Prison Professors

Prison Professors was founded by Michael Santos, who served 26 years in federal prison and came out with degrees, books and a plan. His nonprofit helps justice-impacted people prepare for success after prison.

Its courses reach people on tablets in jails and prisons nationwide. Its founder page says more than 1,100 facilities offer its lessons.

But the look was scattered and dated, and it read more like a consulting business than a nonprofit. The people it serves deserved a brand as hopeful as the mission.

We built the brand on one idea: hope, with structure. The logomark is a set of interlocking paths in bold purple, orange, yellow and blue.

A hand-drawn ornament system adds energy, like something breaking loose. Portraits show people in prison orange set against warm, open color.

Type is Tanker for headlines and Satoshi for text. Tanker is loud where it needs to be; Satoshi stays easy to read everywhere else.

The system covers logo, palette, type, ornaments, patterns and photography direction. A repeating pattern built from the logomark can fill any surface.

We applied it to the covers of Michael Santos's books. Now his titles and the nonprofit look like they belong together.

Each part is simple on its own. That keeps the brand together on a tablet screen in a prison and on a bookshelf at home.

The new site is built around the people Prison Professors serves. It offers free lessons, an AI assistant, a sentence calculator and profiles where learners document their growth.

Learner stories sit up front, in their own words. Next to them are clear ways to donate, buy a book or send a free book to someone in prison.

Together, the identity and the site give a reentry nonprofit the confidence of its founder's story. Hope starts here.