International Trafficking Lexicon
Illustration, Digital
100+ icons to help international agencies situate, define, and tackle the specific components of illegal trafficking
A Common Visual Language
Our work generally tends towards the narrative. Here, the goal was to create 100+ icons to help international agencies—including banks and law enforcement entities such as the FBI—identify and tackle all kinds of illegal and inhumane trafficking. Our visual research revealed that icons tend to make a problem seem generic and flat. After all, a person’s story cannot be fully represented by a statistic. We therefore sought to use the softness of the illustration style to imbue an imprint of the human hand, invoking the real lives and livelihoods that lie beyond these simple icons.
Pinpointing Sources of Funding and Power
Like any business, illegal trafficking is driven by an economic motive. Once the icons have been developed, they are combined in the form of simple yet effective charts delineating the likely movement of people, good, and money. This helps direct local and international law enforcement in the right directions. It also helps alert banks and financial institutions of illegal activity, freezing the funds that drive illegal trafficking.
