A formula for success: Research + Design + Passion = Impact

“I stop cold in my tracks. It has been a long time since I have thought deeply about how I am the exception, not the rule. I toggle back to the report to watch the story being told.”

—Erica Rois, O’Reilly.com

The Challenge

Critical information is inaccessible to the masses. Latinos’ access to postsecondary education is a topic critical to the success of millions in the United States. Most people don’t understand the challenges Latinos’ face, the opportunities available to them, or the impact it has on the United States, both now and for the future.

Sponsored by the Lumina Foundation for Education, University of Texas at San Antonio Professor Dr. Raymond Padilla’s “What is Known About Latina/o Student Access and Success in Postsecondary Education” assembled and tagged decades of research with regard to college access and the Latino population.

The Solution

Eloquent research, presented elegantly. The Lumina Foundation believes that making this research accessible to a larger audience can help drive efforts to reduce or eliminate Latinos’ educational attainment gap and systematically promote their success in postsecondary education. Their passion in that belief led them to task Brainstorm with presenting a creative medium to communicate the information.

Initial discussions revolved around redesign and presentation, but after meeting Dr. Padilla and learning more about the research, Brainstorm proposed an interactive solution. The site, entitled Camino de la Universidad (The Road to College) is a Flash-based, rich media site that presents the research and findings in a memorable and easy to understand format. Design, photography, music, voice, and text set the conceptual tone. Additional resources were created to allow deeper levels of self-discovery into the research.

The Results

Early results are positive. With the official launch set for later this fall, the site is currently being used in presentations to policy makers and Latino community leaders around the country. It’s also being introduced to select groups via email announcements.

O’Reilly.com, Women in Technology:

“…What sets me apart is that I have learned to harness the power of my difference.

Case in point: just days before being invited to write this article, I receive an email from the UC Davis Chicana/o Studies alumni list to which I subscribe. It contains a link to the Lumina Foundation’s interactive report on Latino’s educational attainment entitled Camino de la Universidad (The Road to College). I click on it only because there is a promise of it being interactive.

I am happily met with a fast-loading Flash page full of rich images, beautiful sounds, and intuitive navigation. As I check out their source code, the narrated report continues to play in a different browser window. I listen to the stats, For every 100 Latino elementary school students, 48 drop out of high school and 52 graduate from high school. Of those 52 that graduate, only 10 earn a Bachelor’s degree and only 4 go on to earn a graduate degree.

I stop cold in my tracks. It has been a long time since I have thought deeply about how I am the exception, not the rule. I toggle back to the report to watch the story being told.”

—Erica Rois, O’Reilly.com

Main Street Project

“This is really an amazing report on so many levels. The multiple literacies, the visuals, the presentation, the amazing coding that must have gone into creating this. I am really impressed and feel like there are so many uses for this format—especially in communities…I have never seen a report so well presented!”

—Amalia Anderson, Main Street Project

Making a Difference

This project is an example of how a variety of individuals with seemingly unrelated skill sets (research, philanthropy, marketing and design) can come together to create an elegant, informed, and passionate message with impact for the greater social good.

Visit the Camino de la Universidad site here.