Cause-driven design

In Cause-Driven Design®, Matt Schwartz, founder and director of strategy at Constructive, a New York City-based design and brand strategy firm specializing in nonprofits and education, explores the nexus between design and mission-driven work and explains how nonprofits can use design to engage and speak more meaningfully to the needs, goals, and motivations of their principal audiences....

Five Website Initiatives to Consider Post-Launch
July 24, 2019The launch of your new or redsigned website isn't the end of your work, writes Kinsley, it's the beginning. In the latest installment in our Cause-Driven Design® series, Kinsley looks at five things you can do to keep your new website fresh, relevant, and true to the goals you established during the design/redesign process....

5 Tips for Giving Great Design Feedback
June 14, 2019Paying attention to the way in which design feedback is delivered can have a real impact on the success of a project, writes Moaba. By implementing these five tips, you'll be doing your part to make sure that the design process is collaborative and projects run a little more smoothly....

Why Branding & Design Agencies Should Ask Why
April 5, 2019One of the most important roles a design firm play as a strategic partner to a client is to identify and politely probe at the client's assumptions. In her latest, Constructive's McGuire explains what that looks like....

Some of Our Favorite Moments From ComNet18
October 22, 2018Murphy, a communications and outreach strategist at Constructive, shares some key takeaways from this year's Communications Network conference in San Francisco and why it was so special....

Engage From the Inside! (Part 2): The Benefits of Internal Branding for Nonprofits
July 25, 2018Nonprofits engaged in strategic planning and brand strategy work often struggle to translate the internal memos and documents generated by the process into broader organizational change, but an internal branding process can turn that around in a hurry — and deliver additional benefits to boot....

Engage From the Inside! (Part 1): How Internal Branding Strengthens Nonprofits
May 14, 2018Nonprofits that want to use their brand to increase their impact need to design it into their organizations, not just their communications, argues Matt Schwartz in the first installment of a new three-part mini-series....

Breaking Through Branding B.S.: The Benefits of Nonprofit Brand Strategy
March 2, 2018McGuire, director of strategy at Constructive, champions the idea that a well-articulated brand strategy can be transformative for organizations working to create social change....

Deepening Audience Engagement With Long-Form Content
October 23, 2017Communicating complicated ideas can be a significant challenge for social change organizations trying to reach diverse audiences in a short-attention-span world. But it's something long-form content is particularly well suited for. Constructive's Matt Schwartz explains....

What Am I Buying? Understanding Website Technology & Costs
May 30, 2017Your website is a critical part of how audiences experience your organization's brand, says Constructive's Ian Mariano, and the choices you make about website technology have a significant impact on how effective it will be in accomplishing your organizational goals....

Content Strategy and Copywriting for Social Impact
March 22, 2017There's lots of good (and not so good) writing on the Web, which is why it's important, writes Constructive's Quinn MacRorie, to structure and format your content so as to capture and keep your readers' attention....

Designing Brand Experiences for Social Impact
January 29, 2017In his latest, Matt Schwartz argues that focus and clarity are critical if brands hope to stand out in our message-saturated world. And for social change organizations, the challenge is even greater....

5 Things to Do Before Issuing an RFP: Advice From a Former Nonprofit Leader
October 7, 2016Ready to work with a branding agency and struggling to develop an RFP? Constructive's Lexie McGuire tells you what to do — and why you might want to think twice....

Design Vendors Are Destroying Nonprofit Organizations!
June 28, 2016If you still see design firms as "vendors" rather than as "partners," you need to stop. In the latest installment of his Cause-Driven Design series, Constructive's Matt Schwartz explains why....

How to Translate Brand Strategy Into an Effective Website
April 20, 2016In the latest installment of his series, Matt Schwartz lays out his firm's approach to website design and explains why the key to an effective site is a clearly articulated brand strategy....

The One Strategy You Need to Design an Effective Website
February 29, 2016Constructive's Matt Schwartz suggests that when we design a website on a foundation of brand strategy, we are able to move beyond the limiting paradigm of UX to create an experience that connects us to something bigger than the real estate on our screens....

7 Ways to Strengthen Your Communications in 2016 (And Why They’ll Work!)
December 22, 2015As we prepare to close the books on 2015, Matt Schwartz looks at seven things your nonprofit can do to increase the impact of its communications efforts in the year ahead (and beyond)....

How Nonprofit Branding Strengthens Impact: Part 3
November 10, 2015In part 3 of his mini-series, Matt Schwartz explains how design firms like his apply synthetic thinking to the theory and process of branding....

How Nonprofit Branding Strengthens Impact: Part 2
July 13, 2015In part 2 of his mini-series, Matt Schwartz takes a closer look at the value of branding for nonprofits....

How Nonprofit Branding Strengthens Impact: Part 1
April 30, 2015In the third installment in his series, Matt Schwartz provides some context for determining what a brand is and how it is experienced, then offers insights into how to think more strategically about the brand experiences your organization creates....

8 Keys to a Successful Client/Design Firm Relationship
March 5, 2015In the second article in our new series, Matt Schwartz shares the "rules of engagement" his design firm developed to work with nonprofit clients in an open, collaborative, and even fun dynamic....

How Nonprofits & Design Firms Collaborate to Change the World
January 21, 2015What is design? And why should nonprofits care? In the first article in our new series, Matt Schwartz defines the term and explains why design should matter to all cause-driven organizations….