Case Study: The Trace achieves stronger reader engagement and membership growth with Upstatement's brand and editorial platform relaunch

The Trace redesigns its editorial platform with Upstatement, driving 94% of traffic to article pages

The Trace, a nonprofit newsroom reporting on gun violence in America, partnered with Upstatement to address the challenge of relaunching its brand and editorial platform. The goal was to create a new user experience and a flexible WordPress implementation that could support their evolving content strategy and user engagement.

Upstatement implemented a comprehensive solution that included a new brand design, user experience strategy, and WordPress development. The project focused heavily on redesigning article pages and the homepage to prioritize depth of content and reader conversion. The result was a platform that gave The Trace precise editorial control for storytelling. A key measurable impact was that over 94% of the site's traffic lands on the article pages that Upstatement redesigned.

The Trace