Local News Lab

Local News Lab is a nonprofit resource dedicated to preserving, empowering, and energizing local journalism. The site provides aspiring local journalists everywhere with the tools, knowledge and resources to help them succeed and adapt to the rapidly changing world of digital news and publishing. Along with team's Creative Director, I helped rethink their information architecture, concepted and executed a brand identity, including illustrations and the creative use of stock illustrations.

This work was done at Cast Iron Coding, a web development and design agency.

The project started with a brand identity study done in collaboration with LNL.

A big component of this project was the need for illustration to convey a sense of personality and inclusivity - but without the budget or time to hire an illustrator. I ran a search of illustrators on small stock photography sites, like OFFSET, to create a palette of usable imagery.

These images were then used across the site, including their Guide section.

I developed a series of icon compositions to pair with their navigation system for easier and more memorable wayfinding.