American Justice Project
The American Justice Project is committed to transforming the criminal justice system by centering on the voices of those directly impacted. While their mission focuses on telling the stories of the people they serve, they brought me on to tell their own — crafting a clear, compelling narrative that reflects their purpose, values, and impact.
Services Provided:
Solutions:
Content Blocks
Page Building with Tags
Storytelling with Simple Animations
Advanced Blog Filtering
Your Very Own Page Builder
To help AJP build a more connected narrative across their site, I implemented a simple yet powerful tagging system for page building. This allows their team to easily control which content sections appear on each page—making it effortless to tailor information, highlight connections, and keep the site experience both dynamic and relevant, all without needing to write any code.
Bite-Sized Content
To make complex information more digestible, I broke key elements down into bite-sized, easy-to-understand segments. Just as a picture is worth a thousand words, thoughtfully designed icons serve as visual cues to instantly communicate ideas. A subtle hover effect reveals concise, additional context without overwhelming the user, and turns static visuals into an engaging experience.
Animations to Explain Complex Systems
The criminal justice system is a complex topic. Once someone is pulled in, obstacles begin to stack up: excessive bail, family separation, job loss. One burden leads to another, creating what AJP calls the "chokehold" — a system designed to keep people trapped.
To bring this to life online, we used animation as a storytelling tool. As you scroll down through a real case study, each chokehold method comes into view, mirroring how these barriers accumulate over time, one after the other.
Animations aren’t just decorative elements on a website—they can serve as powerful storytelling tools, guiding users through complex ideas and reinforcing key messages in a more engaging, intuitive way.
Advanced Blog Filtering
I've developed a Javascript-based filter for NationBuilder blog posts. New filter categories can be added with a quick tag. This can also be adapted for events, basic pages, and any other NationBuilder page-type.
Working with Alison Shuman to build the American Justice Project website was an exceptionally productive and rewarding partnership. Blending technical expertise with creative insight, Alison brought our NationBuilder site to life in ways that far surpassed expectations. She transformed our functional and design requirements into a sleek, intuitive website that is both visually compelling and closely aligned with our mission. Not only did she fully customize the platform to our specific needs, she also ensured that our team could update and manage it moving forward. Alison is also a talented graphic designer who created AJP’s distinctive logo, capturing the spirit and boldness of our justice campaign. We’re deeply appreciative of her contributions, and recommend her enthusiastically to any organization seeking a thoughtful, skilled, and collaborative web partner.
Peter Little · Co-founder · American Justice Project