Ronald Junior McDonald

OUR NORMAL

Designing for Inclusivity and Social Change

Hyper Island Nabi Digital Agency Project

OUR NORMAL

Project Our Normal:

Designing for Inclusivity and Social Change

Our collaboration with Our Normal, a non-profit organization, marked a significant milestone in Nabi’s journey. This project resonated deeply with our mission to create socially impactful design solutions.

Understanding the Stakeholders

Our Normal was founded by Jenny, with Bodil serving as her industry mentor. Jenny’s passion for the cause—stemming from personal experiences— sometimes led to a focused perspective, while Bodil provided a broader view. This dynamic created a balanced and inspiring environment for collaboration, enriching our design process.

During initial discussions, we received extensive feedback from Jenny, including interviews and firsthand accounts. We decided to focus on developing a narrative that addressed multiple perspectives within the community Our Normal serves. This approach helped us anchor our storytelling and design choices.

Empathy-Driven Design

We conducted interviews with stakeholders, including a parent who wished to remain anonymous, to gather deeper insights. By carefully crafting our questions, we ensured sensitivity and appropriateness, aligning with the emotional nature of the subject matter. These interviews revealed the importance of framing the issue from the perspective of families, not just the children, which added a powerful layer to our storytelling.

When we presented this approach to Jenny and Bodil, it was met with enthusiasm. Bodil noted, “I like the angle; it’s a family problem even as a grandmother or grandfather, I would be worried about how my son or daughter felt with this situation.” This feedback validated our design direction and reinforced the importance of empathy in our work.

Impact and Reflection

Working on Our Normal allowed us to contribute to a cause that truly mattered, embodying our belief that even small changes can lead to significant impacts. Our goal at Nabi is to continue collaborating with NGOs when feasible, balancing our commercial projects with our passion for social impact.

Learnings from the Our Normal Project

This project highlighted the importance of flexibility and empathy in the design process. By understanding the nuanced needs of different stakeholders, we could create designs that not only met but exceeded expectations. Our experience with Our Normal reaffirmed our commitment to socially responsible design and the value of working on projects that align with our core values.

OUR NORMAL

Conclusion

Our work with Our Normal was a meaningful experience that resonated with our commitment to socially impactful design. By deeply understanding the stakeholders' perspectives, we were able to create a narrative that addressed the multifaceted needs of the community. The balanced dynamic between Jenny’s focused passion and Bodil’s broader viewpoint enriched our design process and helped us deliver a solution that was both empathetic and effective.

Through interviews and thoughtful engagement with families, we developed a narrative that highlighted the broader emotional context, emphasizing that the challenges faced are family-wide, not just centred on the children. This empathy-driven approach was well-received by both Jenny and Bodil, reinforcing the value of including diverse perspectives in our design process.

The Our Normal project underscored our belief in the power of design to create social change. It reminded us that even small, thoughtful design choices can have a significant impact. This experience reaffirmed our commitment to working with non-profits whenever possible, balancing our commercial work with projects that align with our mission to make a difference. Our learnings from this project have strengthened our resolve to prioritize empathy, flexibility, and social responsibility in all our future endeavours.