The Maryland Disabilities Law Center asked us to produce a report for them to get into legislators hands and into hospitals. When they explained the nature of the project, we pushed for a more interesting proposal.

The idea was simple. Hospital emergency rooms are ill-equipped to deal with psychiatric patients. To point this out, the MDLC had an incredible report with really powerful quotes and recommendations that needed to get into the right hands. We pushed for a more visual and personal report rather than your usual letter sized pdf that would get stacked up with the others on some assistant’s desk in Annapolis.

We distilled their information into really digestible bites, pulled quotes, summaries, etc., and created a more readily scannable document. We framed the piece as unique little book that could easily be handed off in a hallway, or placed on a coffee table in an office. For a slightly larger investment, the issue was brought to the forefront of health legislation and the feedback was incredible. The book sold out instantly and the MDLC approached us to talk about helping with more projects.

This is a great example of how a simple creative strategy could influence legislative reform. Although it might sound obvious in retrospect, it was a huge step for the MDLC, an underfunded state agency, to decide to push the boundaries of convention.