diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 4e65fb7..bddfc4e 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -7,3 +7,8 @@ edition = "2018"
 # See more keys and their definitions at https://doc.rust-lang.org/cargo/reference/manifest.html
 
 [dependencies]
+rmp = "0.8.9"
+rmp-serde = "0.14.4"
+serde = "1.0.117"
+crc = "1.8.1"
+byteorder = "1.3.4"
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/lib.rs b/src/lib.rs
index 31e1bb2..c63a8fc 100644
--- a/src/lib.rs
+++ b/src/lib.rs
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
+pub mod message;
+pub mod result;
+
 #[cfg(test)]
 mod tests {
     #[test]
diff --git a/src/message.rs b/src/message.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..106fa33
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/message.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+use serde::Serialize;
+use crate::result::VentedResult;
+use byteorder::{BigEndian, ByteOrder};
+use crc::crc32;
+
+#[derive(Clone, Debug)]
+pub struct Message<T> {
+    event_name: String,
+    payload: T,
+}
+
+impl<T> Message<T> where T: Serialize {
+    /// Returns the byte representation for the message
+    /// the format is
+    /// name-length: u16,
+    /// name: name-length,
+    /// payload-length: u64,
+    /// payload: payload-length,
+    /// crc: u32
+    pub fn to_bytes(&self) -> VentedResult<Vec<u8>> {
+        let mut payload_raw = rmp_serde::to_vec(&self.payload)?;
+        let mut name_raw = self.event_name.as_bytes().to_vec();
+
+        let name_length = name_raw.len();
+        let mut name_length_raw = [0u8; 2];
+        BigEndian::write_u16(&mut name_length_raw, name_length as u16);
+
+        let payload_length = payload_raw.len();
+        let mut payload_length_raw = [0u8; 8];
+        BigEndian::write_u64(&mut payload_length_raw, payload_length as u64);
+
+        let mut data = Vec::new();
+
+        data.append(&mut name_length_raw.to_vec());
+        data.append(&mut name_raw);
+        data.append(&mut payload_length_raw.to_vec());
+        data.append(&mut payload_raw);
+        let crc = crc32::checksum_ieee(&data);
+        let mut crc_raw = [0u8; 4];
+        BigEndian::write_u32(&mut crc_raw, crc);
+        data.append(&mut crc_raw.to_vec());
+
+        Ok(data)
+    }
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/result.rs b/src/result.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..818ed44
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/result.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+use std::{fmt, io};
+
+pub type VentedResult<T> = Result<T, VentedError>;
+
+pub enum VentedError {
+    IOError(io::Error),
+    SerializeError(rmp_serde::encode::Error)
+}
+
+impl fmt::Display for VentedError {
+    fn fmt(&self, f: &mut fmt::Formatter<'_>) -> fmt::Result {
+        match self {
+            Self::IOError(e) => write!(f, "IO Error: {}", e.to_string()),
+            Self::SerializeError(e) => write!(f, "Serialization Error: {}", e.to_string()),
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+impl From<io::Error> for VentedError {
+    fn from(other: io::Error) -> Self {
+        Self::IOError(other)
+    }
+}
+
+impl From<rmp_serde::encode::Error> for VentedError {
+    fn from(other: rmp_serde::encode::Error) -> Self {
+        Self::SerializeError(other)
+    }
+}
\ No newline at end of file