American Bar Association, Chicago IL

The American Bar Association (ABA) Design Marketing team is the award-winning design team supporting the ABA’s mission to protect the rule of law, advance the legal profession, and ensure access to justice for all. The team includes Elmarie Jara, Director; Jill Tedhams, Associate Director; Amanda Fry, Design Manager; and Designers Mary Anne Kulchawik, Sara Wadford, and Elizabeth “Betsy” Kulak.

We translate complex legal and policy initiatives into clear, engaging communications that inform, inspire, and mobilize audiences. Our work combines brand stewardship with scalable creative solutions, enabling staff, members, and partners to communicate with a unified voice across multiple platforms.

ABA Design Marketing works across departments to ensure design is an integral part of organizational strategy. By providing tools, assets, and frameworks, the team demonstrates that design is not optional. It is a vital part of the human experience, building trust, strengthening partnerships, and creating meaningful, impactful work that engages audiences and advances the ABA’s mission

Tell us how and why you became involved in socially responsible communications, any thoughts on why design can be an especially effective tool for this goal, and, if you wish, give us an example of a project of which you are proud?

The ABA Design Marketing team treats designing for good as central to its work. Being a socially responsible designer means making complex issues understandable through visual storytelling. It also means protecting your team and fostering an environment where creativity can thrive while building scalable design systems that allow us to respond quickly without sacrificing impact.

Our team’s approach to design combines understanding with emotional resonance. Creativity is the heartbeat of ideas, energizing discovery and cultivating diverse experiences. Paired with visual storytelling, it helps audiences see new perspectives and build meaningful connections, transforming abstract challenges into clear, actionable outcomes.

The Fighting for the Rule of Law campaign exemplifies this approach. The initiative integrates creative efforts across multiple departments and equips staff, members, and partners with tools and assets to communicate with a unified, compelling voice. Emotive imagery, clean typography, and scalable templates enable rapid response while maintaining brand integrity. This work demonstrates how socially responsible design can both inform and inspire, instantly activating community participation.

Given the confluence of events and challenges our society now faces, does this moment in time present any special opportunities, urgencies, obstacles to designing for good?

At the ABA, we’re learning that clear, compelling designs that honor our brand’s reputation with surprising moments engage and mobilize communities because it builds trust while inspiring action. This moment presents an opportunity to create design that is both comprehensible and transformative, helping audiences understand complex issues and take meaningful steps in support of justice and the rule of law.