Mobilizing Research into the Social Science of Framing and Narrative Change

Having worked closely with FrameWorks’s team for years, we understood them and the brand well. What we needed was insight into how audiences used their website, how to better engage them online, and how we could improve FrameWorks’s publishing operations. We started with research to understand and prioritize audience needs; then identify where and why the website was falling short of meeting them. The takeaways were clear. The site needed to do a better job explaining what FrameWorks does and the value of their research. It needed to better explain the science of framing to newer audiences and make it easier for issue area experts to find relevant content. And it was essential to improve editorial design and readability for FrameWorks’s long-form research. Once research was complete, we created a digital engagement strategy that established a shared vision for FrameWorks’s new website.

Now it was time to translate our shared vision for FrameWorks’s website into a blueprint that would bring it to life. Starting with a focus on the brand, we structured the site to quickly introduce FrameWorks to audiences and clearly communicate who FrameWorks is, what they do, who they work with, and why the social science of framing matters. Because most of FrameWorks’s site visitors are nonprofit professionals interested in specific issues, we made sure that issue areas were a central organizing principle of the website and easily accessible throughout. Dedicated pages for every issue area FrameWorks studies gives them space to highlight what their research tells us about social issues—and then delivers their best research on the topic. A new Resource Center aggregates 25 years of research reports, toolkits, video, and articles, providing advanced search and filtering that makes it effortless to access resources issue, sub-topic, and product type. Taken together, our new information architecture and UX design delivered a audience-centric experience that strengthens FrameWorks’s brand and delivers the wide array of value that people turn to them for.

We were now ready to translate our strategy and blueprint into a visually engaging online experience that embodies FrameWorks’s brand leadership. Building on several years of work by our team to evolve the Institute’s branding and design system for their publications, we focused attention on refining it to be more effective in digital. We introduced a suite of less saturated secondary colors that shift focus to FrameWorks’s content and add sophistication to the brand. To deliver an editorially rich experience for reading long-form content, we significantly expanded the brand’s system of typography, adding more varied weights and a condensed width to structure content, establish visual hierarchies, and make better use of small spaces, such as related content modules. And to deeply connect FrameWorks’s academic research to the human side of their mission, we developed a new system of illustrations that visually communicate complex issues thoughtfully and ethically.

The social science of framing communications is comparatively new, and while some people understand it well, others are just being introduced to its principles. Knowing that FrameWorks needs to engage both novice and experienced audiences alike, we created clear pathways for people to access and engage with the Institute’s content based on their level of expertise. Drawing on our UX research to understand site usage patterns and leveraging strategic techniques in digital storytelling, FrameWorks’s new website introduces Framing Fundamentals, that includes an interactive before/after framing tutorial, and it directs audiences to Essential Resources that expand learning. For audiences interested in learning about more advanced concepts like mindsets and movements, we created a Common Questions section. And for experts looking for practical applications of framing research in the social sector, a library of Impact Stories bring them to life. The results are a website that delivers the expertise that FrameWorks is known for to a wider range of audiences—while strengthening their brand leadership and influence.

Ensuring that the user experience and visual design of FrameWorks’s new website were exceptional was, of course, critical. Equally as important in our strategy was the opportunity to transition FrameWorks to HTML-first publishing of their research. While PDFs still play an important role for FrameWorks, we emphasized the benefits of digital reports—from greater accessibility and adaptability to mobile screens to stronger SEO and richer analytics data on content engagement and performance. In designing new digital reports, we applied a content strategy that leverages the inverted pyramid model for strategic communication—leading with summary pages that immediately deliver key takeaways and strong summaries of research reports; then providing deep dives into every section. The new website and custom CMS workflows transformed FrameWorks’s publishing operations with a digital-first approach that significantly expands the visibility and reach of their work and amplifies their ability to mobilize knowledge for social change.