The Gender Handbook

While working as a senior designer at Ultravirgo, I was in charge of the concept and visual development of the all-new second edition of the Gender Handbook for Humanitarian Action for UN Women.

With a reported 128 million people in need of humanitarian assistance, this handbook helps field workers across a variety of sectors to mainstream gender equality. The project is the culmination of 3 years of collaborative work, including field testing a trial version of the handbook in Afghanistan and Ethiopia to gather crucial feedback on its efficiency and use. We focused on the need for the book to be user-friendly, with clear divisions and content hierarchy to help users find the information needed in a given situation quickly and efficiently. To keep printing costs low, it was designed to primarily utilize two-color printing, with each of the three sections getting its’ own feature color. It also features industry-standard icons and personal, humanizing photography. It is published in four languages — English, Spanish, French, and Arabic. The response has been overwhelmingly positive with documented improvements in many environments. For example, in Gambella, Ethiopia, participants have improved privacy and dignity for refugees and are asking more in-depth questions about gender norms and relationships.

Designed under the creative direction of Patrick Durgin-Bruce.
Layed out after the first field test by Marina Csomor.