UNICEF tackles complex socio-economic issues that children face globally. Their new initiative partners with large corporations to donate their data, which is then analyzed by research scientists, uncovering patterns that can inform policies to improve children’s lives globally. UNICEF’s challenge was to communicate the initiative’s mission in order to get private companies, data science researchers and the public behind the brand. Since big data held by companies is often seen as a complex maze of information, we were inspired by children’s games to create ‘Marble’ - a simple and approachable identity, custom type and data visualization system that allows big data to do even bigger things.

Our custom typeface is made up of three sets of glyphs for every character, each one of them varying in complexity, representing the many ways in which Marble can create pathways in the maze of big data to solve socio-economic issues that children face. The type creates the maze background through which colorful marbles navigate, portraying the journey of the many collaborators Marble brings together to solve complex issues in a simple, approachable way.