Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Giving Digital Life to Scientific Pursuit

The Howard Hughes Medical Institute wanted to reimagine its digital experience and sought help to:

Achieve alignment with its brand voice and visual identity
Communicate its work broadly while sharing diverse perspectives
Implement qualitative analysis of content for strategic decision-making
Deliver an exceptional digital experience both internally and externally

Guiding the Brand’s Digital Expresion

Phase2 partnered with HHMI to modernize its brand and give it digital life. We created design options for expressing the brand across channels. Each option is built on HHMI’s horizon concept—evoking visually, the process by which science leads us to new and unexpected places. These designs incorporate HHMI brand voice paired with visual treatments, ensuring a holistic, aligned approach to all public-facing communications.

The Approach

Our human-centered strategy embraces content and design and includes user research and an emphasis on inclusive language. We’ve integrated a design system to express the brand (typography, iconography, color, layout) and make it consistent and immersive. The design system reinforces brand safety through established elements—easing future content creation for the HHMI team.

Phase2 also guided HHMI through data visualization and social media and videography best practices—demonstrating how the brand could make the biggest impact.

Ready to Announce Its Mission to the World

With its newly designed platform, HHMI will be ready to attract fresh audiences united by its values and excited by its goal—advancing our world through science.

Moving Science Forward

Since 1953, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), a non-profit research and philanthropic organization, has been devoted to probing the genesis of life itself. Through its work, the Institute has encouraged the curiosity of scientists, educators, and students and promoted inclusivity in the biomedical sciences.

Over the years, HHMI has supported more than 30 Nobel laureates, disseminated knowledge for the sole benefit of humanity, and never tired in its mission to move science forward.

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