Acumen Fund is a non-profit with a difference. Their approach to alleviating world poverty issues is to create and invest in small to medium size local businesses who work within specific areas of aid, adding both knowledge and capital to ensure their success and sustainability. The four areas of concentration are water, health, housing and energy. By investing and building scalable businesses they are making a very visible difference in the lives of millions of people in East Africa, India and Pakistan.

Following on from their brand standards which I had created concurrently, I designed this brochure (while working with MSDS) for use in attracting further investors and explaining their goals. It was designed to stand out from the usual non-profit styles, utilising eye-catching colour fields and a bold graphic style to draw the viewer through the piece and underscore Acumen Fund’s message. With those in place, strong photography, chosen to match each areas chosen colour, emphasised the copy on each spread. As with all Acumen Fund pieces, this brochure was printed CMYK on uncoated recycled stock, using soy-based inks.

The typography was styled to ensure the message was allowed to easily shine through, the various weights and styles of Avenir Next working well to carry the viewers eye around each spread and ensure no part of the message was missed. Contemporary touches were mixed with a classic grid and layout to capture the essence of this organisation—a venture capital fund with a hugely important and successful philantropic mission.

This piece was also recently recognised with an American Graphic Design Award in the Print Design category, as well as being included in both The Big Book of Green Design and the prestigious Designing for the Greater Good.