BRANDING RFP ISSUED BY MERCY CORPS
Mercy Corps is a global team of humanitarians working together on the front lines of today’s biggest crises to create a future of possibility, where everyone can prosper. Our mission: to alleviate suffering, poverty and oppression by helping people build secure, productive and just communities. In more than 40 countries around the world, our nearly 6,000 team members work side by side with people living through poverty, disaster, violent conflict and the acute impacts of climate change. Our internal brand team has developed an evolved visual approach – aligned with the values of our organization – to distinguish our communications and connect with potential and existing supporters. However, our team does not have the bandwidth or technical expertise to develop supplemental visual elements, such as illustration style and iconography (historically called pictograms), that will extend our ability to visually reflect the important programmatic work Mercy Corps does around the world. Mercy Corps is committed to principles of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and to supporting underrepresented communities, including BIPOC, diaspora, indigenous, LGBTQ+. Our Brand Team welcomes and encourages qualified, like-minded individuals and organizations to respond.
Mercy Corps is seeking a collaborative partner to develop a brand-aligned illustration and
iconography system that takes into account cultural relevance and diversity.
In issuing this RFP, Mercy Corps is seeking to:
● Develop guidance for when and why illustration may be used in branded
communication
● Identify and implement a flexible or modular illustration system to use across branded
communication that takes into account cultural and human relevance and diversity
● Develop a modern iconography system that can be implemented by various users with
varying skill levels across platforms (Adobe, Sketch, Canva, MS365)
● Establish foundational elements of each suite (illustration and iconography) in order to
independently grow as necessary into the future
Scope Of Work
DELIVERABLES
● Core element library of a flexible or modular illustration approach that can be
manipulated or extended by our internal creative team or vendors.
○ Culturally relevant human forms (heads, bodies, proportions, gender, age,
ability, etc).
○ Programmatic objects (food, agricultural implements, cash, animals, essentials,
educational materials, livelihood objects, dwellings, etc).
○ Background styles and textures.
○ Relevant and related assets in .ai or .psd format as necessary
● Documentation of illustration approach.
○ Recommendations for using illustration in branded communications
○ Samples of 4 illustration concepts applied to branded communication materials
(Social, adlob, datasheet, email)
○ Technical specs to recreate style as needed
○ As part of this RFP, we recognize illustration can be highly custom depending
on circumstance. Please provide pricing or rate schedule to develop custom
illustrations on an ongoing basis.
● Iconography suite of up to 100 distinct icons.
○ Recommendations to streamline existing suite in conceptual buckets (urgent
needs, livelihoods, dwellings + buildings, environmental risks, people + groups,
abilities, actions, etc).
○ Preference for iconography suite that is effective in both full-color and reverse
applications (vs a set of outlined and a set of filled)
○ Samples applied to 3 branded communications (email, social, datasheet)
○ Output formats (eps, svg, png, jpg) in upto 3 colorways
○ Native, editable formats (non-outlined .ai files)
● Documentation of Iconography system.
○ Technical guidance and documentation of how to extend the system (base grid,
line weights, angles, radius).
○ Sample files or style library as needed
Closing Date
29th Dec
Address
All proposals and submissions to be sent to tenders@mercycorps.org
All questions or request for clarification to be sent to Lkagai@mercycorps.org before the RFP due date.
Relevant agencies to consider include MWWPR and Hunter PR.
