On March 15, 2021, Tom Peters, the heralded co-author of In Pursuit of Excellence (one of the most noted business books of our time), launched his last book. This book is the summa of an extraordinary career on the public stage fighting for valuing humans above all else in the workplace (only if one wants to succeed) and railing against the clarion call for “shareholder value” as a first principle of business. Donovan/Green has been intimately involved in the development, design, and proliferation of this important book and campaign for human rights in the workplace. Equity, inclusion, leadership, and the evidence-based outcomes of these strategies all build a sound logic for Peters’ passion for the subject. He clearly proves that the greatest value should be placed on those who choose to come to work, their communities, and the design of their products and services in order for their enterprises to succeed. Topics such as TTDs (Things To Do) make this book both digestible and actionable. Peters’ approach to getting his ideas out to as many people as possible is a testament to his commitment to doing everything he can to prove to business leaders at all levels that they have a moral responsibility to do right if they want to do well.
 
Read press release

Nancye Green and Michael Donovan led a masterclass on branding for 300 participants, 25 of whom had been selected to compete for the design of a new logo for the Dominican Republic. These contestants were invited to consider how best to connect a mark to the rich cultural heritage as well as extraordinary opportunities the country presents for visitors and companies interested in making the Dominican Republic their destination or their home. The designers invited were in their last year of design school or the first years of working and were offered the Masterclass as an experience contributing to their growth as design professionals. Nancye and Michael created a presentation which encouraged them to be thoughtful about what becomes part of the brand experience and how the brand can best serve its purpose to communicate, set a standard for consistent messaging, and also delight all who see it. Michael and Nancye have a deep connection to and fondness for the Dominican Republic, having spent time at Altos de Chavon (a school of art and design), teaching and speaking at commencement there, and supporting the team who designed the exhibition Being Oscar de la Renta,which opened at Centro Cultural Eduardo Leon Jimenes at the end of 2019.

Nancye Green spoke with Joe Zanca on his podcast, Get it Done, about business, leadership, and the entrepreneurial journey. She talked about her over forty-year journey to build Donovan/Green and to focus its work on promoting ideas and values that make business successful while seeking to empower the individuals within the communities they serve. She talked about D/G’s work in healthcare, most recently building systems to engage patients and healthcare providers in informed and compassionate interactions, which ultimately lead to better outcomes for both. She also introduced her latest start-up, un/teaching, an organization working with individuals and companies with innovative ideas and unconventional approaches to make the world more equitable, fair, and sustainable in all the ways that matter.

Over the course of 2019 and 2020, with efforts continuing to date, Donovan/Green has worked to develop and launch a retention plan for a global phase 3 clinical study. The objective of the plan is to educate and motivate all participants, study subjects and study site staff alike, in order to foster the common goal of retaining subjects in this long-term outcomes trial. Our client is on the front lines of finding a treatment for a serious disease that to date has no solution other than invasive surgery. The possibilities are exciting for the team, the sites, and the study subjects. However, due to the unchartered territory and length of this trial, retention efforts are essential in order to keep all involved motivated and engaged.

The retention plan’s strategy is based in empathy and compassion. Each component of the program relies on the importance of understanding people and reinforcing the powerful effects of education and human connection on successful medical interventions.

Our plan utilizes innovative technology solutions to deliver bespoke content directly to patients — on-site via a hand-held device and at home via an online portal. Informative and motivational content of this depth and clarity is often not part of the study plan. By putting the information directly into the hands of patients, we consistently deliver materials that are approachable, understandable, and available at times when the clinicians may not be. The technology allows for easy content updating, managing permissions of global site approvals, and capturing engagement analytics to fuel future work.

The retention plan reaches more than 300 study sites in 20 countries. There are nearly 30 touchpoints of communication, several of which are translated into 16 different languages.

Donovan/Green, along with the trial sponsor, the study CRO, and other collaborators, hosted a global launch meeting to officially kick off the retention plan in December 2020. The meeting was attended by hundreds of internal and external team members from around the world. A Q&A session concluded the 70-minute webinar.

As we begin 2021, Donovan/Green is excited to continue our important work in the clinical trial space, helping to inform and inspire patients, providers, and our internal teams to move toward successful outcomes.

What do dragons have to do with business? Shawn Nason and his collaborators Robin Glasco and Michael Harper engage their readers and followers in a spirited conversation about courage, conversation, swarms, and showing up true to who you are at work and in life. Launched at the end of 2020, Kiss Your Dragons was developed in partnership with this spirited team including Melissa Wilson, partner/publisher, and Julie Anixter. Designed by Donovan/Green, their book joins other avenues for their fiery imaginations and soul-searching approaches to business and just about everything else including Man on Fire, their design firm, and Disruptor Chronicles, the blog hosted by Shawn Nason.

In September 2020, D/G engaged with The Penn Institute for Urban Research (PennIUR) to design presentations for their Recovering Cities Project. PennIUR is a university-wide subsidiary of the University of Pennsylvania. Its work informs urban decision-making and public policy on issues of sustainable urban growth and development based on multi-disciplinary research, instruction, and outreach.

The Recovering Cities Project is part of its Cities and Contagion: Lessons from COVID-19 initiative. Partnered with research institutions around the country, PennIUR aims to monitor and inform select cities recovering from the health, economic, and social impacts of the coronavirus pandemic.

Together, we worked to design the presentation for their indicator dashboards. These dashboards will frame discussions to shape future responses to pandemic-related public health concerns, economic distress, and the quest for racial equity. With their team, we designed the clearest and most inviting way to share the data, highlighting the essential and stripping out the unnecessary. We worked to build a reliable system that would best serve the changing needs of the project while delineating the different categories such as human health, fiscal health, the economy, and quality of life.

“Everyone loves it. The design highlights the data brilliantly.”

Eugenie L. Birch FAICP
Nussdorf Professor of Urban Research
Department of City and Regional Planning
Stuart Weitzman School of Design

At its commencement, the project included New York City and Atlanta and will soon expand to cover Philadelphia as well. Access the latest dashboards on PennIUR’s Recovering Cities Project page.

Bloomberg Philanthropies launched Bloomberg Connects, a smart phone app that acts as a free digital guide to cultural organizations around the world. Donovan/Green was first tasked with naming and branding the app. Next, D/G designed, developed, and coordinated the user experience and launch of the beta version within its first installment at the The Frick Collection. We worked with the team at Bloomberg Philanthropies and The Frick Collection staff to devise the clearest and most inviting system for users to interact with the museum’s historic collection of art while using the app as a hand-held digital docent. Bloomberg Connects offered museum goers a deeper dive into the art, sharing stories and information that wasn’t easily apparent in the live exhibition. The beta launch system included a custom distribution kiosk, a curator-approved labeling system for the art, signage, tickets, phone cases, and other accessories to complete the branded experience. We worked to build a reliable system for Bloomberg Philanthropies to launch further testing experiences at other cultural institutions such as the Guggenheim.

The free app offers the ability to learn about and interact with exhibitions at participating institutions through dynamic content exclusive to each organization. A few of the international cultural institutions include Benjamin Franklin House, Black Cultural Archives, Central Park Conservancy, The Frick Collection, the Guggenheim, MoMA PS1, and the Serpentine Museum.

Donovan/Green is proud to announce that Nancye Green has been elected to serve as board chair of EcoHealth Alliance (EHA), an international nonprofit dedicated to protecting the health of people, animals, and the environment from emerging infectious diseases. With its network of global alliances employing an evidence-based, scientific approach, EHA is committed to preventing pandemics by discovering their origins through field work and partnering with governments, scientists, and local communities to institute public health practices and policies to prevent disease and its spread. Viruses often emerge in countries far from the US, but pandemic prevention demands a global effort. EHA’s model, which builds local capacity while advancing scientific leadership in discovery and prevention, is a strategy for both mitigation and success. Nancye has been on the EHA board since 2006, and is honored to take on a leadership role at an important time in the organization’s growth and the world’s need for its scientific capabilities and systemic approaches to pandemic prevention.