Work

MADRE

A Fresh and Revitalized Approach to Protecting Women’s Rights
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Woman fighting for abortion rights in Colombia

Since 1983, MADRE has been fighting for women’s rights around the globe, with a special focus on issues of race, gender, disability, and climate. Even with support from prominent celebrity champions, interest in their cause was waning noticeably by 2022. MADRE realized that their brand needed a refresh to fully represent the impact of their work and to effectively engage younger audiences.

Our challenge was to modernize MADRE’s brand, illustrate their unique characteristics, and establish a compelling digital presence to attract new supporters. The first step was to identify and retain what had worked for MADRE since its founding—namely, their boldness and compelling story.

An Interwoven and Overlapping Approach…

During the visual design process, we worked to preserve MADRE’s legacy while giving it a modern touch, opting for an interwoven visual style that mirrors their global reach and focus on interconnectedness.

One of the distinctive aspects of this project was MADRE’s focus on humility and empowerment, particularly in their messaging strategy. Teal worked closely with MADRE to ensure that their partners’ voices took center stage, making MADRE a humble empowerer rather than a perceived savior.

A collage shows the new MADRE logo, a black and white photo of female activists in a MADRE bomber jacket, and a graphic element which builds out the MADRE letters like building blocks out of shapes/forms; a black woman wearing a rainbow turbin looking off, resilient to the left sits on top of the letter M
The MADRE logo sits on a dark purple background and looks as if it is faded into it; a graphic silhouette of a feminist waving a hot pink flag sits on top of the logo

…With a Brand Palette to Match

We developed a brand palette to complement MADRE’s vivid photography, and updated their logo, giving it a more mature and credible look while retaining historical elements from previous versions.

A snippet of the top of MADRE’s web page designs with color coding blocked logos alongside the webpages sits on top of a dark purple background. Golds represents external affairs, teals represent grant making and partnerships, reds represent advocacy and policy.
A headline reading,
A collage of MADRE design elements features nine rectangles. The first rectangle features the MADRE logo and three women of color, one of Indigenous descent, one of African descent, and one of Indian descent. The second image features a woman of African descent in traditional, colorful clothing laughing and surrounded by community. The third image is a pattern of the MADRE logo and a MADRE badge repeated over and over on gold. The fourth image is a collage of black and white historic imagery sitting on top of painted blocks of pastel. The fifth image is dark purple and features a headline plus map graphics of continents across the world. The sixth image features three African women carrying baskets on their heads in colorful clothing walking along a dirt road; one of the woman holds a baby in a fabric carrier on her hip. The seventh image features an illustration of a Black employee at MADRE. The eight image features an androgynous individual with expressive purple makeup and a teal triangle graphic overlayed on her face. The final image features the various colors of MADRE related to different categories including reds for advocacy and policy, purples for people and culture, golds for external affairs, and teals for grantmaking and partnerships.

Redesigning with Energy and Organization in Mind

We redesigned MADRE’s website to include big images, vibrant colors, and different visual plays on the logo throughout.

The color-coded sections communicates MADRE’s three main themes and work areas. The website structure caters to new audiences, engaging visitors immediately and driving them toward action, while still resonating with existing supporters. The website employs reusable components to tell MADRE’s story consistently on each page, and includes an action area and shareable content.

MADRE’s homepage web design sits on top of a dark purple background. The design features blocky, triangular elements in hot pink and orange with various headlines and typographic details. A black woman in a turban sits on top of the graphic shapes and looks of in the distance with resilience.
A collection of MADRE social media post designs sit on top of a cream background. The images feature activist and write, Roxane Gay; a muslim mother with her child riding piggy back; a collage with a big stripe and overlapping images of women laughing, a gender non-conforming individual, and transgender individuals; a black and white historic MADRE image of an Indigenous activist; and a Black woman wearing bright green and a head scarf smiling up at the camera.

Consistency and Detail

The visual brand refresh was about more than aesthetics; it was about consistency and attention to detail. The color themes for different areas of MADRE’s work are carried across various platforms, and help users quickly identify different sections and themes on the site as well. Updated email templates also reflect the new visual language, ensuring every interaction reinforces the brand’s identity.

A collage features a zoomed out view of various pages from MADRE's brand guide.
A graphic illustration of one of MADRE's employees (a Black woman in an orange and purple patterned shirt with horn-rimmed glasses) sits on top of an orange triangular graphic element.

Illustrated Staff Showcase

To respect security concerns and showcase the team without revealing their identities, we illustrated the entire MADRE staff—a unique opportunity to tap into the brand’s artistic roots. We also supported MADRE with a digital marketing campaign strategy designed to engage younger audiences, using the refreshed website and brand to drive awareness and participation.

Ultimately, MADRE achieved more than a rebrand—they accomplished a digital evolution that reflects their mission, values, and vision, while continuing to inspire change and action.

A diverse and graphic illustration collection of portraits of MADRE’s employees sits on a cream background

DIGITAL MARKETING

    • A Radical Transformation Across All Platforms

    After Teal Media updated MADRE’s brand and designed their new site, our Digital Marketing team audited the org’s digital ads, social media, and email, suggesting new strategies and tactics for them to pursue on their own.

    A collection of MADRE instagram carousel designs sit on top of a dark purple and cream background. The first carousel on the far right is red and features content on the “FIGHT FOR ABORTION CARE” which is a headline that sits on a textured backdrop and an image of a white, female protester wearing pink and holding a sign which reads, “I LOVE SOMEONE WHO HAD AN ABORTION” is also featured. The second carousel sits to the right and below the first with two images on blue and gold; it shows various black and white historic photography in a row, with two, full color photographic cut-out showing profiles of Black woman facing away from each other overlapping the historic photos. The final carousel sits below the second and off to the right; a headline reads, “WHAT WOULD THE AFGHAN ADJUSTMENT ACT DO?” while the following slides use outlined frames to enclose images of Middle Eastern women protesting, learning, or staring at the camera, empowered; facts about the featured act sit underneath the images.
    A collage of MADRE Instagram posts features six square designs. Three posts revolve around disaster relief: one is red, with a hot pink ink texture, and a headline reading “EMERGENCY AND DISASTER RELIEF FUND;” one is teal with a young woman in a silky blue hijab, her ice blue eyes only visible, alongside a headline which reads, “RAPID RESPONSE, RAPID ACTION;” and the third post is gold with a brown, inky texture and an image of a refugee woman dancing in the sun of a camp, while the headline reads “EMERGENCY AND DISASTER RELIEF FUND.” The second row of images features a mother wrapped in textiles with her child behind her looking off into the distance while facts about MADRE sit alongside her reading, “ADVANCING CLIMATE JUSTICE, BUILDING A JUST PEACE, ENDING GENDER VIOLENCE;” the second image in this row is a diverse collage of empowered woman sitting on bold and colorful shape graphics and an overlapping MADRE badge; and the final image is a woman carrying a basket on her head.

    PAID ADVERTISING

    •
    Teal then created an awareness campaign dubbed “Who is She?” which illustrated the incredible stories of the women and girls MADRE supports, encouraging audiences to visit the new site for more.

    The campaign surpassed its goals across more than a dozen key performance indicators.

    2.6million+ impressions

    +1.3K followers on LinkedIn, a 16% gain

    46% increase in LinkedIn comments (with fewer posts)

    +90% increase in Instagram engagements, compared to the previous span, equating to 3K+ engagements

    2 MADRE ads sit side-by-side: one features the MADRE logo very large with a group photo cut-out of African women in colorful hijabs carrying baskets of harvested crops overlapping a headline that reads, “$65 million in grants for women in 40+ countries—and counting;” the second ad features a group of Asian women in colorful and traditional garb laughing and conversing on a big and bold purple triangle graphic with the MADRE badge overlapping.
    A MADRE ad Instagram carousel is staggered and features cut-out photographs of women from across the globe with the headline, “Every woman deserves to be heard,” stretching across each slide. The first slide features Hispanic women in traditional and colorful garments looking intently at the camera. The second slide features women of various racial and ethic backgrounds holding hands at a conference. The third slide features African women with intricate and rainbow jewelry siting in a line and looking off into the distance.
    Links
  • madre.org
    • Project Team
  • Mohammed Bedewy
  • Madie Graham
  • Joey Hernandez
  • Aruna Mall
  • Selina Sutherland
  • Jessica Teal
  • Tiffany Wang
  • Ellen Yee
    •

    Teal Media is a woman-led creative agency that builds brands and websites for nonprofits, foundations, and mission-driven organizations. We have a core presence in Washington, DC and Detroit, MI.

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