Constitutional Accountability Center is a think tank, law firm, and action center dedicated to fulfilling the progressive promise of the U.S. Constitution. Their brand and website, however, failed to reflect the center’s decade of leadership. Looking to differentiate themselves from Washington DC’s sea of “acronym soup” think tanks and make their website a vital resource for accessing cases, issue briefs, testimony, and analysis, CAC asked Constructive to help reposition their brand and rethink how they engaged audiences.
To establish priorities and inform strategy, we started with interviews, surveys, research, and workshops that defined goals, issue areas, organizational activities, and audiences. A key takeaway was that while CAC was respected among experts, achieving their impact required being more accessible outside of this elite core. So, we made it a top priority to strengthen the advocacy and action side of CAC’s brand to increase their relevance to everyday Americans, while maintaining the academic depth and rigor for which they’re respected.
With their work protecting Constitutional rights needed more than ever, CAC’s team wanted a visual identity to make their organization more contemporary and to differentiate them as a leading progressive voice. After exploring numerous logo concepts, CAC chose a direction that takes a modern view of a traditional American icon, the United States Supreme Court building. The supporting identity design system blends contemporary and classic typography to balance a bold and academic voice for CAC’s brand. And the color palette goes against the grain to differentiate CAC from traditional Beltway think tanks and legal nonprofits.
One of CAC’s key strengths is its mutually reinforcing efforts across three arenas—as a think tank, a public interest law firm, and a legal action center. We created personas for audiences representing multiple audiences for each, then architected CAC’s website to provide the context and clues needed for each to explore their interests. Experience design leads with CAC’s mission, placing issues, litigation, and scholarly work within historic and cultural contexts. And at the page-level, content strategy and information design follow through with layouts and editorial techniques that deliver exceptional long-form reading experiences on any device.
CAC’s website needed to present them as a brand that was more than just a think tank by emphasizing their work as a law firm and legal action center. However, it was critical that we not undermine the organization’s standing as respected scholars and experts. To achieve this balance, visual design strategy balances bold imagery with a clear focus on content. Greyscale legal and social justice imagery sets a strong and serious historic tone and places CAC’s work in the real world without overpowering pages. Complementing this are hits of full-color imagery and interface design elements that add life and elevate calls to action.
It’s difficult to follow the many ins and outs of litigation as it develops over years, especially for the general public. But in landmark cases like CAC’s Blumenthal, et al. v. Trump where the very integrity of the presidency is in question, follow them we should. To help CAC keep people engaged with their work in the courts, we built an accessible, filterable case database; then designed a system of pages and timelines that provide digestible takeaways and a living history tracking each CAC case’s journey through the court system.
To further educate and inspire audiences, CAC’s website includes several American history features, including “The Arc of Constitutional Progress,” an interactive timeline that allows users to travel through the decades with the Constitution as it has evolved from guiding the birth of our nation in the 18th century to its role as a progressive document advancing civil rights reform in the 20th century. CAC’s website also features America’s “Second Founding,” representing the addition of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments as well includes the full text of the Constitution’s original Articles and 27 Amendments,
Constitutional Accountability Center’s website both supports the organization’s work advancing progressive Constitutional values while informing and inspiring audiences about the essential role of the U.S. Constitution in American life.
While CAC’s website is the primary platform for reaching audiences, the organization is an extensive publisher of research reports and issue briefs. And of course, there is always official correspondence and fundraising to tend to. We extended CAC’s design system to these key critical communications channels by designing a suite of print collateral that supports CAC’s daily operations and fundraising activities.
“Most consultants that I’ve worked with in my 10 years delivered very little value for the money, but Constructive is different. They are strategic and also deliver tangible results. They are extremely thoughtful in their process. They’ve helped us project the best of who we are to better engage our audiences and lead on issues. And they added a librarian’s sense of information to their strategic design expertise—which shone through for us because of the volume of complex legal content on our website.”
Doug Pennington, Director of Communications, Constitutional Accountability Center
