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Client
National 4 H Council
4 H, the nation’s largest youth development organization, grows confident young people who are empowered for life today and prepared for career tomorrow. 4 H programs empower nearly six million young people across the U.S. through experiences that develop critical life skills. 4 H is the youth development program of our nation’s Cooperative Extension System and USDA, and serves every county and parish in the U.S. through a network of 110 public universities and more than 3000 local Extension offices. Globally, 4 H collaborates with independent programs to empower one million youth in 50 countries. The research-backed 4 H experience grows young people who are four times more likely to contribute to their communities; two times more likely to make healthier choices; two times more likely to be civically active; and two times more likely to participate in STEM programs.
4 H asked Design for People to refresh their brand across digital and print channels to reflect a modern look-and-feel to engage and inspire young people to join, foster community with alumni and programs, and to increase overall donations from current and prospective donors.
Challenge
4 H has a deep and accomplished history. It began more than 100 years ago and has become the nation’s largest youth development organization. As with many organizations with a history as rich and long as 4 H, where it’s important to reinforce the brand and its mission, it’s also important to update it periodically to reflect current attitudes and styles so that it resonates with people.
4 H started with helping rural youth make agricultural advances in their communities. Today, 4 H serves youth in rural, urban, and suburban communities in every state across the nation. 4 H needed to communicate its idea to help young people and their families gain the skills needed to be proactive forces in their communities and develop ideas for a more innovative economy – and to show its relevance in today’s culture.
4 H was starting to plan for a major overhaul to their website but they needed to refresh the look-and-feel and implement it quickly across their website, social media channels and digital and print campaigns to launch in time for the upcoming donation season.
Project Approach and Results
Where the logo was not to be altered, we designed the look-and-feel to appeal to young applicants, current and prospective donors, and their communities. We created a modern, fresh, innovative, and humanistic for their digital and print campaigns, social media channels, and website using engaging graphics and photography showing real people who are happy making a difference.
We designed a new look and feel for the 4 H website to reflect the refreshed brand. Because it had to launch quickly, in time for the upcoming donation season, the design needed to work within the technical parameters of the existing development platform. Our technical understanding enabled us to create a design that was fresh and engaging, but also was relatively easy to implement with the existing website technical structure. The result was a modern, fresh look-and-feel for 4 H that was just in time for the donation season!
