Perkins&Will・2017
Branding the Transparency Site Highlighting Harmful Building Materials
KEY RESULTS
Happy stakeholders and an Honorable Mention from Architect Magazine’s 2018 Research & Development Awards.
Read on for reflections on past work and how I’d approach the project today
Perkins&Will is one of the world’s leading architecture firms.
On the Digital Innovation team, we built internal tools and launched projects from teams across the firm.
PW’s Material Health team came to us to help launch Transparency, a site about the ecological and health impacts of common building materials.
Transparency started an open conversation about building products that pose health and safety risks.
The main feature was the Precautionary List, a database of harmful chemicals and the building products they’re commonly found in.
Over 2-3 weeks, I created a visual language for the site, developed branding, sourced photography, picked a template, and helped the team upload their content through a CMS.
The Precautionary List of 50+ harmful substances
Admittedly, branding is not one of my great strengths as a designer.
And with limited time and the content handed to me, the Precautionary List lacked any meaningful UX strategy or product-thinking. It approached a complex problem solution-first.
Still, it’s a project I care about deeply.
Transparency’s shift away from brand blue inspired the firm’s bolder rebrand months later
With more time, I’d want to study designers’ workflows and means of evaluating materials— What are their existing tools? Would they even use the Precautionary List? Is an external site the right medium?
The problem statement would be broader:
As a firm, how might we help designers identify harmful products and use safer, more sustainable materials?
Search by substance or by building product? How should we show different levels of risk?
I’d aim to make content more actionable (e.g., recommending alternative products) and look to other apps that evaluate food and cosmetic products for inspiration.
The project earned an Honorable Mention from Architect Magazine’s 2018 R&D Awards↗︎
Honorable Mention for the 2018 R&D Awards, thanks Architect Magazine!