Its Not a Game

Bringing 8-Bit Nostalgia to Real-World Road Safety.

Summary

The Client

LookDeep Health
Oakland, CA

Services

  • Visual Design
  • Digital Asset Production
  • UX & Accessibility Consultation

Mission

The Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) needed to expand the reach of their “It’s Not a Game” traffic safety campaign with fresh digital content aimed at younger demographics. The focus: create social graphics and digital display ads that conveyed urgency, seriousness, and personal relevance — all while aligning with existing campaign themes.

Contributions

Lead the user experience strategy and visual design of digital assets across multiple channels. My work focused on creating social graphics and display ads that were both compelling and accessible, meeting WCAG 2.1 AA standards for contrast and legibility. I contributed to creative concepting, ensured UX best practices were embedded in every asset, and helped guide design decisions through performance-based iteration. Throughout the two-year campaign, we employed A/B testing across each phase — refining assets based on user engagement and click-through rates to maximize impact and drive users to key campaign pages.

The Process

Accessibility + Multicultural Considerations

Accessibility was a core part of the design process from the start. All digital assets were created with WCAG 2.1 AA compliance in mind, ensuring strong color contrast, clear typography, and scalable layouts across devices. In addition to visual accessibility, the campaign prioritized cultural and linguistic inclusivity. Because the initiative spanned both rural and urban areas across Illinois, creative assets were also translated into Spanish and adapted with culturally relevant motifs where needed — ensuring the messaging resonated across diverse audiences.

The Process

Campaign Outcomes

The campaign assets were deployed across Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat, helping to significantly expand IDOT’s digital footprint. Over time, performance data guided iterative refinements that improved overall campaign effectiveness — particularly through A/B testing that optimized creative based on engagement metrics. Click-through rates (CTR) increased phase over phase, and the campaign also contributed to a measurable boost in social media presence, including higher follower counts, increased post engagement, and more shares among key audience groups. Most importantly, the work succeeded in driving more users to visit campaign landing pages and interact with the educational content — fulfilling the campaign’s core objective of public safety awareness.