Giving CDC's data modernization a name and a shape

The situation. CDC's Public Health Data Strategy brought together complicated technical priorities intended to improve how public health data is collected, shared, and used. But technical strategy alone doesn't make those priorities understandable to the people expected to support them. The communications challenge was to give the work a recognizable identity and help staff and partners see how the pieces fit together.

What I did. I led brand strategy, naming architecture, and visual identity development for the Public Health Data Strategy. The approach organized the work around four core public health missions, creating a visual and messaging framework that connected technical modernization priorities to the actual work of public health. Rather than simply presenting a collection of technical initiatives, the framework gave audiences a way to understand what modernization was meant to accomplish.

Result. The brand and communications framework launched and appeared in CDC's published Public Health Data Strategy materials.