Honorable Mention: Communication Design

Because EJI is rooted in law, their original system felt very legal in nature. EJI needed a design that could be more accessible for all in order to allow their content to become more understandable and shareable, therefore spreading their important message further throughout the nation. It also needed to be simple and straightforward in order to be easily utilized by their legal team.

Challenge: Founded in 1989 by Bryan Stevenson, the Equal Justice Initiative is a nonprofit organization committed to ending mass incarceration and excessive punishment in the United States, to challenging racial and economic injustice, and to protecting basic human rights for the most vulnerable people in American society. Because of cultural relevance, and with the reach and influence of EJI growing, there was an urgent need for their initiatives to visibly tie back to their organization. EJI’s existing visual identity belied the gravitas of their work through a lack of focus and clarity along with an inconsistent visual presentation.

Solution: We wanted to design an identity that both lived up to the weight of their content, and was neutral enough to play second fiddle to it. A restrained color palette of black and warm gray with accents of red was intentionally selected for visual impact, and to infuse a sense of warmth and hope. Clear, unignorable typography is also part of the foundation. At the heart of the identity is a symbol that implores us to break the cycle of injustice. Inspired by the name Equal Justice Initiative, two equal letter Js form a broken chain, which not only encapsulates a larger purpose, but also became the symbol for the new Legacy Museum. The bold simplicity of the broken chain led to a series of illustrations that aim to illuminate EJI’s key themes and ideas with immediacy.