Centre for Environmental Rights – Mine Blasting Report & Website

As lead designer on this project, Brett’s priority was to give the expert findings the visual authority they deserved while keeping the document accessible to a broad, non-specialist audience. The abridged report covers seven impact areas identified in Dr Wellmann’s research – from psychological and health impacts on children and the elderly, to economic consequences of damaged property and disrupted livelihoods, to the cultural and spiritual harm caused by the destruction of sacred sites.

The report’s publication design follows CER’s existing brand language, applied with the clarity and restraint the subject demands. Typography, layout, and visual hierarchy work together to guide the reader through complex sociological material without losing the human dimension at the centre of it. This is report design in service of justice – where every design decision is accountable to the communities whose stories it carries.

The microsite at mineblasting.cer.org.za was built to mirror the report’s visual identity and extend its reach online. TEA designed and developed a single-page WordPress site using Elementor, structured around six content sections that guide visitors from the community’s story – through the expert findings, the recommendations, and South Africa’s new mine blasting standards – to practical guidance on rights and remedies.

The site includes a downloadable PDF of the abridged report and a clear call to action for community members concerned about the safety of their homes and families. Scroll-based navigation links each section, keeping the experience focused and distraction-free. The website design and development deliberately echoes the print publication: the same colour palette, typographic treatment, and structural logic carry across both formats, creating a coherent communications package that reinforces CER’s authority and the gravity of the issue.

The mineblasting.cer.org.za site is hosted on renewable-powered infrastructure. The Ethical Agency is the only African organisation recognised by the Green Web Foundation for delivering 100% renewable-powered web hosting to its clients – a standard applied to every site TEA builds, including this one.

A single-page architecture keeps the site’s footprint lean. No unnecessary page loads, no heavy plugins, no superfluous assets. The site is built to perform, to be found, and to last – so that CER’s work reaches the communities and decision-makers it was designed for.

Mine blasting litigation is heavy, technical subject matter – and the design had to carry that weight without losing the people at the centre of it. Brett’s approach was to let the evidence speak clearly: structured layouts, precise typography, and a visual hierarchy built around the legal and environmental data CER had spent years gathering.

Every design decision was tested against one question: does this help a community member, a journalist, or a judge understand the harm being done? Colour, scale, and composition were used deliberately to draw attention to the communities most affected – not to the litigation process itself.

The result is a body of work that feels urgent without being alarmist, and authoritative without being inaccessible. For an organisation whose credibility depends on being taken seriously in court and in the press, that balance is not incidental – it is the work.