Climate Disaster Project

Details

Paramount to the success of the new website for the Climate Disaster Project (CDP) was creating a style guide and visual language for the website inspired by the existing logo, the only piece of branding the organization had on hand. The site's graphic elements like illustration, icons and animations have a rough hewn feel that honours the visual language in the logo, and evokes a feeling of grit and toughness synonymous with surviving a natural disaster. The dark palette, inspired by the scorched earth left behind by a forest fire, gives the site its immersive feeling, and allows for striking, high contrast graphic accents. The palette also aligns closely with the dark edge found in the organization's brand photography.

The cornerstone of the website’s functionality is the stories archive, which has been built up steadily since the site's launch. Bold, contemporary typography gives messaging and storytelling a strong, courageous feeling, and the photo-focused story grid puts climate disaster survivors at the forefront. This prominence gives survivors a sense of autonomy over their story, in line with CDP's testimony-style storytelling. Calls to action across the site support getting visitors to the story grid to explore and read, as well as educating survivors on CDP’s trauma-informed process, and encouraging them to share their own story.