Bonobo Network
Bonobo Network is a community rooted in real-world and virtual events where people learn together – and from one another – about sexuality, pleasure, and relationships. In 2021, I built their website in Squarespace, including working with Bonobo founders to refine their brand. I gave the site a unique look and feel by giving all photos a consistent illustrative treatment. The site design includes a pop-up to help people sign up for the group, a footer that leads to a blog, and hand drawn illustrations. I also created shirt designs for Bonobo Network in 2022.
Intro Video
The website starts with a lightly animated intro featuring Bonobo’s core principles, including clear consent, everyone contributes, and more. These principles are important to the culture of Bonobo, and the images feature happy Bonobo members.
Initial brand questions
I started my work with Bonobo Network by getting a complete sense of who they are and how they want to be seen in the world. This included brand personality questions, samples of which are below, and establishing the brand’s colors.
Photo Treatments
The Bonobo team wanted a consistent photo treatment across their site. The desaturation of the photos and addition of swirling patterns create a sense of magic and helped more members feel comfortable consenting to have their likeness on the website. Bonobo’s signature blue color is prominent in the treatment, so all photos are immediately seen as part of the brand.
Portraits of the founders in a similar treatment
Pop-up screen
I designed this screen to appear when first-time visitors come to the site. It gives them the opportunity to sign up for the Bonobo Network newsletter email list, which is one of the main actions the founders wanted visitors to take.
Footer
The footer of every page also prompts users to sign up for email newsletters, while also offering the most recent blog posts. The phrase “let’s stay in touch” with the cuddling image is a cute but subtle nod to the sex-positive nature of the organization.
Working with stock photos
For some parts of the site, I needed to work with stock photos, but make their look and feel blend perfectly with the organization’s member photos. For example in this page that lists Bonobo’s values, I used all stock photos of hands, which allowed me to play with a similar treatment as the other shots. The graphic backgrounds give each set of hands an extra pop.
Apparel design
Because the Bonobo founders were so pleased with my website design, they hired me back to design their T-shirts. Here are some examples of what I created. The shirts are a nod to Bonobo’s playfulness, consent policy, ethical non monogamy, and values.
