Client: Christian Picciolini
Agency: Alma DDB.
Free Radicals was a digital intervention campaign created with Christian Picciolini and WeAreFreeRadicals.net. Using Google Search Ads, it mirrored extremist style queries to intercept at risk users and redirect them toward educational content designed to shift their path away from radicalization.
The project ran from 2018 to 2019.
My Role
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Defined the overall look and feel of the Free Radicals digital experience, establishing a visual language rooted in clarity, credibility, and empathy.
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Designed the Free Radicals website, shaping layout, hierarchy, and interaction to support gradual perspective shifts rather than confrontation.
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Developed the logo and visual identity for the platform, ensuring it felt trustworthy, human, and appropriate for sensitive subject matter.
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Contributed to strategic research and keyword analysis, and designed social ads retargeted to individuals who engaged with the Google Search Ads, reinforcing the message and disrupting the path to radicalization.
A Judgment Free Path to Exit Extremism
We collaborated with former extremist turned anti-hate activist Christian Picciolini, whose personal story shaped the tone of the campaign—empathetic, credible, and non-confrontational.
Christian Picciolini - Anti-Hate Activist
Website Design
WeAreFreeRadicals.net was designed to feel native to extremist audiences, using a high contrast black and red, deep web coded aesthetic and a scroll experience built around fast, repeated educational frames. To reach users at the point of intent, targeted Google Search ads mirrored extremist language so our message surfaced at the top of relevant searches and redirected traffic to the site.
After the initial visit, retargeting extended the intervention across Facebook, serving educational ads that reinforced the message and guided users toward Christian Picciolini’s platform.
