The Institute for Family Medicine is a wonderful nonprofit organization we’ve had the honor of working with since last year. Their mission? Improving family and community health by providing high-quality medical care for other nonprofit groups working throughout Missouri, empowering them to achieve their goals.
IFM is also growing and evolving—and this year, they moved out of the childhood home of their founder and into the Delmar Divine, an exciting new shared office space in the fully-renovated St. Luke’s hospital building. We wanted to make them feel at home, starting with wall art that would communicate their mission to visitors, inspire their team and feel true to the organization. We collaborated with Ryan Muschany of Sign Stop to bring the wall art to life.
DESIGN WITH LAYERS
We found ourselves inspired by the humble spirit of the folks at IFM. Unlike most nonprofits, IFM isn’t really visible when doing its best work. In fact, its presence is truly felt through the work of other NFPs. We wanted that attitude to infuse the artwork.
That’s why the wall functions in two layers, background and foreground. In the background, IFM’s brand colors and mission; in the foreground, the words of those they serve: glowing reviews from the NFP organizations IFM serves. Each one placed onto a raised acrylic plates in the shape of the IFM “i”. Through those plates, you see the IFM colors refracted back, rippling in the same way that the work of IFM ripples through the community. It’s all a bit poetic.
Speaking of poetry, we wrote some about IFM. This is something we don’t recommend, since it’s incredibly pretentious. Unfortunately, we hired a guy who pretends he’s English, so what’re you gonna do?
Art Director, Brett Kessinger, says:
“IFM is all about bringing helpful resources and life to the local community. My goal was to reflect this mission in the wall graphics. The variety of bold, saturated colors, organic linework, and testimonial-like quotes creates a welcoming mood, while the two levels/layers are a direct tie to IFM's focus on backing local organizations. Overall, the wall design assists in setting a positive tone to the space the moment someone walks down the hall towards the IFM main office.”
Thanks, Brett.
ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT
We didn’t want to leave the personalization at the entrance. So we created an homage to one of IFM’s current board members and spiritual progenitors, Richard Ellebrooke and the Deaconess Hospital network.
The photographs show three generations working towards the same goals of better community health.
Sharon Neumeister, Chief Program Officer at IFM, had this to say:
“Darling Brand Makery took the time to understand us and what we stand for—and then turned that understanding into art and words that truly represent who we are and what we do. We love our new office spaces and how they root us in our mission!”