Publications design for just—and social causes
2011-2013
Image courtesy of C-Span
The Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office) was created during President William J. Clinton’s administration in 1994 in order to put 150,000 much needed police officers back on the streets of America’s cities.
The COPS Office has also been the central hub of providing annual grants to educational programs and community services as well as community law enforcement programs—you’ve even seen them in your shopping malls as community peacekeepers.
They also provide publications that are rich with statistical information and awareness resources for almost every aspect of crime and its outcome on communities and law enforcement nationwide.
The COPS Office is all about social justice, causes for humanity, and the creation of a balance between our communities and law enforcement.
For three years, I built dozens of publications at the COPS Office to help make the communities in the United States better and safer places to live.
Working shoulder to shoulder with these truly exceptional people was one of the best experiences of my career.
In 2012, the COPS Office Director, Mr. Bernard Melekian—a Presidential appointee, went before the United States Senate in an effort to appropriate funding for law enforcement as the government had officially shut down that year and almost no government agencies were allowed any much needed funding.
You can see close by Director Melekian’s right hand is a copy of “The Impact of the Economic Downturn on American Police Agencies.”
It was a summary report I had designed and produced along with my team (printed only weeks before so the information within it was fresh data).
He used this publication for his verbal references and defense for our cause in his appeal to the U.S. Senate to secure government funding for the COPS Office—and he won!
Read more on this in the Testimonials section on this site.
Not intended to be shown here as pretty samples, these are some of the major social issues that the COPS Office supported, funded, and garnered for social awareness and change. There were many—these are just a few of them.
The work i did for the COPS Office
This publication presented statistical findings and studies as they were presented by leaders from all avenues of law enforcement leadership on the matter of officer safety and wellness spanning from accidental death, suicides, attacks and other violent crimes. These reports were compiled yearly and presented by the COPS Office, Bureau of Justice Assistance and the Major Cities Chiefs Association.
Cover illustration and design progression, from left to right: 1) The original stock photo (ShutterStock, Editorial), 2) Isolation of the “officer statue,” 3) The illustration with the blue background was both a color study and what would be used as the original Group Annual Meeting (shown at right), and 4) as the final art for “Officer Wellness and Safety.”
Designing the covers for COPS Office publications was always a challenge. It was the only element of the publications where we could use four-color process printing (the interior pages could only be printed in no more than two colors—which really pushed our design muscles).
We used this to our advantage by painting a canvas for the cover that was contemporary, relevant to its content, but was also designed with the COPS Office brand in mind.
“Not In Our Town: Light in the Darkness” was a PBS film documentary focusing on how communities and law enforcement effectively worked together to put down hate crimes toward immigrants and were sponsors of this guide. The COPS Office, an agency of the U.S. Department of Justice, issued numerous publications on the effectiveness of community policing such as these.
The companion piece to the “Not In Our Town: Light in the Darkness” publication, this was a pocket guide for law enforcement personnel to utilize best practice methods when serving communities throughout the United States. It was produced cooperatively by the COPS Office, NIOT, and the Public Broadcasting Service. Presented here are front and back covers and an interior spread.
Our brand recognition efforts paid off
We received high praise from the academic community as well as other justice peer groups and foundations for raising the level COPS Office brand identity. In fact, we were sought after by other agencies of the U.S. Department of Justice, FEMA, and Homeland Security to create their publications as well.
The entire creative team receives the All Star Award from the COPS Office Director, Mr. Bernard Melekian. This was in recognition for the outstanding work we did for both the United States Department of Justice as well as the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services.
See the pdf of the COPS Office brand identity refresh I designed and managed with our creative team to merit this award.
