Isabella Wordsworth
@Alight in collaboration with IDEO
An exploration of story telling, social media strategy, mural painting.
thecolormovement.org
The Color Movement is a live project I worked on while working for Alight, a non-profit organization that works with vulnerable communities around the world but primarily with migrants and refugees.
The Color Movement is a project close to my heart. I joined it back in 2018 as it was starting and when we were learning that " colorful, joyful identity is sometimes what communities need to rally under".
In El Salvador there is an infamous four way intersection, it is the meeting of the three major gangs’ territories and often where violent crimes take place, and on the fourth road stood this small run down youth center immune to any violence or crime. An unsuspecting safe haven ready to be unleashed.
As a part of the original team I played two roles. Primarily I put together their social media campaign, creating insight groups and amassing research to come up with a bright, joyful, and upbeat way to connect the world with the youth groups in El Salvador. My secondary role was helping design the physical spaces. How do we use branding and color to declare a space "safe", what activities and experiences unite communities and make them rally? One of the ways we united the community under The Color Movement was through murals. Not only does painting the youth centers in bright colors and distinctive branding make it safe but it also allows the community to take ownership and leave their mark.
A few years after my initial work with Alight I returned to the team in 2022 as a part of the Protection Service redesign. I love protection service redesign. It poses so many unique challenges. How do we create warm, gentle and caring spaces for vulnurable people? How do we create discrete spaces that still hold reputable and trustworthy branding? How do we create an accessible space that is also hidden for saftey?
It is these kinds of design challenges that invigorate and push me, they give purpose as a designer and give insight into the human experience. I loved returning to work with the El Salvadorian community, their joy is an inspiration and from the time The Color Movement started till now I have seen it blossom and take on a life of its own.