How Lionheart Modernized 30 Years of Work On The Website Without Losing Any of Its Trust
Four programs, four audiences, one foundation to hold them together.
Three decades of trauma-informed work, four programs, one team.
The Lionheart Foundation, with Jeanne d’Ornellas Thorel.
Founded in 1992, Lionheart builds trauma-informed social emotional learning programs used across prisons, juvenile systems, schools, and community organizations. Four programs carry the work: Houses of Healing for incarcerated adults, Power Source for systems-involved youth, Power Source Parenting for adolescent parents, and EQ2 for direct care staff. Jeanne is Director of Operations and Programs, and she joined as a volunteer in 2020.
What the project looked like from their side
A few words from the client on how it went
The ask was specific: “The different programs should feel connected under one foundation, but still have their own identity.” Jeanne said this was missing in the current design.
One site had to serve five audiences at once. Every program needed its own voice inside it
Years of content existed across four programs, each with its own messaging, audience, and emotional tone. Donors, practitioners, institutional partners, educators, and community members all had to find what they came for.
- Existing brand recognition
- Credibility with funders
- Warm and human tone
- Cleaner navigation
- Stronger visual hierarchy
- Clearer donation paths
The real question
The question was how to make Lionheart’s work clearer to five different audiences while keeping the site flexible enough that the next program would not trigger another redesign. Jeanne said, “We want visitors to immediately understand who we are, what we do, and how they can get involved.”
All in all, it came down to these 8 priorities.
Navigation had to get cleaner, so visitors could find the right program without hunting through legacy pages.
Storytelling had to run throughout the site, not sit in a few places while other pages stayed flat.
Visual hierarchy needed strengthening, so the most important information on any page was obvious at a glance.
Typography and spacing had to stay consistent across every program page and every template.
Illustrations needed to work harder, carrying emotional connection without pulling attention from the content.
Donation pathways had to become clearer, so anyone ready to give could act without searching for the route.
A scalable design system had to be reusable across all program pages instead of rebuilt each time
Accessibility and readability had to hold on every page, for every audience the foundation serves.
Strategy came before design, and the homepage came before everything.
The aim was to set the direction once, then build a system that repeats it.
01 · The Direction
One homepage settled the language for every page after it.
Rather than designing every page upfront, we built the homepage first and used it to settle typography, spacing, visual hierarchy, components, illustrations, colors, and interaction patterns. Once approved, that language carried across the rest of the site.
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Homepage as foundation Every later decision traced back to it.
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Approved before expanding Direction locked, then applied.
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Fewer revisions later Consistency built in from the first page.
02 · The System
Reusable parts, so each program stays itself.
We built reusable components: navigation patterns, buttons, cards, testimonials, forms, program layouts, typography hierarchy, and a spacing system. Each program then took its own personality through illustrations, colors, and content while staying part of one experience.
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Hierarchy restored All four levels matching the teaching model.
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States that mean something Completed, in-progress, and locked, distinct again.
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Cues brought back Titles, pagination, icons, and a module-level progress bar.
03 · The Collaboration
We worked alongside them as one team.
Instead of a traditional handoff, the project ran on regular review calls, continuous feedback loops, design walkthroughs, progress updates, and frontend review sessions, with client feedback implemented quickly so decisions were made while everyone was still in the room.
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Weekly, not occasional A standing call kept alignment current.
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Feedback applied fast Rounds closed in days rather than weeks.
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All Stakeholders aligned Leadership and program teams stayed in sync.
From a site straining under 30 years of growth to one built to keep growing.
A complex mission made simple
One design system, four programs
Regular reviews, quick decisions
Built to fit future programs
When it all came together, here's what Jeanne walked away with.
A site that finally reflected the vision & mission of the foundation.
layered, dense, hard to navigate
Four programs competing for the same attention
Content built up over years without a structure
Donation routes buried under legacy pages
clear, consistent, ready to grow
One design system carrying every program page
Complex material broken into readable sections
A CMS structure built for the next set of programs
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