The Yale Program for Climate Change Communication is the preeminent authority on the underlying science of public climate change awareness and attitudes—researching and reporting on the psychological, cultural, and political factors that shape public opinion, behavior, and policy. Looking to strengthen their brand, rethink their publishing strategy, and transform their website, YPCCC reached out to Constructive to help connect the dots between their brand value and how they deliver it online.
Yale’s top priority was a new website. However, leadership understood that if they were to position themselves for greater long-term success, now was the time to take a strategic look at their brand. We added a brand strategy phase to our digital work, conducting interviews, research, and workshops to help us articulate YPCCC’s mission and methods, audiences, differentiators, and more. After distilling observations and insights into strategic positioning, we used our findings as a foundation to inform digital strategy, design, and development.
One of the great confusions for audiences when it came to The Yale Program on Climate Change Communications is that they are not, in fact, climate scientists. They are the preeminent organization in a highly specialized field of scientific study—how we communicate, understand, and react to the topic of climate change. We designed a logo and visual identity that encapsulates this unique intersection, providing YPCCC with a memorable mark to anchor its brand and a system of colors and typography to support its data-heavy communications.
By far the biggest priorities for YPCCC’s website were to make its influential research more accessible to a broader audience and to surface insights from its data-rich content. We created a taxonomy that structures content by research types and topics—making it easier for audiences to access content and providing the foundation for the site’s information and database architectures. A robust system of page templates provides the diversity needed to support YPCCC’s many content types. And strengthened content relationships encourage exploration by surfacing relevant research, resources, and experts throughout.
To visually align YPCCC’s website with its research-driven brand, simplicity, clarity, and objective credibility were all essential to the design strategy. We minimized unnecessary visual distractions to make sure YPCCC’s influential research was the central focus. Minimalist design and clear navigation and wayfinding create a fast, intuitive interface that makes information easily accessible. Clean, structured layouts provide a rational home for YPCCC’s content. Strong typographic hierarchies increase legibility. And editorial design techniques support scanning, elevate key takeaways, and provide visual interest that keeps readers engaged.
YPCCC needed a website to support their extensive libraries of publications and data visualizations to keep users engaged and up-to-date on the latest trends in this quickly evolving space.
A critical priority for YPCCC was to find ways to streamline its cumbersome report publishing process. We recommended that Yale’s team transition to HTML-first publishing, developing a hybrid publishing system that provides flexibility and efficiency by supporting both HTML and PDF publishing workflows. Report summary pages deliver at-a-glance takeaways, with full HTML-based reports making Yale’s long-form content far more shareable, searchable, and valuable. PDF versions of reports complement HTML ones for offline reading and printing. The result is responsive content that’s more accessible to a wider audience, wherever they may be.
“We needed a website that was more effective in engaging multiple audiences and which would integrate a wealth of legacy content with our ongoing publishing. Constructive’s team achieved all our goals and has worked for years to support our growth since. Flexible, responsive, creative, forward-thinking: all traits you hope for in a partner, and Constructive has them all.”
Anthony Leiserowitz, Director, Yale Center for Environmental Communication
