I’ve written before about the importance of defining your message. There’s a big difference between utilizing a pithy marketing slogan and crafting an authentic story that truly represents you. We’ve recently had the distinct privilege of helping a local family tell a very important story through their organization, Rattle the Stars.
Rattle the Stars came into being through the untimely death by suicide of Sam Blisset. This is a labor of love for Sam’s family; their mission is to encourage conversations about mental health and provide support and resources for those who are struggling with thoughts of suicide. My oldest son and many of his friends knew Sam, and when word got out that the family needed help with their website, we were brought together pretty quickly.
Using the bright, bold colors of their logo, we designed a visually-striking website that evokes a kind of perpetual sense of motion. Bold typography underscores their underlying message, which is that you only have to help one person to be a hero. And we integrated their existing online shop more fully into their website, which helps them spread their message while raising funds for future work.
But the biggest impact came post-launch, when I sat down with Sam’s mom to show her around the new website. She mentioned a couple of times during our meeting how much easier it was to update content now. She said it used to take her a long time just to add an event to the website, and that she simply ran out of time to spend on it. So while it’s critically important that you have a well-defined message — which Rattle the Stars definitely does — that won’t do you much good without tools you can use to share that message.
We’d like to thank Rattle the Stars for giving us the opportunity to help them share their story. Conversations about mental health and suicide prevention are already difficult enough. Hopefully now they’ll be a little bit easier.
If you’d like to know more about Rattle the Stars and how to support their mission, visit their website at rattlethestars.org.
If you or someone you know is struggling, click here for a list of local resources that can help.
