Independo. Making the digital world more accessible.

2024

Confidence through inclusion. 

Independo develops web tools for people with disabilities. They work on pictogram-based web tools for children and young adults who read in pictures. Julia Kruselburger, CEO of Independo, says, "Inclusion is a human right, yet the internet is not accessible to around 240 million people. Digital tools make life easier for people without disabilities; for people with learning difficulties, they make many things possible in the first place."

Inclusion is truly at the heart of everything they do. They passionately talk about their mission and how they want to make the internet more accessible through digital tools. And it seems to be working. Not only because of numerous awards and recognitions – but first and foremost because of their happy users.

Independo's vision is making the internet and digital tools accessible to people with cognitive disabilities. Therefore, our mission was to create a brand that reflects that sense of inclusivity and empowers their users.

For many people with cognitive disabilities it is difficult, sometimes impossible, to read texts. Since the internet and digital tools, such as calendars, maps, messengers etc., are mostly text based, people with disabilities remain excluded from these tools and their benefits. Independo works on translation-tools using stylized and highly communicative pictograms, such as the pictogram set Metacom, to "translate" words into images. Their first product is a pictogram-based calendar that can be integrated into all common calendar-apps, enabling users to plan and recap their days independently.

Our goal for the brand was to make users feel secure and brave at the same time. The claim "Enabling everyday" captures the effect Independo has on their users – enabling them to grow and become more independent and confident in their everyday life. While the logo conveys boldness and strength, "Eddie" – the friendly digital "buddy" – supports and accompanies users throughout the digital experience with Independo.

The challenge of branding Independo was to balance appealing to their rather young users, while also speaking to teachers, parents or business partners, who often are the ones buying the tools for their children. We therefore had to communicate inclusion and accessibility in every aspect of the design. People with disabilities (PwDs) often are overwhelmed by flashy colors or too much movement, so the design had to be very clean and calm while feeling welcoming. "Inter" was a perfect fit as the font for copy text – it's optimized for screens, easily readable in all sizes and has a wide range of glyphs and languages.

The design is based on a simple graphic system consisting of three main colors, two font-weights and warm imagery. We stripped away everything unnecessary to focus on the impact and strong messages. The website is designed to be accessible and easy to understand. While scrolling through the site, Eddie follows in the right corner to offer support if needed. Independo’s social media presence gives their followers a glimpse of PwDs' daily life. The social media templates, designed to empower the Independo team to share their content directly with their followers, consist of on-brand layouts, while offering enough variety to play around and address different topics and audiences.

Did you know there are six different kinds of color blindness? We tried to make all colors accessible to all types. The "Independo-purple" combined with black and off-white, remains distinguishable for all of them. To bring life to the brand, we paired the digital and clean design with warm, authentic images. For the photo-shooting, we brought together test users and the Independo team to take pictures in a relaxed and natural environment.

Independo's tools are developed in co-design. Their users are involved in the design decisions along the way, to make sure the product is developed not only for, but with them.

In our branding process, we emerge ourselves deeply in the topic at hand and try to take on the perspectives of all stakeholders. Working with Independo made us realize how much more all of us have to learn when it comes to inclusivity. It is a never ending process of listening and learning. Canadian designer Bruce Mau says, "Everything that is designed, can be redesigned.", so let's keep on redesigning, making things better and more inclusive.

Services

Brand Strategy
Text
Brand Design
Photography
Web Design
Motion Design
Video

Credits

Christian Leban. Concept, Graphic Design, Photography, Text, Webdesign
Sophia Stöhr. Concept, Graphic Design, Motion Design, Text, Video Concept, Editing
Tessa S. Huber. Concept, Graphic Design, Text, Webdesign, Character Design
Markus Riemer. Video Footage
Samuel Kuro. Photography
Johannes Oetken. Web Development
Henning Mertens. Web Development

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