Give Rescue (The Exodus Road)
Human trafficking rescue involves a full cast of characters: the investigator, the social worker, the survivor, and the donor. When casting the vision for The Exodus Road’s EOY fundraising campaign, my team chose to highlight these unique perspectives, making their stories the heartbeat of both messaging and visuals. As design lead on this project, my job was to visually weave these narratives throughout the various touchpoints of the campaign. I used bold typography and vibrant imagery to bring donors to the front lines and encourage them to “Give Rescue” over the holidays.
THE INVESTIGATOR
The first blog was told from the vantage point of one of our investigators. Because of the risks involved with identifying our operatives online, faces were never allowed to be shown. This image, taken by our photography partner Nate Griffin, was one of the few images taken in the field that was approved for publishing. It shows one of our investigators working side-by-side with the country director of our operating zone in Latin America.
THE SURVIVOR
The second part of our series was told from the perspective of a human trafficking survivor. Again, following TER’s creative and operational guidelines, representative photography was used to portray the character involved.
THE SOCIAL WORKER
This portrait represents the social worker highlighted in our blog series. TER employs local social workers to assist operations in various countries. They are often present at raids to comfort survivors and direct them to aftercare resources. This portrait was chosen not only because it portrayed the emotion we were trying to capture, but also because of its vibrant color scheme that aligned with the essence of the holiday season.
THE DONOR
The final blog was told from the perspective of the donor. As the final nurturing piece in the “Give Rescue” series, this story punctuated the narrative by showing the impact of donations and inviting our audience to insert themselves as the hero of the story.
BLOG SERIES: “UNTIL SHE IS FREE”
While our campaign graphics represented the characters involved in rescue, a series of blogs told their stories. We chose one of our most impactful rescue operations in 2018 and told it through a four-part blog series titled, “Until She is Free”. While the series revolved around the same event, each part was told from the perspective of the character being highlighted
Representative imagery was used to portray these characters in alignment with TER’s photography practices and commitment to protecting survivor dignity. These portraits in particular were chosen because of their bold, vibrant tones that gave a subtle nod to the holiday season.
(Pictured here are email banners directing to corresponding blogs.)
Instagram Grid
Themed Instagram grids were all the rage in 2018, thus influencing our decision to map out a structured collage with supporting content for the holiday season. Again, our campaign circulated around the characters involved in rescue, so blocks of content were published to tease and direct to the corresponding blog.
To compliment the hero portraits, we added location context by using country-specific images rendered in black and white. This contrast helped assist the flow of information, and created a unique, editorial feel that helped us stand out in the counter-human trafficking space.
SOCIAL MEDIA BANNERS
The collage used for our social media banners shows all characters coming together to complete the story of rescue. All characters from the series are shown, with additional hints of “rescue” woven between to complete the visual.
LANDING PAGE
While donations were made across various platforms, our landing page was our main hub for fundraising. Having a simple, user-friendly donation module that functioned across viewports was our main priority. We accomplished this by having as few buttons as possible, and using bright, high-contrast CTAs to direct the user. This no doubt contributed to the success of our campaign.