Center for Leadership & Justice
Empowering Community Organizing Through a Bold, Accessible, and Mission-Driven Digital Experience
About the Company
CLJ is a nonprofit organization dedicated to developing leaders who work collectively for social justice in Greater Hartford. Their programs include neighborhood organizing, faith-based initiatives, youth development, and affordable housing projects.
Challenge
“Our mission is powerful, but our website doesn’t reflect it.”
- Outdated website with fragmented information.
- Lack of clear navigation and hierarchy.
- Difficult for users to find programs, events, and resources.
- Limited engagement and low conversion rates for donations and volunteer sign-ups.
Business Risk: Potential supporters and community members were unable to fully understand or engage with CLJ’s mission and programs due to the website’s limitations.
Approach
Goals:
- Redesign the website to clearly communicate CLJ’s mission and programs.
- Develop an intuitive navigation system for diverse user groups.
- Create a responsive, accessible, and engaging user experience.
- Implement a content strategy that highlights CLJ’s impact and encourages user action.
Creative Direction:
- Clean, modern design with bold typography and impactful imagery.
- Use of CLJ’s color palette to maintain brand consistency.
- Integration of storytelling elements to showcase community impact.
- Clear calls-to-action to drive donations, volunteer sign-ups, and event participation.
Results
- Increased engagement time and pageviews
- 2x increase in newsletter signups in first month
- Easier navigation
- A renewed sense of trust and professionalism that reflects CLJ’s mission
Wireframes
Based on the user flows, we constructed high fidelity wireframes to lessen the difficulty of accessing relevant information immediately.
What changed?
Everything that matters
Easier to Navigate
We restructured site navigation to make key programs and actions more discoverable.
- Streamlined top nav with clear program areas;
- Direct access to Donate, Newsroom, and key campaigns;
- Grouped by community impact themes, not internal structure.
Human-Centered Visual Hierarchy
We designed the site to reflect how real people read, explore, and act.
- Clear content is powerful content: we introduced a layout and visual system that guides the reader naturally, prioritizing clarity over decoration.
- Each section is designed to flow with intent: bold headers draw attention, concise intros offer context, and supportive images build emotional connection.
Putting CLJ’s purpose where it belongs —
front and center
Subtle design elements enhancing user confidence and interaction.
We added subtle but intentional micro-interactions across the site — hover states, focus cues, soft transitions, and user-friendly feedback. These small signals build confidence, especially for users who may not feel tech-savvy.
Visuals
