Hattie McDaniel
Go to HattieMcDaniel.com →Hello! My name is Katie Ayres, a web developer, who had the joy of building HattieMcDaniel.com back in 2020, and I’ve been happily keeping it running ever since. Hattie McDaniel wasn’t just a Oscar-winning star—she was a force.
A groundbreaking talent with grit, charm, and resilience who carved her name into history despite the odds stacked high. Getting to create a home for her legacy online? Truly one of my favorite projects ever.
Challenge: Help her estate raise money to remember a Hollywood legend
Solution:
- Build a design that captures Hattie’s greatness and films
- Create a blog that notifies fans of future projects to maintain her legacy
- Support the development of a newsletter to get the word out.
Build a design that captures Hattie’s greatness and films
To get started, I read her biography, “Hattie McDaniel: Black Ambition, White Hollywood” and was fascinated by her life which included much more than her famous roles in movies. She was a trailblazer and I admire her greatly.
Hattie’s prolific career spanned from 1932 to 1949, the highlight when she famously won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in Gone with the Wind in 1939, becoming the first African American to win an Oscar.
It was important the styling hearkened back to the era in which she worked. The styling included black and white colors, along with a blue highlight to honor the blue dress she wore when she won her academy award and an icon of a flower to represent the Gardenia she wore.
One of the best legacies of Hattie were her quotes, which I highlighted on the home page and created a page full of them. She was also very talented in many fields, so we added a tagline of Actress – Singer – Songwriter – Comedian.
Client Testimonial
My experience with One Creative Developer was beyond my greatest expectations. I came across the talented Ms. Ayres and her company, One Creative Developer when I saw the website she created for my good friend, Tracey Lee Cassin. Instantly, I knew I wanted Ms. Ayres to develop a series of websites for me and she delivered masterfully!
The new site which honors my great-grandaunt, Oscar-winning actress Hattie McDaniel, has received great reviews from friends and colleagues (including my publicist team). Katie is flexible, creative, professional, and honest. Working with Katie Ayres has been an amazing journey and in the process I have made a most treasured friend. I am looking forward to our next web development projects in 2021 and beyond. Thank you Katie…you are THE BEST!!!
Her estate wanted to list her touchstone movies as well as write stories about her role in that film, so I built a custom post type with extra data, including movie, date, her role and a discussion about her role.
Create a blog that notifies fans of future projects to maintain her legacy
The is a stream of news and activities to support Hattie’s legacy. A blog was created to keep her fans in the know. There are also projects in the works and this blog helps to raise awareness and help fun those projects, like an upcoming film with the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame.
Support the development of a newsletter to get the word out.
To also support the fund raising and continuing awareness of Hattie’s great achievements, we started a newsletter. I set up the newsletter to ensure the best possible delivery by authenticating the email, as well as the design of the newsletters.
The sign up for the newsletter is in every footer to encourage sign ups.
