A Dyslexia Story

“The child isn’t failing. The instruction is.”

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Background

This piece was developed for my graduate capstone course that required building a fully integrated, converged-media, digital campaign around a topic of personal or professional significance. The assignment framework called for a coordinated media mix that included a parallax website, social media post mock-ups, an email/e-newsletter, and a blog post, all built around a single narrative platform with a consistent theme, tone, and messaging.

I chose to build this campaign around my son Cooper’s experience with dyslexia, dysgraphia, and dyscalculia, and his transformation after enrolling at Hamlin Robinson School (HRS) in Seattle. Instead of defaulting to the narrative that dyslexia is a “deficit” or the oversimplified framing that “dyslexia is a superpower,” both of which are common in dyslexia advocacy spaces, I intentionally built this campaign around two truths that are held simultaneously: 1. Dyslexic minds carry real strengths, and 2. Those strengths can only translate into positive outcomes when instruction is paired with structured and specialized literacy support.

This is the most personal piece in my portfolio. I chose to feature it because it demonstrates how strategic communication skills and genuine personal investment aren’t mutually exclusive. The campaign is as evidence-based and disciplined as anything else I’ve built professionally, but it’s rooted in my family’s story.

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Scope

This project required building a full narrative platform from scratch and then translating it consistently across four distinct media formats. This meant developing a content strategy that defined the central character, story arc, goals, tone, and messaging architecture before any design work began.

From there I executed the parallax-scrolling website, created three social media post mock-ups, an HTML email mock-up, and a companion blog post, all designed utilizing Canva Pro to maintain visual and tonal consistency. This project also required research into dyslexia statistics and structured literacy methodology, as well as accurate representation of HRS’s mission, history, and the Slingerland method it uses.

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Process

First, I started the planning phase where I locked down the narrative, audience, and messaging before execution. I mapped out who the story was going to be about, the central milestone, and what made the story unique.

From there, I built out the campaign theme and defined the tone that I deliberately kept polished, honest, and hopeful instead of coming across as emotionally manipulative. I chose to let the facts and Cooper’s story carry the weight of the story instead of overwriting the emotional pieces. I outlined the story’s beginning, middle, and end before writing the copy, which kept the four deliverables consistent in voice even though they were built across different formats and lengths.

I then built the parallax website using Canva Pro as the campaign’s home base, since every other asset needed to drive traffic back to it. The social media mock-ups and email were designed to echo the website’s visuals and color palette, creating the visual throughline the assignment’s “converged media” framework called for. Finally, the blog post allowed me to go deeper into the “two truths” framing that anchored the whole campaign.

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Lessons Learned

What went well:

It was helpful to separate the planning from designing. Because I had already determined tone, audience, and message before starting to design the website, it allowed the assets to come together cohesively instead of looking like disconnected pieces that I retrofitted into a shared identity.

The main challenge:

The challenge for this piece was more personal and not technical. I’m not currently able to publish or distribute this assignment because I haven’t professionally disclosed my graduate studies. Going public risks the perception that I’m stepping away from real estate before I’m ready to make that transition.

Outcomes:

That tension was its own lesson, forcing me to consider timing. Ultimately, the campaign is fully built and ready to launch when it’s the right time.

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