When creative design helps ignite policy innovation

Open Loop, our global program aimed at bridging the gap between tech and policy innovation through experimental governance, was born to break silos, gather different perspectives, and combine multiple disciplines in order to recommend new pathways for the regulation of emerging technologies. An intrinsic part of Open Loop’s mission is to render the world of tech policy accessible, understandable and - why not - exciting.

As a program focused on collaboration and co-creation of new governance frameworks, it was key to communicate what this initiative is about in a clear and enticing way. The goal was not only to inform and explain the program’s objectives and methodologies, but also to motivate and inspire stakeholders from different backgrounds, geographies and cultures to join this conversation and add their own ideas.

The challenge ahead of us was to create an entire narrative and identity for the Open Loop program: a narrative that could breakdown complex terms and processes like AI governance and policy experimentation; and an identity that could attract and engage a community of like-minded actors, providing them with a platform through which to co-create and test new ways to govern the technologies of the future.

Storyboard for Open Loop animation explainer chapter 2

This post gives you an exclusive “behind the scenes tour” into how Open Loop and the creative agency Frankly leveraged creative design to explain and communicate complex policy terms and process in a user-friendly and compelling artistic way, and how we worked together to create an entire universe of logos, symbols, visuals, characters and animations that combined is Open Loop’s visual identity, bringing the program to life.

In this tour, which will be led by Open Loop and Frankly’s team members involved in the project, you’ll hear from each of them and get their take on the creative process that led to Open Loop’s visual narrative and identity.

Norberto de Andrade

Founder of Open Loop,
and AI Policy Director at Meta

It became clear that we needed a more holistic and accessible way to communicate what we were trying to do: establish a program and methodology to co-create and experiment with alternative and existing governance frameworks and, in that way, empirically inform the regulatory debate around new technologies. (What?!! Wait...Can you say that again??!)    

We needed to explain and translate those complex written ideas into visualizations and animations that would allow both expert and especially non-expert audiences to “get it”. When we started working with Frankly in 2020, this was the challenge ahead of us.

The process was profoundly collaborative and interactive: we started by explaining at length what we were doing, and together we iterated on different visualizations, designs, narrative scripts and storyboards of what that meant and could look like in a visual, design-led format. We went back and forth until we found the right identity framing, narrative and visual assets.

This was a type of work that I had never done before: materializing abstract policy ideas and concepts into images and animations.

Storyboard for Open Loop animation explainer chapter 1

The work with Frankly was unbounded and inherently creative. It was exciting, and deeply rewarding, to see how my initial written ideas about regulation, technology, innovation, policy experimentation and their intricate web of connections and interactions became - through creative design - an animated universe of visual characters and storylines. It felt like my initial scribblings were now featured in a movie and comic book: regulation was suddenly playing chess with AI, or jumping on a wedding cake with technology; the experimental process of policy prototyping was represented by altering the order of the letters composing the word policy; academia, civil society, governments and tech businesses now had their own visual personae; and Open Loop emerged as the title of this Universe, conveying the ideas of collaboration (Open) and iteration (Loop) that are at the heart of this program.

Klavs Valskov

Partner at Frankly

With Frankly, Open Loop’s creative agency, we designed the entire universe of Open Loop from the ground up, which is a pretty unique scenario when you think of the typical relationship between client and agency. What unfolded in the process of defining the brand over 7 months - was over 800 hours from Frankly and the cross-functional work of close to 100 people inside of Meta (Facebook at the time). 

Visual assets representing the 4 main pages of the Open Loop website

The process was almost completely autonomous from the very beginning, which had initially surprised us. As an agency, typically when we work with clients, there are some preconceived ideas, thoughts, or guidelines that we need to either consider, follow or work from. There is usually a "starting point". Here, there was none. So we were actually creating everything in tandem with the Open Loop team in a truly incredible partnership - from the name, to the visual identity, to the website, and the illustration style.

By giving us a blank slate to work with, we were able to imagine the program to life, piece by piece, before all of our eyes. In my opinion, this freedom to create is what made the Open Loop branding & design process so successful. We all believed in it, every step of the way, from the very beginning.

Brittany Williams

Head of Strategy at Frankly

Different Open Loop logos that were explored during the visual identity development phase

The logo is the foundation of the identity and the graphic universe surrounding it. It draws on the design legacy and playfulness of design greats like Alan Fletcher, Pentagram and Saul Bass – turning the unusual contrast between policy making and colorful design into a clever collaboration.The copywriting took a lot of cues from the design – turning often dry technical policy language into something simple, understandable and engaging.

Open Loop is a unique piece of communication. The core purpose is supported and elevated by the design and copywriting. The result is engaging, uplifting and communicating. It shows that all projects can be “the perfect project” and the magic is a result of creative courage.

Kenneth Gad

Director of Project Management at Frankly

Creating a program strategy, especially from scratch, is no easy feat. Any creative idea requires a leap of faith. It requires having courage; both in the people who are doing the creating, but also in yourself, where you believe and stand by the choices you make.

Visual assets representing the different types of Open Loop partners and participants

In the agency life, we're no stranger to great ideas sometimes getting watered down due to internal pressures, politics, or just for the comfort of playing things safe. This often results in still a wonderful end product, but maybe doesn't create the biggest waves in the end. The great deal of courage and trust shown by the Open Loop team was a strong factor of the success of the project – allowing our team at Frankly to fulfill our creative vision and ultimately land on a fantastic end product that gets people talking and piques curiosity.

We're so proud of the outcome and that essentially every discipline within Frankly has worked on it - from designers, to developers, to illustrators/graphic artists. As the program continues to grow to reach more regions, we look forward to being the creative sparring partner for Open Loop, where we can continue to push each other and keep building on the creativity that has brought Open Loop to life.

The outcome is a rich and dynamic Open Loop universe of icons, visual assets and short animations, breaking down and representing complex ideas.

 What’s next for
Frankly & Open Loop?

We now have an identity, a go-to-website packed with animations and infographics, a number of policy recommendations, and a method to test governance frameworks published under creative commons that everyone can use and develop further. We now go on to further fill the space of opportunities that Open Loop has created:  work closely with lawmakers and inform regulatory frameworks based on input from technologists, academics and civil society. 

We believe that public policy initiatives, especially the ones invested in collaborative, interactive and inclusive efforts, should be accompanied by creative design and new communication channels. As the Open Loop example demonstrated, creative design can be an invaluable partner in explaining public policy, and rendering it participatory, engaging and fun.