The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee

The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, known as JDC, works in 70 countries on issues related to hunger, disaster relief, and the creation of lasting connections to Jewish life. Herter Design Group worked with their development staff on a donor wall for JDC’s new headquarters in New York City that reflects the devotion of their funders to the mission of the organization. Quilts became the starting point, with their visual representation of disparate pieces coming together as one and their traditional association with community, collaboration, and comfort.

Building on the idea of a quilt motif, Herter Design Group’s designers created a series of squares, rectangles, and triangles, each representing a different level of financial support from the donors. A sense of physicality was added by layering pieces of different thicknesses, giving the piece texture and dimensionality. Larsseit, the sans serif font by Swiss type foundry Type Dynamic that is part of JDC’s existing design standards, puts the emphasis on the names of the donors and the design of the wall itself. Finally, all the pieces are easily movable, allowing JDC to change the layout of their donor wall whenever they wish.

Client:  JDC