our work

Mencap: Supporting the communications team

Sometimes a communications team needs additional expertise for a particular project.

Moira was Internal Communications Manager for five years and worked with Kate as a consultant on a number of projects, including developing and testing accessible materials. Since becoming an independent consultant herself, Moira has continued to work with her former colleagues in the unit she set up. She worked on an accessible version of a Department of Health Green Paper, manifestos for the Labour and Liberal Democrats, restructuring papers for Mencap and training sessions.

'Both Moira and Kate can be relied on to bring calm, efficiency and creativity to any project. They have helped us on many occasions, tackling large projects and helping the team to be more productive.'

Clare McKitrick, Head of Strategic Communications

Multiple Sclerosis Society: Reviewing MS Matters magazine

MS Matters is the leading lifestyle magazine for people with MS, published bi-monthly by the MS Society, with a circulation of 50,000.

The MS Society knew that readers valued the magazine and wanted to explore two questions in more detail: reaching out to new readers, and how best to include information about the MS Society's work.

Kate undertook a short research programme to get to the bottom of these questions. She involved members and non-members, using a mix of structured interviews and focus groups to hear feedback and test out ideas. The results helped the MS Society to plan future issues of MS Matters around the types of stories people prefer to read and the information they really want.

'Kate's research helped us to come up with plenty of practical ideas for the magazine, and showed us clearly what readers most wanted.'

Debbie Reeves, Editor

NSPCC: Information packs for children with disabilities

The NSPCC was aware children with learning disabilities were being left out with some key publications. Power Pack had been published some years before for young people but was too complicated for young people in care with learning and other disabilities. This project involved working with the different groups of young people and professionals which required sensitivity and creativity. It is difficult to take complex legal concepts or processes but this project shows that turning them into something exciting to look at and easy to understand is possible.

Moira researched the design, illustrations, colours and words with groups of children, young people and professionals and pulled it all together into a product for publication on the web.

Working with teachers and other professionals, Moira took Going to Boarding School from draft to completion in an easy read version for children with disabilities and large print version for children with a visual impairment or autism. Again, the illustrations, words and design were tested with groups and individuals to come up with something fresh and engaging but above all logical and informative.

British Society for Rheumatology: Annual Report

The British Society for Rheumatology (BSR) asked Kate to help them produce an energetic, high-profile annual report.

BSR is a professional medical society, committed to supporting rheumatologists and health professionals, and to advancing knowledge in this specialist field. They wanted to promote their range of work for members and to build on recent changes to their corporate design. And they also wanted a clear process for producing the report, to use in the future.

Kate's tailor-made plan set out the work in stages and she worked closely with BSR and the report's designer to see it through. Interviews with key staff and members set the tone, and Kate then developed a structure and key messages before writing fresh copy. The result: an authoritative report with a dynamic voice.

'Kate's work was excellent and her writing completely exceeded our expectations! We were impressed with how quickly she 'got' us and what we were about, and we're delighted with the final report.'

Samantha Peters, Chief Executive

SeeAbility: Brainstorming

Ideas can often seem in short supply but Moira relishes a challenge to see things in a new light. When SeeAbility was looking for creative solutions to launch a new campaign they asked Moira to come along and join an ideas session. A hugely entertaining evening followed and some surprisingly practical solutions were developed.

'Thank you very much for your wizardry last night and for making such a huge effort to support SeeAbility on an icy winter night. You had so many great ideas that we are just thrilled and can't wait to get cracking on them!'

Lucy Sargent, Campaign Manager

Email info@helpcommunicate.co.uk | Moira McMillan 07739 809 116 | Kate Wilkinson 07939 530 418