Edwy Woo – World Community Grid

World Community Grid is one of the world’s largest volunteer computing initiatives dedicated tackling projects that benefit humanity in health and sustainability.
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Team

Joseph Coombes
Marie Louka
Hugh Knapp
Juan Hindo
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Role

Brand & Identity
Art Direction
Web Design
UX Design
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Year

2020
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This award winning-initiative has been operating since 2004, enabling anyone with a computer and internet connection to support in humanitarian research. It has been largely successful, recently being featured on news outlets like FastCo for supporting COVID-19 research. However, due to the age of initiative, the visual identity required a much needed refresh to raise awareness around the program and attract a more diverse member base.

My role was to establish the visual expression, which includes logo lockups, app icon, communication assets, and redesigned digital experience.

Creating a new mark
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The concept of the logo is based on ideas of amplification, scale, and the collective effort of the global community. The cascading rings are a reference to a ripple effect, and angled upwards denoting continual progress in research.

Since the initiative was supported by IBM, the logo lockup was intentionally designed to work cohesively with other IBM brand elements. Layout and alignment guidance are essential in making sure there are clear relationships and hierarchy within a composition.
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Communicating at different scales.
‍The visual expression aims to communicate both the tangible and abstract aspects of the initiative.
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Photographic and illustrative
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When communicating the impact of the research at an emotive and human level, the strategy was to utilize photography of the researchers and people being affected by the research. However, when the intent is to communicate the overarching function and purpose, abstract visual motifs derived from the graphic mark are utilized.
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Reimagining the digital experience.
Alongside a new look and feel, the digital experience was redesigned to invite new contributors to participate and connect existing contributors to the research efforts.
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Building interest and credibility
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For a newcomer to the website, the goals were to showcase the research and explain how the volunteer network works. It’s about building interest in the research and gaining credibility so that users can know that the software is safe and that they are contributing to a cause they care about.

The approach was to showcase the stories of the research, explain how the software works, using testimonials from individuals and organizations, and removing friction from the join process.
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Making impact personal
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Another goal is to help users feel that their individual contribution to the research is making a difference. This shows up primarily in the individual and project dashboards, where data about the users contribution is shown through data visualization and timely updates by the research teams.

A badging system was also created to indicate the amount of computer hours contributed, adding to the sense of accomplishment especially in the community of of volunteers.
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Listening to the community.
Changing something so well established is no easy feat. It was about having a clear intention to understand and listen to the voices who know best - the volunteers themselves.
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Throughout the process, the focus was about the individual the volunteer. Without them, this global network would cease to exist. With this visual refresh, World Community Grid’s digital presence was elevated to feel more modern and friendly, yet keeping the core of the technology and volunteer community intact.
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