August 29, 2023
The 2nd edition of of Stories of Color is here. Learn all about how we got here, what’s new, our brand update, and how you can help.
First, some backstory
Stories of Color began weaving its tale just a little over two years ago. Since then, we’ve learned lots about what you, our loyal readers, want and need out of this service.
More recently, we conducted a thorough user feedback survey, to which hundreds of you replied, providing us with invaluable data about who you are and ways we could improve. With your encouraging and pointed feedback as motivation, we’ve been working hard and fast to update nearly everything.
Since we learned that 98.7% of you recommend Stories of Color to a friend and you were not shy to shower us with praise in that survey, many of you may be wondering why a second edition of Stories of Color was even needed. But the fact is, we knew we could do better. We will always consider this project a working draft still being authored, so we were excited to iterate upon what we had already done to bring you this most recent version.
What’s different about the 2nd edition?
Comparing it to last edition, we have…
Added way, way more color. The shades of brown we originally chose served us well, and we kept one of them for posterity’s sake, but the stories we share are far too vibrant for us to stay one color. Stories of Color is now quite colorful.
Updated our brand. We needed a bolder logo to match our brighter colors. We think our new brand marks do just the trick. You’ll notice a more modern typeface as you navigate around, too.
Consolidated all book lists. We’ve moved stuff around to help simplify things for folks. Our catalog, book lists, book bundles, and books of the month can now all be found in one place—book lists. That’s what they are, anyway, so there’s no reason for us to get fancy with their titles or separate them from one another.
Added to our numbers. We made a significant push over the last month to reach two major milestones: 3,000 living books and 200 book lists (though, a few of these need to still be linked on the book lists page). Those numbers are a far cry from the 200ish books that we launched with, and we’re pretty darn proud of those digits.
Created how-to videos. One thing we (unfortunately) verified in our recent survey was that far too many of our readers don’t know how to fully leverage our catalog filter, sort, and search features. That’s why we’ve created new tutorials that will help you make the most of our book lists. We’ve also revamped how we describe our features to highlight the fact that, the bigger your screen is, the better.
Overhauled the homepage. We believe it tells a much better story to newcomers about who we are and what we do. Check it out.
Streamlined content. You’ll find there to be far fewer pages across our website now. Instead, each page is a bit longer, telling a more complete story. Our contributions page is a good example of this, and our table of contents is an excellent initial reference point.
Made it easier to start. Before, we just shared a lot of bookmarks. But if you or someone you know asks us how to begin using Stories of Color now, we simply encourage people to start with these 5 steps.
Added breadcrumbs and anchor links. Navigation is important. The new “jump to” links on our main pages and navigation breadcrumbs on our deeper pages will help you get where you need to go more efficiently. Especially when you’re on mobile devices.
Updated language about our audience. While we most certainly won’t be changing our support for homeschoolers (with an unapologetic bent toward Charlotte Mason), our recent user survey proved something we had a hunch about: roughly 20% of our readers are not homeschoolers. About 12% are parents and grandparents who don’t homeschool, 9% are teachers, 2% are librarians, and 1% work for curriculum providers and publishers. That’s why you’ll hear us talk a little more frequently about homeschoolers and educators moving forward, even though our core audience remains the homeschooling families we have served since the beginning.
Incorporated your kind words. Since our beginning, you’ve been so generous with your kudos and encouragement. Your feedback continually reminds us why we began this effort and refreshes us for the journey still ahead, so we wanted to do a better job at bringing those testimonials to the forefront. Read what our community has to say.
Improved the donation process. We’ve remained free since our inception, and we are 100% committed to keeping access to our core book lists free forever. To support our annual operation costs moving forward, though, we will be taking a playbook from Wikipedia, where we ask for donations twice a year to help support the ongoing costs of operating this labor of love that our founder’s family currently covers. Donating is entirely optional, of course, as this remains our gift to you. We only invite you to give if we’ve helped you find better books and you have the means to do so. Consider giving today and a big, public thank you to those of you who have already given.
Opened up to partnerships. Recently, some of our allies were contracted by a homeschooling curriculum to help them rewrite, reillustrate, and generally revisit some outdated content to make it more representative and inclusive. It was a joy for us to work on this project, and this is something we plan to do much more of in the future. If you’re a brand, publisher, or curriculum provider, explore a partnership with us.
Of course, there’s plenty that hasn’t changed with this second edition. Stories of Color remains a labor of love from us to you. You can still subscribe to our once-a-month emails. We are more committed than ever to engaging with our readers on Instagram. And most importantly, our mission remains the same*…
*(though we have tightened up the language)
We exist to encourage, equip, and entrust homeschoolers to spread a more diverse feast.
We’ll never be “done” with improving Stories of Color. It’s been too meaningful—both to us, and to those we aim to serve. But this 2nd edition is a big, bold step forward for us.
Of course, we have a ton more that’s in the works, up our sleeve, and planned for the future. But we’re only human and this is all we’ve got for now—phew.
In conclusion, we’ll wrap up our long-winded foreword with the saying that oh so many stories have left us excited (and sure, even a little frustrated) by, leaving the rest to the expanse of your imagination.
To be continued…
P.S. Want to help us immediately? Share Stories of Color with your network. We’ve created some ready-to-go resources below to help. Read on.
Oh so colorful
Stories of Color is now truer to its name. These are the vibrant new hues you’ll discover as you search for more diverse living books.
Marked by meaning
Goodbye, old friend
Hello, gorgeous
Yes, our logo has changed. That much is obvious. But we’ve tucked away another little easter egg that we think you might like to know about, too.
Though we won’t be using it much, you’ll notice that our new favicon (i.e. the little icon that you see on each browser tab) is a semicolon. We believe that this little mark beautifully represents our story. How so?
Semicolons connect two separate but related independent clauses. Similarly, Stories of Color showcases the truth that, though our past has already been set, there remains so much yet to be experienced ahead of us. This small, but important mark represents that not everything has yet been said; there remains important work to do, words to write, and stories to tell. It’s a mark of hope. We’re not done. In fact, we believe it punctuates that point.
When you see a semicolon in the future, we hope you’ll remember to keep speaking up against racism, keep educating your children, and keep fighting for a more equitable future. Consider it our little inside secret. Wink wink. ;)
Share away
One of the best ways you can help what we’re doing is by sharing us with your network. These images should help you point others this way. Thank you.
