Fellows Program
Celebrating 20 years of supporting writers and filmmakers’ bold, new ideas.

After 20 years, 200 fellows and more than 100 projects, the Fellows Program remains a core part of New America’s identity. The program’s team looked to us to develop collateral that would celebrate the incredible breadth of work from the last 20 years. It needed to be the kind of piece that would stop people in their tracks, especially current program supporters and potential funders.

We designed a frame worthy poster for VIPs and a four-sided, fold-out marketing collateral for distribution to potential funders. These pieces incorporated the existing New America branding while taking its look and feel up a notch, giving the Fellows program a chance to shine on its own. Together with their team, we crafted copy that succinctly captured the essence of what makes the Fellows program unique.

Fellows Program
Celebrating 20 years of supporting writers and filmmakers’ bold, new ideas.

After 20 years, 200 fellows and more than 100 projects, the Fellows Program remains a core part of New America’s identity. The program’s team looked to us to develop collateral that would celebrate the incredible breadth of work from the last 20 years. It needed to be the kind of piece that would stop people in their tracks, especially current program supporters and potential funders.

We designed a frame worthy poster for VIPs and a four-sided, fold-out marketing collateral for distribution to potential funders. These pieces incorporated the existing New America branding while taking its look and feel up a notch, giving the Fellows program a chance to shine on its own. Together with their team, we crafted copy that succinctly captured the essence of what makes the Fellows program unique.

Driving long-term engagement with book lovers and writers.

Throughout its 20-year history, the Fellows program has had sustained support from book lovers and writers. But the staff rarely reached out to these folks with consistent, engaging content outside of the annual announcement of the new class of Fellows. The Fellows staff recognized this communication gap and came to us seeking transformative digital communications with its supporters.

Our twin goals were to engage book lovers and writers in the program outside of the announcement of new fellows; and to hype the Fellows and generate excitement about their upcoming projects.

We worked with the program’s staff to outline a new strategy and creative vision. Together, we created a new visual language and identity for the Fellow’s monthly newsletter, and shifted the tone to strike a balance between conversational and “in-the-know”. In January 2019, the program launched its inaugural issue of the “Fifth Draft: While you’re waiting for edits” to thousands of supporters.

Driving long-term engagement with book lovers and writers.

Throughout its 20-year history, the Fellows program has had sustained support from book lovers and writers. But the staff rarely reached out to these folks with consistent, engaging content outside of the annual announcement of the new class of Fellows. The Fellows staff recognized this communication gap and came to us seeking transformative digital communications with its supporters.

Our twin goals were to engage book lovers and writers in the program outside of the announcement of new fellows; and to hype the Fellows and generate excitement about their upcoming projects.

We worked with the program’s staff to outline a new strategy and creative vision. Together, we created a new visual language and identity for the Fellow’s monthly newsletter, and shifted the tone to strike a balance between conversational and “in-the-know”. In January 2019, the program launched its inaugural issue of the “Fifth Draft: While you’re waiting for edits” to thousands of supporters.

Political Reform Program
Elevating a year’s worth of published work.

Political scientist and author, Mark Schmitt, launched New America’s Political Reform program in 2013 to develop new approaches to understanding and reforming the market for political power and the crisis of democratic governance. Each year, Mark and his small, but mighty team of political reform experts write and publish more than 300 articles and reports examining new ideas for procedural reforms. The program’s end-of-year report consisted of a Google document with a list of hyperlinked articles. While the undesigned aesthetic of their yearly report aligned with the team’s “scrappy” ethos, it created more issues than it solved for its audience and goals. The team retained no data on users’ behavior and compared to their partners’ collateral, the report’s lack of branding diminished the impressive breadth and impact of their work.

The Political Reform staff came to us to elevate this document. Together, we made it a viable fundraising tool by developing a polished design and a strong narrative stressing the urgency of its work.

Political Reform Program
Elevating a year’s worth of published work.

Political scientist and author, Mark Schmitt, launched New America’s Political Reform program in 2013 to develop new approaches to understanding and reforming the market for political power and the crisis of democratic governance. Each year, Mark and his small, but mighty team of political reform experts write and publish more than 300 articles and reports examining new ideas for procedural reforms. The program’s end-of-year report consisted of a Google document with a list of hyperlinked articles. While the undesigned aesthetic of their yearly report aligned with the team’s “scrappy” ethos, it created more issues than it solved for its audience and goals. The team retained no data on users’ behavior and compared to their partners’ collateral, the report’s lack of branding diminished the impressive breadth and impact of their work.

The Political Reform staff came to us to elevate this document. Together, we made it a viable fundraising tool by developing a polished design and a strong narrative stressing the urgency of its work.