HRW: Students Not Products

A study by Human Rights Watch exposing the harm governments and education tech companies are causing children by harvesting their personal data.

Visual Identity, Content Strategy, Campaign Website, Visual Essay

Background

During the COVID-19 Pandemic, students were forced to rely on technology for educational attainment more than ever before. As governments moved to quickly approve the EdTech products for use at scale, child privacy was left unattended. Human Rights Watch set out to research the extent of child privacy violations worldwide and present them to parents, teachers, policymakers, journalists so they can advocate for greater protection.

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The challenge

With incredibly important implications, HRW needed to ensure their research didn’t go unheard. They needed powerful, intuitive design for both the branding and digital experience to help present their evidence effectively.

The opportunity

Their visual identity system – coupled with their microsite – is an opportunity to craft a compelling brand for this report: one that is clear, motivating and approachable for all of their key audiences.

A clear visual identity

With bold colors, playful iconography and powerful data visualization, Students Not Products’ visual identity prioritizes clarity above all, while balancing a light-hearted tone with the urgency the situation demands.

A story built for the web

The Students Not Products microsite is built to tell a powerful story. The information architecture is built to draw audiences in with urgency and emotion. As readers get into the meat of the report, it’s designed to be trustworthy, but not overly technical. It ends with a clear call to action for users to learn, share and act at both a local and national level.

“In terms of the policy work, we've seen both target countries and companies say they will investigate their EdTech after seeing the report, website and campaign. These victories are all of ours. The design played an important role in the storytelling of this very complicated research.”

Amanda Alampi

Acting Director/Deputy Director, Campaigns and Public Engagement, Human Rights Watch

“Hyperakt was an important sounding board for our team. They were great active listeners and asked good follow up questions. It is easy to get lost in groupthink, policywonk speak and internal deliberations. Hyperakt was able to be a strategic partner, guiding us to the right design decisions to help better tell our campaign's story to the public.”

Amanda Alampi

Acting Director/Deputy Director, Campaigns and Public Engagement, Human Rights Watch

“We've gotten a lot of feedback that the website is easy to read and understand. We also have gotten a lot of inbound requests to create similar campaigns for other researchers. That's usually a sign that our campaign hit the mark.”

Amanda Alampi

Acting Director/Deputy Director, Campaigns and Public Engagement, Human Rights Watch

A boldly simple report

The final report was laid out simply, with pops of color and helpful illustration throughout to help guide readers through the information.

“The folks at Hyperakt are quite different. They are a progressive design studio which is an important distinction from just design firms that work with nonprofits. They understand the role design plays in digital advocacy and activism. Their art is resistance. That makes them great collaborators.”

Amanda Alampi

Acting Director/Deputy Director, Campaigns and Public Engagement, Human Rights Watch