Youth Represent
A Bold, Youth-Centered Website Built to Advance Justice
Youth Represent is a New York City nonprofit that provides comprehensive legal services to young people affected by the criminal legal system. Through direct representation, policy advocacy and organizing, strategic litigation, and community partnerships, the organization works to remove barriers and create lasting opportunities for young people.
Youth Represent’s previous website home page was sparse and did not fully convey the breadth, energy, or urgency of the organization’s work. Design TLC partnered with Youth Represent to create a more dynamic, accessible, and mission-driven website—one that centers young people, communicates the organization’s impact, and encourages visitors to seek help, get involved, or support its work.
Objective
Youth Represent needed a website that reflected the strength of its mission and the many ways it advances justice—from providing free legal representation to leading policy reform and challenging systemic discrimination.
The existing website did not have much information to encourage engagement. Important information about legal services, advocacy, resources, and ways to give could be difficult to find, especially for visitors who needed help quickly.
Design TLC provided an initial design concept in 2024 as a Pro Bono project, and then the organization came back to work with us for a full website rebuild, moving from Squarespace to WordPress for more control and flexibility.
The redesign focused on several key goals:
- Create a more engaging and visually dynamic online presence
- Bring the website into alignment with Youth Represent’s established brand
- Clearly communicate the full scope of the organization’s work
- Make information easier to navigate and understand
- Provide clear pathways for young people seeking legal support
- Strengthen opportunities for donors, partners, and advocates to take action
- Build a flexible website that the Youth Represent team could maintain and expand
Approach
Design TLC reorganized and redesigned the website around Youth Represent’s primary audiences: young people seeking support, community partners, donors, advocates, and members of the broader public. The new site pairs bold visuals with concise, accessible messaging to help each visitor quickly understand what Youth Represent does—and what they can do next.
A Clearer Content Strategy
The original website was sparse and did not fully communicate the momentum of the organization’s work. We worked to give that content a clearer hierarchy and a more compelling narrative.
- Organized services and initiatives into distinct areas, including Legal Services, Policy Advocacy and Organizing, and Strategic Litigation
- Introduced shorter sections, prominent headings, and focused calls to action
- Created clearer pathways to legal assistance, organizational resources, partnership opportunities, and donation options
- Balanced the needs of visitors seeking immediate help with those looking to understand Youth Represent’s broader impact
- Used direct, action-oriented language that invites visitors to learn, explore, get help, partner, and support
A Bold, Mission-Aligned Design
Youth Represent wanted a website that felt more energetic and engaging while remaining professional, welcoming, and easy to navigate. The redesigned site applies the organization’s visual identity in a more expressive and consistent way.
- Incorporated bold colors, typography, photography, and graphic elements from the organization’s style guide
- Used strong visual contrasts and varied page layouts to create movement and maintain interest
- Elevated photographs and messages that center the voices, dignity, and potential of young people
- Developed reusable design patterns that create consistency across a content-rich website
- Ensured the design remained approachable for young people while reinforcing credibility with donors, partners, and policymakers
Services and Impact at the Forefront
One of the most important goals was to demonstrate that Youth Represent’s work extends far beyond individual legal cases. The new website clearly explains how direct representation, community lawyering, litigation, and policy advocacy work together to create systemic change.
- Created dedicated pathways for each of the organization’s core areas of work
- Used impact statistics to make the organization’s reach and accomplishments immediately understandable
- Highlighted Youth Represent’s interdisciplinary, community-based approach
- Incorporated youth voices to reinforce the organization’s commitment to working with—not simply for—young people
- Connected individual services to the organization’s larger vision for justice, equity, and opportunity
Easier Access to Help and Resources
Because many visitors arrive at the website looking for support, accessibility and ease of use were essential. The new site makes it easier for young people, families, and community organizations to locate services and trusted information.
- Gave legal-support pathways greater visibility throughout the site
- Organized community resources into clearly labeled, expandable categories
- Made extensive resource information easier to scan without overwhelming visitors
- Created distinct pathways for legal help, workshops, publications, and community partnerships
- Used clear calls to action to guide users toward the appropriate next step
Stronger Donor and Community Engagement
The redesigned website gives supporters a fuller picture of how contributions help Youth Represent create both immediate and systemic change. Instead of relying on a single donation link, the site now presents multiple ways for visitors to invest in the organization’s mission.
- Expanded the Ways to Give section to include recurring donations, donor-advised funds, stock gifts, matching gifts, bank transfers, and planned giving
- Connected fundraising language directly to the experiences and opportunities of young people
- Highlighted nonprofit ratings, certifications, and organizational transparency
- Added clear opportunities to subscribe, attend events, explore partnerships, and stay connected
- Kept donation calls to action visible without allowing them to compete with pathways for young people seeking assistance
A Flexible Content Management System
Youth Represent needed more than a visual refresh. The new website also had to make ongoing content management easier for staff as the organization continues to grow.
- Created structured content areas for staff, publications, news, events, and organizational resources
- Developed repeatable layouts that help new content remain visually consistent
- Made it easier to add and update downloadable publications and resource materials
- Organized staff and leadership information so profiles can be maintained efficiently
- Built the site to support future campaigns, programs, partnerships, and organizational milestones
Outcome
The completed website gives Youth Represent a stronger digital platform for communicating the urgency, scope, and impact of its work. The experience is more visual and engaging while remaining clear, accessible, and grounded in the needs of the young people the organization serves.
Visitors can now quickly understand Youth Represent’s integrated approach to justice, find legal help and community resources, explore opportunities to partner, and see how financial support creates meaningful change.
The new website:
- Presents Youth Represent as the bold, youth-driven organization it is
- Clearly distinguishes its legal services, policy advocacy, organizing, and strategic litigation
- Makes critical support and resource information easier to locate
- Demonstrates impact through statistics, stories, and youth perspectives
- Provides donors with more ways to understand and support the mission
- Creates clearer opportunities for community organizations to connect and collaborate
- Gives staff a flexible, sustainable system for managing content
- Provides a strong digital foundation for Youth Represent’s next chapter
The result is a website that does more than describe Youth Represent’s work. It helps advance it—connecting young people with support, bringing partners and donors into the mission, and reinforcing the organization’s belief that a young person’s history should never determine their future.
Before
New Website
