What Happens When You Say Hello
When Kevin Hines tells his story of surviving a jump from the Golden Gate Bridge, he says if one person had acknowledged him, how much pain he clearly felt, it would convince him not to. No one did.
What if we built our public spaces in a way that people felt seen?
We designed The Hello Effect™ – a place-based messaging campaign – around small moments of human connection: Hello. Ask a friend how they’re doing today. Pass it on. An invitation to pause. To reach out. To be seen.
It grew from twenty years of design work with public institutions and nonprofits — and from personal history. My grandfather ended his life by jumping from a remote bridge. My family acknowledged it, but we didn’t talk about it. That silence lasted a long time.
We deployed the campaign across three Hudson Valley bridges with 20 engagement decals placed on Walkway Over the Hudson State Historic Park, the world’s longest elevated pedestrian bridge. Family Services, Inc, funded by a grant from the NYS Office of Mental Health, partnered with Friends of the Walkway, the NYS Bridge Authority, and NYS Parks for a year-long pilot period. In 2025, Drake Creative received an Anthem Award for its approach to addressing mental health stigma through public messaging.
A year in, we now have data. Calls routed to the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline in Dutchess County rose 35 percent from launch through the late-summer peak — and that increase held. More people reached for help during the period this campaign was running. Connection works.
We are working to take a successful pilot to a structured program that bridges, campuses, transit systems, and other public institutions can adopt. Simple. Affordable. Deployable.
This is my way of breaking a silence that lasted too long. And it starts with one word.
Hello.
Drake Creative, LLC