Elevating Stories of Civil Servants Through Digital Design

At Citizen Codex, we believe every website is more than just a digital presence—it’s an experience, a story, and a strategy brought to life. Humans of Public Service (“HOPS”) celebrates and elevates the stories of civil servants. Leveraging our shared commitment to impactful storytelling, Citizen Codex partnered with HOPS to advance their mission of highlighting and uplifting the narratives of public servants, particularly those from marginalized communities.

‍

‍Services Provided

• Brand Strategy

• Web Design

• UX Strategy

‍

The Challenge

HOPS approached Citizen Codex to create a new website that reflected their evolving brand and growing community. Having outgrown their existing social media channels, they needed a centralized digital platform to:

• Amplify the stories of featured civil servants.

• Introduce new content types such as videos, events, and resources.

• Support long-term organizational growth with contributions from a network of dedicated volunteers managing web content asynchronously.

With a brand refresh already underway, HOPS’s challenge was to seamlessly integrate their new visual identity into a functional, scalable digital space.

Our Strategy

Citizen Codex developed a tailored approach to meet HOPS’s specific needs. Recognizing the ongoing evolution of their brand, we embedded ourselves within their workflow—participating in Slack channels, weekly meetings, and open design sessions. This deep integration allowed us to collaborate in real-time, testing and refining brand motifs as they evolved. Our activities influenced HOPS’s broader visual identity beyond the website, aligning every design element with its mission.

‍

‍

Designing for Impact

Our design emphasized functionality while retaining HOPS’s human-centered mission focus. Every decision prioritized usability for both HOPS’s internal team and its audience.  

We prioritized two key elements to ensure the website met HOPS’s goals:

• ‍Showcasing Stories: The new website prominently features nominee stories, using large, colorful visuals to highlight real people and their narratives. This approach ensures that the human stories at the heart of HOPS’s mission remain front and center. ‍
• Scalability and Usability: To support HOPS’s future growth, we developed a component-based design system and web library. These tools simplify content creation and enable the team to manage the site efficiently over time.

‍

The Results

The result was a dynamic first phase of the HOPS website—a visually stunning and strategically robust platform designed for growth. Citizen Codex is proud to support HOPS in their mission to celebrate and amplify the voices of public servants. Together, we’ve laid the foundation for a brighter, more inclusive digital future.

‍

‍

“This is a new beginning for HOPS, and I couldn’t imagine a better team to have worked with to bring this vision to life.”

- Brian Whittaker, HOPS Founder

‍