GGRC 2025
Annual Report
A 23-page web-native annual report for the Glenda Gordy Research Center — 67M+ rows of crime data, six offense categories, one year of public safety work made readable.
The data speaks first.
The report cover leads with numbers, not prose. Eight stats in a grid — the design decision was to trust that the data was more compelling than any headline written about it.
The Brief
Crime data that people
actually want to read.
The Glenda Gordy Research Center publishes rigorous crime research out of Crime Stoppers of Houston — but a PDF buried in a file download isn't how people engage with information anymore. The 2025 Annual Report needed to live on the web and be readable by anyone from a state legislator to a curious Houston resident.
The challenge was both scope and tone: six crime categories, 23 pages, millions of data points — all of it had to be structured and visualized so that it was genuinely compelling without trivializing serious subject matter. Authority and accessibility at the same time.
Information Architecture
23 pages. Structure first.
Before a single color was chosen, the report was mapped as a reading journey — from opening impact to closing gratitude, with a clear hierarchy of information at every level.
Cover & Contents
The opening spread and 23-page table of contents.
Letter from our CEO
Rania Mankarious on a year in which data did more than inform.
Mission & Core Beliefs
Who GGRC is and the six foundations their work rests on.
Key Metrics & Glance
Top-line numbers and the year mapped month by month.
Statistics · 6 Categories
Homicide, Aggravated Assault, Sexual Assault, Robbery, Weapons, and Human Trafficking.
Impact & Stories
Community partners, featured legislative work, and field stories.
Goals, Donors & Team
2026 roadmap, budget breakdown, donor recognition, and the humans behind the numbers.
Design Language
How it actually looks
Every page type — stat spread, crime category, pull quote, data chart — was designed as a reusable template. Solve it once. Apply it consistently.
Page layout mockups — actual design uses the navy / lime / cream system throughout
Visual Identity
Three colors. One system.
The entire 23-page report runs on exactly three colors. Every layout decision — foreground, background, accent, highlight — is covered by this system with no exceptions.
#0d1f4a
GGRC Navy
Structure, authority, and type. The primary brand color — dark enough to anchor everything, rich enough to feel premium rather than corporate.
#a8bc2e
Research Lime
Numbers and highlights only. Every stat value, every category tag, every chart peak lands in lime. It carries meaning — when you see lime, you see data.
#ede8dc
Warm Cream
The background. Not white — warm cream reads like paper, like something worth printing. It softens the contrast between navy and lime without losing legibility.
Full palette — hover each swatch
Display Treatment
Every section heading pairs an ultra-bold sans-serif word with an italic serif phrase. “The year, month by month.” — The bold anchors, the italic humanizes. It became the report's most recognizable typographic signature.
Stat Treatment
Stat cards: lime number on navy. Highlighted cells invert to lime background with navy text. The contrast system is strict — lime always carries the data signal.
Design Principles
The decisions behind every page
Bold + italic as a system
Every section heading pairs an ultra-bold sans-serif word with an italic serif phrase — "The year, month by month." The contrast does dual work: the bold anchors, the italic humanizes. It became the report's most recognizable typographic signature.
Cream as the neutral, not white
The background is warm cream (#ede8dc), not white. White feels sterile for this subject matter. Cream reads like paper — like something worth printing, worth keeping. It also makes the navy and lime pop without needing extra contrast.
Lime for data, navy for authority
Chartreuse (#a8bc2e) is assigned specifically to numbers and highlights — stat values, tags, chart lines, accent labels. Navy is structure and credibility. The two never compete because they have separate jobs.
The stat grid over the hero
The cover doesn't lead with a photo or an essay — it leads with eight numbers in a 2×4 grid. 67M+. 241M+. 813K+. The data is the hero. The design decision was to trust that those numbers were more compelling than any headline.
Consistent crime category treatment
Each of the six crime categories (pages 10–15) uses the same template: large category name, a 3×3 stat grid with one cell highlighted in lime, and two sourced line charts side by side (HCDC vs. TXDPS). Consistency builds scanning speed.
Community impact gets its own voice
The Community Impact spread (p.16) breaks the grid entirely — full bleed lime background, oversized quote, single attribution. Color signals a register change: this is no longer data, this is testimony.
Read the report
The full 2025 Annual Report is live — 23 pages of crime research, data design, and Houston public safety work all in one place.