• Work

    Perspectives journal

    Activating the progressive Canadian left through accessible web content and bold branding

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Composite image of multiple articles on the Perspective journal's website, all on mobile devices

Goals

The Broadbent Institute needed to strike just the right tone for its new online publication to reach a wide audience while also clearly communicating its core values

  • establishing a visual identity that is rooted in left-wing visual design traditions and is modern, smart, and even fun at the same time
  • ensuring wide reach through focusing on accessibility, including data visualization
  • building a flexible website that will grow along with the publication
  • empowering the internal team to take full ownership of their new website by making sure it's easy to maintain

What we did

  • Information architecture & UX
  • Content Strategy
  • Branding design
  • Web design
  • WordPress & front-end web development
  • Accessibility compliance & consulting

Project team

Canadian Social Democracy

Driving participation in democracy through modern and accessible design

Perspectives, the Broadbent Institute’s new and exciting publication, is a new space for the Canadian progressive left to build on the ideas of political economy, governance and working-class political strategy. Covering the institute’s current research on decommodification, empowering workers, and climate action, as well as science and tech the journal aims to motivate its readers to engage in building a just and equitable world.

The journal wanted its branding and website to embody its values from the start, so its team reached out to us to create not only a beautiful online presence but also one that was deeply rooted in accessible design.

Screenshots from the Perspectives journal website, one of the homepage as seen on a desktop device, one of an article with a line chart and a bar graph as seen on a tablet, and one of the mobile menu

New brand & website

Rooted in progressive values, accessible for audiences Canada-wide

With Perspectives our values aligned beautifully from start to finish. We cherish the opportunity to help shape this brand from its very beginning and watch it evolve. With a number of projects already in the Broadbent Institute family, we created a visual brand that could both stand on its own and fit in with existing conventions. The new journal’s website leverages the ease of editorial content processes built into WordPress and offers the journal’s team a number of custom blocks to craft engaging articles and future content types. Simple on the surface, the design of this website is both a nod to the past and looks boldly to the future while welcoming a wide range of audiences across devices and assistive technologies. Our work extended to creating chart visualization guidelines for accessible data presentation.

Collage of logo variations and colours used in the Perspectives visual brand Collage of data visualization guidelines Collage of website screenshots

Thank you for collaborating with us at the Broadbent Institute. We are a small non-profit, but we aim to publish big ideas and support people and movements who go after big wins. Having a beautiful website that functions so well will mean that our content will be taken seriously and shared around.

Once again, grateful to work with you!

Jennifer Hassum
Executive Director
Broadbent Institute

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