Case Study
Dana Foundation
For more than 75 years, the Dana Foundation has advanced healthcare and neuroscience to build a better society.
Project summary
Transforming a Legacy Brand for a New Vision and Emerging Field of Science
Since 1950, the Dana Foundation has been a pioneer in healthcare and neuroscience philanthropy, funding innovative research and new areas of inquiry. After two decades dedicating its mission to basic neuroscience funding research, the Dana Foundation developed a new strategic plan in 2022.
Centering on ideas of democratizing neuroscience and making the field more inclusive and representative of all people, Dana would now shape the multi-faceted, intersectional field of Neuroscience & Society that they helped create. That’s when the Dana team asked Constructive to help transition their brand legacy into a new vision for impact—and help an emerging scientific field realize its full potential to build a better society for all people.
Focus Areas
At a Glance
Discovery
Identifying Diverse Audience Needs & Connecting Brand Value
We led a robust research and discovery process to channel Dana Foundation’s ambitious vision for its new Neuroscience & Society strategy through a new brand and website. First, stakeholder interviews helped inform how audiences, both inside and outside the organization, viewed the Foundation and its future. We then conducted collaborative brand workshops to define the Foundation’s aspirations, values, organizational roles, strategic differentiators, and more.
Using what we learned during discovery, we helped Dana Foundation connect people within the neuroscience field and experts in other social disciplines—and, in doing so, occupy a special space for the global good.
Brand Strategy & Messaging
Articulating the Vision of Brain Science for a Better Future
Our brand strategy identified nine core themes that were foundational to Dana Foundation’s credibility and ability to lead the new field of science it was establishing. Themes such as “Transcending the Sciences,” “Advocacy vs Objectivity,” and “Neuroscience for People” connected Dana’s rich history and impact to its strategic direction. We then positioned the brand to realize the potential in exploring a new neuroscience that benefits all people.
Dana Foundation’s new narrative is expressed with depth and detail through strategic brand messaging that articulates its purpose and mission, vision for the future, the values that guide it, its differentiating value propositions, and its audience relationships.
Visual Identity
Creating a Dynamic Visual Identity
We explored different design directions with Dana’s team to create a logo and design system that expresses the brand’s dynamic energy, scientific sophistication, and creative exploration.
Together, we landed on the logo that is a fluid loop, mirroring movement that intersects and connects. We utilized wave patterns to provide textural backgrounds signifying brain activity, while saturated colors and gradients represent the Foundation’s diverse and nuanced scientific inquiry. Dana’s new design system is also reinforced by typography that is streamlined and objective, reflecting the evidence-based nature of its work.
UX Design
Laying the Foundation for a New Frontier in Scientific Inquiry
The Dana Foundation’s strategic plan champions the spirit of open inquiry, collaborative research, and multidisciplinary approaches to make neuroscience respond to and reflect the well-being of all people.
To deliver on this, we needed to create a website experience that invites scientific experts, potential grantees, students, the media, and others to engage with the Foundation’s new mission while mobilizing knowledge resources that accelerate action at the intersection of neuroscience and society.
Website Design
Creating the New Global Home for Neuroscience & Society
We designed the online brand experience to embody the collaborative optimism in Dana Foundation’s mission. We invited audiences in with a vibrant, colorful, and future-facing aesthetic that connects the work of today with what’s possible tomorrow.
To establish an entirely new field of multidisciplinary science, both expert and lay audiences need education on both its purpose and potential. From elementary school students to social scientists, we designed the website so that everyone could engage with this new way of thinking about neuroscience. We introduced the ideas behind Neuroscience & Society through impact stories and a glossary of terms, connecting them to broader society and activities that advance the field.
Timeline
Celebrating 75 Years of Impact
In 2025, Dana Foundation celebrated its 75th anniversary. To celebrate this historic achievement, we helped the Dana team develop an engaging timeline that brought their expansive history and impact to life.
Working closely with the Dana team, we designed a user experience that sets the stage for each decade of impact, elevates the Foundation’s most important milestones, and reinforces its Trust & Credibility (a key brand theme from our discovery work together). Combined, the 75th anniversary timeline celebrates three-quarters of a century of the Foundation’s unwavering commitment to healthcare and education for all people.
Resource Center
Mobilizing Knowledge Through an Expansive Digital Resource Center
Mobilizing knowledge—from grade school classrooms to boardrooms—is central to Dana Foundation’s work. To activate the Foundation’s mission, champion neuroscience exploration, and make participation more diverse and intergenerational, we developed an expansive digital resource center.
