Purpose successfully developed a new visual and verbal identity and a web platform that empowers FWD.us to do what it does best — break through partisan polarization to move America forward.
FWD.us was launched in 2013 to pursue comprehensive immigration reform in America. By 2017, the organization was known for its smart, bipartisan approach to policy reform, and was preparing to add the criminal justice space to its remit.
The election of President Trump and the heightened polarization of America’s political parties put FWD.us’ two challenging issue spaces under even more social and political strain. FWD.us recognized a need to refresh its brand identity so that it could speak to Americans across the political spectrum, focusing on improving the country by rebuilding its broken systems, regardless of partisan politics.
People who care about America’s success exist across party lines — and FWD.us can unite and mobilize them to realize the country’s core ideals.
FWD.us had established itself as a leader and champion of smart actions toward collective prosperity, universal American values like opportunity and advancement, and policy results that benefit the diverse range of people who make the country great. By rooting its brand identity in these strong shared principles, FWD.us could effectively corral different partisan points of view and direct them toward meaningful reforms to improve the lives of everyone in America.
Theory of Change
Create an identity to showcase FWD.us’ action-driven policy expertise, bipartisan American values, and affection for people.
Engage a broad cross-section of Americans who care about smart, people-focused policy reform regardless of partisan identity or politics
Lead more Americans to take action with FWD.us in support of critical American policies, empowering FWD.us to break through deadlocked political spaces and realize the country’s full potential.
Logo
The new identity is a visual representation of the FWD.us’ approach: To strategically move the right pieces forward to unlock something new. The new identity is very much in motion: It leans heavily on forward movement and we see a lot of pieces unlocking in the collateral, visually emphasizing FWD’s big message. The new identity strikes a balance across party lines: The F-lettermark is impactful and active, while the serif wordmark balances the identity out to appeal to grasstops audiences as well.
Typography & Color
For typography, we chose a distinguishable serif font to balance out the blocky shapes. The color system leans heavily on black & white, leaving main stage to big, natural photography. It’s accentuated by the occasional color pop, making call-to-actions stand out, especially online. and white to give main stage to the big, natural photography. accentuated by the occasional color pop to make the identity stand out, especially online.
We worked collaboratively with the FWD team to create the web platform user experience from scratch. In addition to fully revamping the UX, Purpose redesigned the user interface, focusing especially on the mobile user experience, microinteractions, thoughtful animation and the ease of taking relevant actions.
Throughout the website, the forward motion and moving blocks are very much present, connecting the web experience tightly with the new brand. Below are a few examples motion design bringing the brand to life on web.
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