Over the past 6 months, we have been engaged in a wide variety of design projects for the Mind & Life Institute, a nonprofit organization, cofounded by the Dalai Lama, that studies contemplative practices and the science of the human mind.
Our initial mission was to refresh the orgazinzation's branding and visual identity, establishing a new, more contemporary color palette and typograhic system. We then produced a series of new marketing collateral pieces that began to establish a new communications strategy for the institute.
Working with the organization's communications diirector, we then redesigned and relaunched what was previously a mostly institutionally-focused newsletter, and reimagined it as a more literary and visually inspiring magazine that seeks to explore the core themes of the orgazination in a deeper, and more though-provoking manner. Articles are illustrated more conceptually, with evocative, rather that literal, imagery.
The rusult, as seen above, signaled a major change in the organization's communications strategy, and has been extremely well received. Here is one of MLI's board members reaaction upon seeing the inaugural issue:
"I get a LOT of mail, hard as I try to stem the tide. Huge wasteful catalogues from Bloomingdales, alumni magazines from all over the place strutting their stuff, annual reports and appeal mailings from all sorts of nonprofits, well-heeled, round-heeled, down at the heel, and everything in between ... on and on.
I do not remember ever receiving anything through my mail slot more pleasing to the eye and the mind than the Fall 2013 issue of Mind & Life.
It is a masterpiece. It elevates MLI to a whole new level of excellence in communication."
We are now in the midst of a year-long project to redesign and relaunch the organization's website to reflect a similar change in tone and strategy, while maintaining easy access to the institutional programs and educational materials that MLI members continue to value.