Awake: A Community of Survivors
Website Redesign
Awake (formerly Awake Milwaukee) is a nonprofit whose mission is to awaken the nation to the full reality of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, work for transformation, and foster healing for all who have been wounded. Founded in the belief that ordinary lay Catholics need to step up and take responsibility for transformation and healing in the Church, the organization offers educational materials via their blog and website, support groups, virtual events and recordings of these events, as well as occasional in-person events. At the core of it all, Awake strives to build communities that bring together survivors and Catholics—communities that are compassionate, survivor-centered, faithful, welcoming, humble, courageous, and hopeful.
Awake was in the process of undergoing a rebrand as they shifted from a Milwaukee-based community to a national organization. With this expansion came the need for a rebranded website. Their website existed to offer resources to abuse survivors and their loved ones, educate ordinary Catholics, and invite volunteers and donors to contribute to the initiative. Awake’s goal for the new and improved site was to reach more survivors and establish themselves as a trusted and honest national voice on this serious issue, in a spirit of faith and hope.
Awake was referred to Fabelle Creative Co. by their branding designer to head up this initiative. They wanted something more polished, professional, and aesthetically pleasing when they re-introduced themselves as a National brand in January 2024. Their biggest challenge was limited capacity in terms of staff, volunteer time, and financial resources.
“Awake’s goal for the new and improved site was to reach more survivors and establish themselves as a trusted and honest national voice on this serious issue, in a spirit of faith and hope.”
Having had extensive experience working with nonprofits and Christian organizations—whose mission unfortunately often come with limited resources—Fabelle Creative Co. was able to find ways to work within Awake’s budget without sacrificing quality. Specifically, by repurposing written copy and structuring from the old website, with the only major content changes being to the homepage, the rest being a visual overhaul. By leaving any organizational changes to Awake’s internal team, Fabelle Creative Co. could focus time and energy on design.
Before
After
The brand guide provided was fairly open ended, containing logos, fonts, and colors, but few strict styling rules. Previously, Awake’s website and communications materials were recognizable among the community by a gentle sunrise image, which signified their namesake’s theme: “Now is the time to awake from sleep” (Rom. 13:11). The colors of the brand were borrowed from the sunrise, though more vibrant. The purple, reminiscent of a bruise, yet simultaneously comforting, blended beautifully with the summoning orange of the sun’s piercing rays, singing of hope for a future after abuse. Fabelle Creative Co. used these colors and imagery to create animated backgrounds that abstractly represented the dawn, which later became an expansion of the community’s branding materials.
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Fabelle Creative Co. used these colors and imagery to create animated backgrounds that abstractly represented the dawn.
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Since the website’s subject material is so sensitive and potentially triggering, it was decided that there would be as few visually sharp edges as possible.
Since the website’s subject material is so sensitive and potentially triggering, it was decided that there would be as few visually sharp edges as possible. Completely rounding everything, however, would feel too bubbly; so Fabelle Creative Co. used slanted buttons, wave dividers, and curved square images, all with rounded edges, to maintain a soft, human look. Nothing is too predictable or patterned, just like nature’s “Good morning,” each painted cloud unique as the souls of God’s precious children.
“For many people, the website is their first contact with Awake, so we worked hard to make it warm, welcoming, informative, and easy to navigate,” shared Erin O’Donnell, Awake Blog Editor, in a post about the change. O’Donnell included a quote from Awake Executive Director, Sara Larson: “We are grateful to have a name, logo, and website that better reflect the beautiful community that we have created together.” The Awake team opted to manage their website in-house at the completion of the project.
“It was wonderful working with Rebecca to build a new website for our small nonprofit. She listened well to our goals and vision, asked lots of questions to figure out what style would be best for us, and checked in with us regularly about the design direction. She was able to work on our tight timeline and modest budget. She created a look that was simply beautiful - and nothing we could have imagined ourselves. Since launching our new website, we have been getting incredible feedback. One of the women we serve said the website brought her to tears! We would highly recommend Rebecca at Fabelle Creative!”
—Sara Larson, Awake Executive Director
