCC's work showed up in the world. Reports now command attention appropriate to their importance, with clear navigation helping diverse audiences find relevant content.
Most importantly, we equipped the MCC team with strategic frameworks for future evolution, ensuring their mission-critical work gets the attention and respect it deserves while building a foundation for continued growth.
Work created in partnership with the Constellation Collective, a valued partner focusing on clear, compelling, and accessible communications.