About the Project

The LGBTQ+ Equality Project is a data-driven visual research initiative examining how LGBTQ+ people are viewed, supported (or not), and legislated across the United States. Through information design, comparative indices, and visual storytelling, this project highlights how social attitudes, political climates, and community conditions vary dramatically across regions and states.

The series currently includes 7 large scale poster designs with over 50 infographics.

Utilizing quantitative data from leading national sources, including the Movement Advancement Project, Human Rights Campaign, Williams Institute, The Trevor Project and the ACLU, this work represents research, analysis and design that brings together multiple indicators to reveal the realities of LGBTQ+ life across the country.

This project helps audiences understand both where progress is occurring and where significant risks remain. The focus is on translating complex datasets into accessible, meaningful visual narratives that illuminate the lived landscape of LGBTQ+ equality at the structural and community levels. Main topics currently cover: Youth Climate (1&2), Legislation Trends, Population Distribution, Economic Disparity and Marriage & Family. This is an ongoing project.

A major component of this project is the creation of original LGBTQ+ Youth Health & Safety Rankings. While the underlying data draws from the Trevor Project's 2024 U.S. National Survey on the Mental Health of LGBTQ+ Young People by State , the Positive and Negative Indices and the overall ranking methodology were independently developed to measure how policy, environment, and support systems shape LGBTQ+ youth's well-being state by state. These indices are focused on mental-health outcomes, experiences of discrimination, family support, community acceptance, and protective factors, allowing for clear comparative visualizations across states.

Future phases of the project will include collecting firsthand accounts via survey and interview from LGBTQ+ individuals to deepen the qualitative dimension of the work, as well as expanding the exploration of how identity, geography, policy, and lived experience intersect. These additions will help expand the project beyond statistics to provide a fuller understanding of the human impact behind the data.

All visualizations are shared on this site under a Creative Commons license so that individuals, educators, advocates, journalists, and policymakers can access, reuse, and build upon the work. The goal is to create a trustworthy, openly available resource that helps people understand the current landscape of LGBTQ+ equality and the urgent needs shaping its future.

QR codes connect the printed designs to this website and additional information, including process and sources.

During the creation of this work, Currier attended the LGBTQ+ in Higher Ed Leadership Insitute in Milwaukee, WI, Fall 2025.

*This work was generously supported by a sabbatical granted by Endicott College.

Applications & Tools used in the creation of this body of work are:

• ChatGPT for research and analysis
  
  
• Adobe Illustrator for design and creation of infographics
  
  
• Flourish for data visualization
  
  
• Tableau for data visualization
  
  
• Excel for data organization

More on Next Steps

The next phase of this project will focus on expanding the work through direct engagement with LGBTQ+ communities in order to incorporate lived experience alongside existing quantitative data. Building on the completed information design series, Currier will develop a survey that combines structured questions with open-ended prompts to invite LGBTQ+ individuals to share personal narratives about their everyday experiences in the places they live. These qualitative responses will explore how comfort, visibility, safety, and support vary across different regions of the United States—addressing topics such as public visibility, experiences in the workplace, family support, and the social climate facing LGBTQ+ youth and families. The collected narratives will be integrated into future iterations of the designs, allowing personal voices to coexist with data-driven analysis and deepening the project’s capacity to communicate both scale and nuance.

Currier is also applying for a Whiting Foundation Fellowship to support an international, teaching-focused archival study that situates this contemporary work within a broader historical and global context.

Finally, the project will transition from a primarily digital format into print, with the goal of producing exhibition-ready materials that present the work as a cohesive visual narrative in physical spaces, supporting broader public engagement and future exhibition opportunities.

About the Designer

This work was researched and designed by Professor Danielle Currier while on Sabbatical Fall 2025. Currier is a professor of graphic design at Endicott College in Beverly, MA. She served as chair of the Visual Communications department from 2021-2025. She has an M.F.A. from Parsons New School for Design in NYC. She is the the co-author of the popular portfolio book, No Plastic Sleeves: The Complete Portfolio Guide for Photographers and Designers, now in it's 3rd edition. Currier has received numerous grants, fellowships and has spoken at industry events from Chicago to Nashville. She has previously completed the body of work "Women and Inequality: A Macro/Micro Exploration Utilizing Information Design" which was exhibited in 2021 in the Spencer Gallery at Endicott College. Her design work also includes brand identity, promotional materials, book cover design and web design. She also does a fair amount of coding and did all the web development on this website. Her portfolio can be found at dcurrier.com.

Recently, Currier was appointed chair of the University and College Designers Association (UCDA) AI Task Force Group. Currier presented "Generative AI in Creative Education: Harnessing Opportunity While Preserving Human Imagination" at the 2025 AAC&U Forum on Digital Innovation, Artificial Intelligence track in San Juan, Puerto Rico. She presented at the 2025 DESIGN EDUCATION SUMMIT: MINDFUL in Charlotte, NC on "Mindful Creativity Avoiding Passive Creation in the Age of AI". She was the UCDA Faculty of the Month for June 2025. Currier also developed and co-leads her school's study tour to Japan!