Black Wealth Data Center
Brand Identity / Collateral / Web Design / Data Visualization
Democratizing data. Empowering Communities.
Core Collaborators
Creative Director & Designer: Schessa Garbutt
Senior Designer: Gilberto Ruiz-Ortega
Brand Strategist: Shannon Franklin, Consciously
Product Director: Jae Henderson, BWDC
Data Director: Harsha Mallajosyula, BWDC
Data Scientists: Caitlin Augustin, Amee Amin, Larry Kilroy, Datakind
Web Development: Kunle Babatunde, Mike Kim, Nicole Parsis, Giant Machines
Project Management: Ngozi Burrell, Tatiana Gomez
Funders: The Greenwood Initiative, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Prosperity Now
About
The Black Wealth Data Center provides data and context that furthers the ability of activists, policymakers, and social impact organizations to advance innovative solutions that promote Black wealth equity. BWDC is a project within The Greenwood Initiative.
Our Solve
When Consciously called on us as creative collaborators on this powerful, timely project, we knew we wanted the tone and visual strategy to focus on forward momentum, optimism, and growth while also honoring Black/American history and not shying away from the historical and systemic context of BWDC’s work. In our initial creative pitch, we challenged the client to think past the wealth gap and imagine Black wealth as The Future, as Room to Grow, and as Necessary. The final design defines Black Data with strong references Black American history—from Du Bois to Tulsa’s oak trees to patterns from Black quilting traditions. In addition to the brand identity and data visualizations, Firebrand led the design of the web tool which allows anyone to access data and insights around racial wealth equity.
Video created by Consciously
Designing the Racial Wealth Equity Database
We wanted to push the tool’s design and experience beyond data science’s typical blues, grays, and sterility, into a space that felt warm, human, and dynamic. We chose deep Evergreen as the core color in reference to old growth forests (longterm investment), and complimented that with other rich, natural tones and photography throughout the site.
Logo Story
“We wanted each design reference to speak to Black ingenuity, resilience, and cultural wealth.”
— Schessa Garbutt, Creative Director
Data Visualizations
We created dozens of custom visualizations to tell the stories behind the data in compelling and simple visual language. Rather than typical bar graphs and pie charts, the visualizations are inspired by Du Bois’s use of vibrant colorblocking and unconventional shapes.
Infographics for Blog Posts & Campaigns
click any image to zoom
Brand Collateral
“Firebrand provides the strategic thinking that's needed and helps move things forward. Schessa and Gil bring a level of thoughtfulness and intentionality that inspires trust for us and our teams.”
— Shannon Franklin, Head of Strategy at Consciously