Learning differences affect 1 in 5 people—which, if not properly treated, can have serious negative consequences for millions of students in America. Eye to Eye is a leading national education equity nonprofit on a mission to improve the life of every young person with learning differences, offering intentionally designed programs and partnership that holistically support children, families, and schools. Needing a new way to welcome diverse audiences, tell their story, and drive programmatic growth, Eye to Eye collaborated with Constructive to design a new website and help increase their ability to change the life trajectories of students who learn differently.
Eye to Eye engages three audiences who share a deep connection to the issue of learning differences. Educators and school leaders in public, charter, and private schools are pivotal to adopting Eye to Eye’s innovative programs. Donors provide funding that’s integral to program development. And students and families seek community and solutions to challenges that are often not easily available in their schools. Through research and strategy workshops, we established a vision for Eye to Eye’s brand and website, specific KPI’s for success, and audience archetypes. The resulting Strategy Brief details content engagement strategies for a website experience that speaks to the specific needs of each audience so that each person is given clear, specific pathways for them to act based on the relationship they seek to have with Eye to Eye.
Like all nonprofit websites, Eye to Eye’s website is the organization’s most important ambassador—telling a brand narrative that shares their history and the passion that drives them, engaging audiences with their mission and vision, and explaining how their programs work. Eye to Eye also must directly serve multiple audiences—especially school leaders and educators that need to talk with Eye to Eye’s business development team to bring Eye to Eye to their schools. We designed a user experience that leads with brand storytelling to connect audiences to Eye to Eye and its mission, educate them about learning differences—and then follows through with opportunities to get involved, from program adoption, professional development, and peer mentoring to youth leadership clubs, family advocacy tools, and online giving.
In redesigning Eye to Eye’s website, we recommended that the nonprofit make the most of the opportunity and also rethink their branding, which is a strong visible presence in every partner school. We refreshed Eye to Eye’s brand by designing a new system of type, colors, and graphic treatments that complement and strengthen their well-known logo to present a young, vibrant, and differentiated brand. We then designed a website that visually speaks to the power of learning differently—bold type that makes a statement, unexpected shapes that break boundaries, and colorful gradients that present a spectrum. The result is an online experience that’s filled with energy, excitement, and optimism for unlocking greatness in the 1 in 5 students who learn differently.
Aligned with students who learn differently, Eye to Eye’s website is an experience filled with bold type that makes a statement, unexpected shapes that break boundaries, and colorful gradients that present a spectrum.
Eye to Eye is run by and for people who learn differently, so they understand the importance of lifting up the voices of people in their community—and the importance of understanding and embracing their intersectional abilities, identities, and individual experiences. To demonstrate their values of inclusion and educational equity, Eye to Eye’s website invites audiences to share their story so that they can be ethically told online. Student and educator portraits and testimonials are woven throughout the experience to connect Eye to Eye’s community to the work they do. And Eye to Eye’s own story, from humble beginnings to national leader, is delivered with strong organizational values.
To meet the needs of its many audiences and also drive programmatic growth, Eye to Eye’s website is focused on providing a wide range of opportunities to engage and resources to inform. Straight from the homepage, audiences are given three different ways to get involved and support Eye to Eye through donations, becoming a partner school, and volunteering to be part of the movement. And to help families who are navigating their child’s school experience and who want to advocate for education equity, Eye to Eye provides advocacy information and resources to help raise awareness and become a champion who increases school support for students who learn differently.
