Edwy Woo – IBM Corporate Social Responsibility

IBM Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) aims to extend its global reach and impact by providing ways for individuals and communities to learn about and get involved with IBM’s social initiatives.
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Team

Pete Garvin
Todd Simmons
Élan Asselstine
Marie Louka
Annette Cheung
+ many talented folks
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Role

Brand & Identity
Art Direction
Web Design
UX Design
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Year

2018 – 2022
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IBM has invested in social impact initiatives by engaging its talent and technology with communities, clients and governments on environmental, social and governance issues around the world. The goal was to align all the individual initiatives under a unified and cohesive experience called IBM.org.

As a part of IBM CSR’s design team, my role was to establish the overarching visual expression for IBM.org and other global initiatives. This resulted in a visual system, digital component library, global campaign, and digital platforms that elevated the impact and presence of IBM's social impact efforts.

Typography as the visual voice
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The serif variation of IBM’s global typeface Plex is the visual voice of IBM.org. It was intentionally chosen because of its softer, human qualities, offering distinction between IBM.com and IBM.org, and supports editorial content and storytelling.
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Putting the human at the forefront.
Instead of large-scale abstract statistics, the intent was to lead with stories of real life people and emphasize human-scale impact.
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Reportage photography
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Photography plays major role in the visual expression of IBM CSR. The approach of using editorial style photography aims to showcase the real world subjects and their experiences in a tangible and honest way.
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A digital platform to empower action.
IBM.org is the face and digital presence of IBM Corporate Social Responsibility. It is the destination to learn about and participate in IBM’s social impact initiatives.
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Editorial storytelling
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The design features editorial based layouts where the content and subject matter take center-stage. There is an emphasis on clarity and simplicity, utilizing typography and photography to support immersive storytelling.
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Invitations for action
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IBM.org engages active and retired IBMers worldwide through its IBM Volunteer Portal, making it easy to identify and participate in giving and volunteering opportunities.
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Designed to scale.
A robust component library that extends IBM Carbon digital design system ensures quality and cohesion across various IBM CSR digital experiences.
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Systemizing illustrations
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As an alternative to photographic imagery, illustrations are used when conveying more abstract concepts. A visual system of interchangeable iconography on an underlying grid allows for a multitude of permutations while maintaining consistency.
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Real world outcomes.
The result of this work was twofold, both internally within IBM CSR and externally to the world.
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Internally, it resulted in organizational alignment of what has been previously described “a loosely confederated fleet of 13 different speedboats, heading in all directions!..” to now moving in unison under a common brand platform. Externally, it communicated IBM’s social impact efforts with a global audience and created opportunities to get involved. IBM CSR now has a platform as it continues to tackle the big issues in the world today.

2M volunteer hours
$394+M donated
18K avg monthly visitors
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