I was honored a little while ago to have been part of Good Measure 004 in San Diego, where a bunch of driven designers, photographers, strategists, videographers, software engineers, and others all got together to do good by volunteering their time for a worthy non-profit, Humble Design.
Each night in America, over half a million people are homeless, 20% of whom are children. And that doesn’t even consider the number of people just emerging from homelessness, who, statistics show us, are too likely to end up back on the streets and in shelters. Humble Design is a non-profit working to change all that, by turning those new houses into real homes.
Humble Design creates a place for hope: 99% of those they work with never go back to homelessness after 12 months compared to the 50% national average. Humble Design’s mission is to change lives and communities by transforming houses into homes for those emerging from homelessness. And they’re just getting started.
Over a crazy 72 hours, a bunch of strangers worked together at BASIC’s office to build an entirely new brand identity to fuel Humble Design’s future. And they ended up good friends by the end, having built a good product for a good organization. This is how good it is to do good things.
People sometimes seem surprised that so much work is possible over such a short time span, and indeed it does seem crazy sometimes that we present a full brand identity to the client after like a day and a half of work. But with limited time, necessity is the mother of invention, and it somehow all comes together in a great product at the end.
“It’s crazy what can be accomplished when people put agendas aside and just passionately strive for excellence.”
— Ryan Knight, Video Lead, GM004
Humble Design talked to us about how the real magic of their projects was the reveal—when they brought a family who had recently been sleeping in a shelter or on the streets into their newly designed, fully-furnished home. The family’s expressions are incredible, and you can see not just the happiness, but the renewed sense of hope. They start to imagine their future in their new home, and in many ways the biggest thing they’re reacting to isn’t the home itself, but rather the idea of what that home represents: a new future of their family’s life.
And it’s exactly the same with Good Measure, though of course with much lower stakes. When we reveal our work to the client, it’s the most magical part. You can see in their eyes their excitement as they imagine their future in this new identity, with their new logos and typefaces and colors and video and strategy a new “home” for their non-profit’s work. And it’s perhaps the surest sign that we did a good job, when they so readily inhabit the identity we’ve built. With the previous Good Measure project in NYC, one member of the client’s team said that he couldn’t wait to get some shoes we had mocked up in the new brand, and on this project the client imagined themselves giving out their business card to donors. Brands are like empty houses—the magic happens when real people with real goals and personalities see a home for themselves within them.
“…that was amazing. Sunday felt like the last day of summer camp.”
— Stacy Edelstein, Strategy Lead, GM004
That’s what the Good Measure team does.
And people are noticing. MediaPost, Campaign, The Drum, AdAge, Adweek, It’s Nice That, and Communication Arts have already written about Good Measure’s work, including this project, and it’s only been four projects so far. But the fifth one, Good Measure 005, is coming up soon in Austin, TX, and there’s no way to understand what this is like better than to see it for yourself. Signups will open soon, so sign up for updates and stay tuned.
