Is it possible to make financial jargon accessible?

The world of finance can be overwhelming, filled with perplexing terms like financial instruments, securities, and secondary markets. There’s an inherent challenge in communicating financial justice in a way that everyone can understand, not just experts in finance. Calvert Impact released a report highlighting their efforts in supporting small businesses during the pandemic. The report's complexity posed a challenge for those without specialized knowledge.

Using visuals and stories, we created a report that engaged a broad audience

Krystal Langholz, the author of the report, had done an incredible job of turning the complex financial language into more accessible terms. But there's only so much words can do. We needed to take it a step further to make the report engaging and evocative. Over several months, Krystal and I collaborated to bring the content to life. We turned tables into visual charts, transformed data into infographics, and incorporated stories and quotes to humanize the impact of the work.

Our intention was to make the resulting report design feel friendly and inviting, with engaging visual content that encourages viewers to scan and explore. We made the report approachable and humanized the impact of the work. By creating a visually appealing document, we were able to help Calvert Impact reach a broad audience and raise awareness for the importance of economic and financial justice. I'm proud of the work we did together. It's a great example of how collaboration and creativity can be used to tackle complex issues and make an impact.

View the Full Report
Want to see before and after? Here's the raw content and how we transformed it into a visual report.

“Kate has a gift for helping create visuals which break down complicated subject matter in innovative and comprehensible ways. Her genuine warmth transfers to her visual storytelling, inviting readers into the content."

– Krystal Langholz, Director of Strategy, Calvert Impact