While incidents of hate have sadly grown nationwide in recent years, Illinois and its Governor JB Pritzker have led the way in facing this challenge with a new statewide service that allows people who experience acts of hate to be heard and receive support. Partnering with a multi-disciplinary creative team – including design studio Span – they launched “Help Stop Hate” with designs and a statewide campaign that not only offers a call to action, but an invitation to care.
Originally called “Illinois v. Hate”, “Help Stop Hate” was developed by the Illinois Department of Human Rights (IDHR) and the Illinois Commission on Discrimination and Hate Crimes (CDHC), who had received Department of Justice (DOJ) funding to create a statewide hate crime and bias incident reporting and support service and helpline, fully separate from law enforcement. Brought in by lead service design studio, Institute for Healthcare Delivery Design (IHDD), Span was tasked with rethinking the name and brand identity to center care, trust and action as well as to develop the overall campaign – including OOH and audio ads.
Building the identity, campaign and the service itself began with a rigorous research and strategy process, involving Span and a team of project collaborators, focused on both short-term impact and long-term systems design. Together, they visited communities across Illinois, hearing harrowing stories of hate incidents and the lack of meaningful response. These stories not only shaped the priorities for the helpline service, reporting form, data strategy, and outreach approach, but the design process and deliverables.
This research sparked the decision to adopt the name “Help Stop Hate” instead of “Illinois v. Hate”. “The previous name felt combative and adversarial while centering the perpetrator and the system, not the survivor or the support,” explains Span Associate Partner and Design Director Nick Adam. “It also positioned Illinois as the actor, which felt alienating or untrustworthy to people who’d been harmed by institutional systems, including government or law enforcement.”
Guided by the same insights, Span also worked closely with IHDD and the state to establish a language framework that defined “hate” while remaining inclusive, trauma-informed and precise. While many people experience hate, it is sometimes in ways that fall short of being prosecutable crimes but still leave deep emotional, psychological and communal wounds. “Designing for that nuance was one of the campaign’s biggest challenges,” continues Adam. “We needed to offer validation and support without promising outcomes that weren’t possible. Despite the cultural climate, our messaging also needed to let it be known that hate is wrong. Our solution was to lead with empathy, not complexity. The core message became simple, clear and humane: You can report. You will be heard. You will receive support. You are not alone.”
That same thoughtful ethos carries through to the visual identity. The design is rooted in motion – always leaning forward, always shifting toward care. In the logotype, “HELP” italicizes into the future, while “STOP” slants backward, signaling resistance. The word “HATE” remains still – clear, blunt, unignorable. Together, the words become a dynamic system that names the problem, confronts it, and points toward change.
This is supported by a modular system inspired by the idea of building blocks, reflecting a campaign made by and for the people – piece by piece, community by community. Across the designs, rigid diagonals in the layout convey civic strength and “straight talk.” The warm color palette and grounded imagery reflect the welcoming tone and compassion of Illinois communities – both the rhythm of cities like Chicago and the quiet resolve of its rural towns.
To further strengthen accessibility, the campaign was built to work across seven most spoken languages in Illinois: English, Spanish, Tagalog, Polish, Arabic, Mandarin, and Hindi. Span partnered closely with translators to ensure accuracy and intent in not only multi-lingual print materials but in audio ads broadcast across the state.
Officially launched in October 2024 at a statewide press conference with Governor JB Pritzker, “Help Stop Hate” made an immediate impact. Within a week of the launch, the helpline received five times the number of reports it had collected during its entire six-month pilot.
“This project marked several firsts: the first time a governor held a press conference to launch a brand that we designed, and the first time Span was formally invited by the state to join public officials at the announcement,” says Adam. “It was a rare moment of civic design leadership – one that underscored what design can do when it’s truly in service of the public good. Ultimately, Help Stop Hate affirmed what we’ve always believed: the most impactful design is crafted to be beautiful, smart, accountable, trusted and shared.”
