Library Graphic Design Year In Review 2012

The image to the right is a photo that I have had pinned to my desk bulletin board for the past two years. I think it is an incredible shot. It leaves me with a whole host of questions though, such as why are all those chairs there?; how did they get them all stacked up like that?; what are they going to do with them?; is there no fire code for that alleyway?; and…has any of it ever toppled out into the street and buried an innocent pedestrian? 

The image also illustrates a certain sentiment I have about the volume of work I create as a designer for my library district. Just look at that volume. Those chairs could be my projects (although I wouldn't let them all clog up the alleyway like that). And look at that tiny man down below. That could be me. Nevertheless, whatever is going to be done with those chairs, that sure is a glut of work to do...much like my work! Fortunately, we have a much more orderly project request process (when people use it) to provide ample time for the work to be done. Don't get me wrong, I love what I do. But often, I feel like my workload looks a lot like that unruly pile of chairs above.

It has been quite a year for my library and for me as a designer for them. And it has been a privilege for me to help promote my community's library system of 12 libraries. I feel they provide a tremendous resource to our community through their range of events and services. As the sole designer for our library district, I feel I am also a tremendous resource to my library by providing a range of design services at a significant quality and performance level to them as well.

For example, take the following numbers into consideration for 2012: 

Total 54 annual work weeks, roughly 250 total annual working days or 2000 hours.
Total Design Projects (January through 14 December): 766. 
That's up from 679 in FY2011 and FY384 in 2010…roughly 1 project completed every 2.61 hours every day. 

And although I am not a "printer," here is some additional volume:
Total In-House Printing: 28,942 project pages / impressions, many trimmed and some folded by hand afterwards.
Total External Vendor Printing: 80,000 pages.
Grand Total Printing: 108,942 pages / impressions.

1 Designer.

Happy New Year, and here's to seeing how all those chairs will stack up for us all in 2013. (I already have 43 projects due in January that I've worked on—and its not even January 1 yet!).

Crazy, Brave, Employer/Designer ROI

45x45 inch large format display poster.

I am behind the times to show some promotional work I did to promote the guest appearance of author Joy Harjo at our library last week. She spoke about her publishing work which included her book Crazy Brave. For her author talk event, I produced the following publicity items:

200x quarter page handbills
1x 3.25x5.25 inch publication print ad
1x 45x45 inch large format display poster
1x 11x14 inch author display bio sheet
1x web page banner

Harjo provided access to photos from her website. Unfortunately only about two were usable from her book publicity. I selected one of her and added her book cover to my options. On her personal photo, I noted she was displaying a henna marking on her hand which reminded me that I had a few henna images I had collected from other sources, so I looked to see if I could make something happen out of a combination between our collective sources.

Web page banner

I found and settled on a small illustration of a henna patterned hand and used that as a background pattern for Harjo's event publicity. I also picked up on the dashed lines she used on her book cover. To me, they brought to mind the feathered ends of arrows. Using that reference, I added a few more design elements such as the red bar above her photos and the angled triangle at the bottom right that helped to anchor the photo to the base of the collateral items. Overlapping elements took advantage of empty space and allowed elements to interact more dynamically as well. To work towards a unified typographic styling, I sourced for a display font that shared the characteristics of what was used on her book cover and used that, then pulled colour from the two photos to highlight the key points in the language.

Publication print ad

So how can I be behind on my post, you ask? Well, as I'm wrapping up my second year as designer for the Alachua County Library District, I have been busy not only with the daily flow projects, but also reviewing my department performance over the past 12 months. 

And the tally is in. In the roughly 249 working days of 2011-12, I produced 679 unique projects, up 295 projects from the 2010-11 count of 384. So if I figure there are 1992 hours of annual work time, that figures out to me completing a new project every 2.93 hours every work day for a full year. 

11x14 inch author bio page

That doesn't even factor in all the other things that take place. Things like  administrative duties, meetings, phone calls, countless emails, webinars, printer and vendor coordination, asset management, ordering of supplies, evaluating and advising other people's creative projects, time stuck on surgically removing melted lamination film off heated rollers (oh how I love spending my time on that). There's plenty of behind-the-scenes work that never appears on a visual project itself. Factor all that in—and a week of vacation time I didn't account for above—and I'm sure I'm well below that 2.93 hour mark per project. If you're beginning to see Lucille Ball working on that chocolate factory conveyor belt as it continues to speed up, then you've got the general idea of what my typical day is like. Even when I'm sitting motionless staring at my computer monitor, things are still speeding along "upstairs." I'm either planning a strategy, having a "zen moment"...or in the process of developing a decent brain aneurysm. Whichever it is, don't interfere; just let it happen.

Hey employers, hows that for ROI? Both a little crazy, and a little brave—but on whose part? On the upside, there's something I like about reviews. It gives me time to assess what my ROI is too.

The large format display poster installed on site.

New Year 2012 Library Prediction Poster Results

The New Year Predictions display poster results at the end of January 2012.

Just a quick update on the results of the New Year 2012 prediction display installed during January at the Headquarters Library and online at the library's Facebook page (first blogged here: http://librarygraphicdesign.blogspot.com/2012/01/happy-new-year-predictions-at-library.html ). Visitors were encouraged to add their prediction for what may or may not happen during 2012 and the resulting participation was both fun and encouraging. As you can see in the image above, there were so many predictions (114 in fact!) written on Post-It notes and stuck to the crystal ball that they couldn't all be contained within it.


On the last day of the display, the librarian managing it gathered the Post-It notes to tally up the answers. You can see the results here:  http://www.aclib.us/research/blog/what-are-your-predictions-new-year-part-2

Creating a display that encourages viewer participation is a great way to engage visitors in promotional efforts and to get feedback from them to see how you are doing. I receive a lot of positive feedback from the staff about displays like this, so I always enjoy exploring themes and presentations that lend themselves to incorporating an interactive, value-added component to what would otherwise be a static poster and message. It's great fun to see the poster continue to visually evolve during the time it is on display.

Design Talk: I Sure Could Use a TUMS

Recently, I was reading an old copy of Package Design magazine. The feature article covered how GlaxoSmithKline—one of the world's leading pharmaceutical healthcare companies—worked with outsourced design houses and component suppliers to redesign new packaging for its classic Tums brand product.

I learned that GlaxoSmithKline's US Consumer Healthcare package development group based in the company's Pittsburgh headquarters consisted of a team of 12 package engineers and documentation specialists (the latter are "information managers who provide product specifications, administer paperwork, and coordinate workflow throughout the corporate approval chain").

Design development of GSK's products didn't actually take place at GSK, however. "We do not do any design work in this department," Ed Dunn, associate director of the package development group said. "We work with design houses and component suppliers to achieve the goals that GlaxoSmithKline brands want to achieve." Together, the GSK group, along with its extended association of vendors handled between "500 to 800 packaging projects a year, ranging from simple label changes to big jobs on the order of the Tums redesign."

Wow, I thought. That's a lot of projects per year. Then I caught myself. Hey, that's 500 to 800 projects divided by at least 12 in-house staff and who knows how many out-of-house people. If you divide 12 into 500 and 800, you get roughly 41 to 66 projects a year per person. Suddenly the work load looked relatively luxurious.

Forty-one to 66 projects is within the margin what I create as a single person design department for the Alachua County Library District each month. In fact, during the recent 36 working days between November 1 to December 31, I created 113 projects alone. And during my first annual year at the Library I created 460 projects, resulting in over 45,000 unique printed page and online views. Maybe that means I'm doing the work of 12+ people—well, 12 of GlaxoSmithKline's at least. I wonder how much they make an hour? I could certainly use 12 times the salary! Or a TUMS. How do you spell R-E-L-I-E-F?

Library Graphic Design Blog Turns 1

One year ago in October 2010 I began the Library Graphic Design blog to show friends and family a little about what I do as a designer. Since then, I've posted, received comments, and gained a couple of followers. 

With something as specific as LIBRARY graphic design, I never tried to fool myself into thinking there would be much of a readership, so working toward acquiring a big audience was never part of the incentive or goal when I began. Nevertheless, Blogger.com provides blog owners readership statistics, and it can be interesting to see the trends of what people are looking looking for, at, and what kind of equipment they are using to see it with. So in the spirit of record keeping--and perhaps more importantly, trivial pursuit--I thought I'd share with you some of the interesting stats I've built up after one year of blogging. 

WHAT'S IN IT:

112 Posts / 96 Comments / 4 Followers

HIGHEST MONTHLY READERSHIP:

746x in September, 2011

TOP 10 MOST READ POSTS:

627x Volunteer Appreciation Luncheon Invitation & Program

247x Black History Month Flyer

108x Library Fire Evacuation Floorplans

106x Women's History Month Display

104x QR Codes in the Library

85x Library Summer Reading Program, 2011

83x Staff Farewell Card

76x Going Green at the Library

64x Micanopy Library Re-Opening Sign & Invitation

58x Designer on Display: A View into the Designer's Natural Habitat

HOW MANY TIMES IT HAS BEEN LOOKED AT / TOTAL PAGE VIEWS: 5,486

TOP 10 PAGE VIEWS BY COUNTRY:

3,123 United States

344 India

208 Canada

165 United Kingdom

100 Australia

86 Germany

71 Russia

70 Singapore

67 Philippines

66 Malaysia

WHO'S LOOKED AT IT (COMPLETE AUDIENCE BY COUNTRIES): 

Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Bangladesh, Belgium, Botswana, Brunei, Bulgaria, Brazil, Cambodia, Canada, China, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Dominica, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Guatemala, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Kenya, Latvia, Lebanon, Lesotho, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mexico, Mongolia, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Vietnam, and Zimbabwe.

PAGE VIEWS BY BROWSERS:

46% Internet Explorer (2,548 views)        <1% Chromeframe (6)

20% Firefox (1,126)                                     <1% Mobile Safari (4)

19% Safari (1,059)                                      <1% GranParadiso (2)

11% Chrome (648)                                     <1% Maxthon (2)

1% Opera (86)                                             <1% Mobile (2)

PAGE VIEWS BY OPERATING SYSTEMS:

87% Windows (4,754 views)

9% Macintosh (544)

1% Linux (93)

<1% iPad (26)

<1% Other Unix (18)

<1% iPhone (11)

<1% Android (8)

<1% Palm (3)

<1% Windows NT 6.1 (3)

<1% iPod (2)

TOP REFERRING SITES:

1,551x google.com

310x google.co.in (India)

171x google.ca (Canada)

100x google.co.uk (United Kingdom)

95x bing.com

76x google.com.au (Australia)

51x google.com.ph (Philippines)                     

47x search.yahoo.com

45x google.com.sg (Singapore)

38x spencefarm.blogspot.com

MOST SEARCHED KEYWORDS

24x volunteer appreciation invitation                 9x black history month

15x volunteer appreciation invitations               8x black history month flyer

11x volunteer luncheon invitations                     8x volunteer luncheon invitation

10x library graphic design                                    7x appreciation lunch invitation

10x qr code poster                                                 7x appreciation luncheon invitation

Hurricane Tracker Map 2011

A large format poster was created to track hurricanes in the youth services section of the library.

Just in time for Hurricane Irene, one of our youth services librarians requested the creation of a large format map of the Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean, and eastern seaboard of the United States. This map would be used to track paths taken by hurricanes during the 2011 hurricane season.

A young boy works on the computer under the
hurricane tracker display poster.

The librarian submitted a map to me that she had found and liked, but it was a relatively small .jpg file—certainly one that wouldn't enlarge to the requested 10x5 foot size needed. So I sourced domain free vector art websites and found an alternative map that had great graphic appeal and wouldn't lose any integrity in its line work when being enlarged.

She liked the alternate map too, and, after some modifications, I printed it out in three 10 foot x 36 inch strips, then taped them together to create one large poster. Additional signs would be created to provide more information about hurricanes as well.

We pinned the poster up on the wall about a week before Hurricane Irene formed. After the storm blew through the New England states, I revisited the map to see if the storm trek had been posted. Sure enough it had; hurricane symbols followed the path indicated by yellow yarn arching up the coast of the United States. And there were others too...names of hurricanes I didn't even know had occurred. How could I have missed news of them...where had I been? Well, certainly not in front of the Hurricane Tracker 2011 map!

If the librarians take good care of the map and store it well, they can make use of it again in coming years. No dated information was placed on it that couldn't be covered up with a simple patch of new text written on it. So for the low, low cost of producing this in-house cheaply (ink and paper) and with free art, it could be a good investment for years to come.

Installed wall view with computer terminals in front.

Closer look at the map with hurricane treks in place.

THINK... Library Newsletter / Program Guide, Spring 2011

Front cover

The Spring 2011 issue of the ACLD library newsletter / program guide is due to arrive any day. This issue gives acknowledgement to the ACLD's 25th Anniversary and reports on some of its major accomplishments--past and present--since its inception. On the cover, I used an image of an open book, and on back showed the spines of 25 books stacked on each other to create a timeline. Each spine contains the mention of one major highlight or milestone from that year. Both photos were public domain photos. The book spine was originally taken from a larger photo; I copied out two different book spines, scaled them vertically to be narrower, and repeat duplicated them as shown below until they could fit within my newsletter space.

Back cover

Number of Library Graphic Designers in the US?

How many libraries are there in the US?

122,566.

The American Library Association (ALA) estimates there are 122,566 libraries in the US: 9,214 public, 3,827 academic, 99,180 school libraries, 8,906 special libraries, 289 Armed Force libraries and 1,150 government libraries. The largest library in America is the Library of Congress, with over 32 million volumes, followed by Harvard University and Boston Public Library, both having over 15 million volumes.

With this many libraries in the United States, I would think there must be a variety of recognition events at local and national levels. Like any good award ceremony, I would expect there to be a variety of categories to compete and gain recognition in too. 

So when I received a system-wide email today from one of my librarian colleagues indicating that she was on the Library Association’s 2011 Awards Committee, I wasn't surprised. She wanted to encourage everyone to check out the awards offered. I did, and noticed these were the award categories:

• FLA Leader of the Year
• Librarian of the Year
• Library of the Year
• Lifetime Achievement
• Outstanding Citizen
• Friends, Foundations and Boards Outstanding Member
• Intellectual Freedom
• Library Web Site
• Maria Chavez-Hernandez "Libraries Change Peoples' Lives"
• Exemplary Learning Design
• Library Innovation Award
• Outstanding Business/Media Partner Award

Member Group Awards

• Betty Davis Miller Youth Services Member Group
• Awards given by Friends Foundations and Boards Member Group

Of course, I noticed there were no awards given for publicity and marketing of libraries--particularly in the visual realm. The closest thing that came to it was "Library Web Site," which also included the component of "creativity and/or innovation in overall design and appearance of the web site."

Now, I'm not surprised that there are no design awards related to library marketing. Really. I hadn't expected there would be. But I couldn't help to wonder again--as I have done from time-to-time: how many graphic designers work for libraries? Maybe I can track down someone in the ALA that can find out for me. What do you think the number might be? 50%? 25%? 10%? 2%? My curiosity is growing, so I'm going on the hunt to find out. Stay tuned!

A Little About MY Library

The Alachua County Library District (ACLD) is the sole provider of public library services to approximately 250,000 citizens in Alachua County, an area of approximately 965 square miles in north central Florida.


ACLD has 11 branch locations throughout Alachua County, including: in Alachua, Archer, Hawthorne, High Springs, Micanopy, Newberry, Waldo, and four locations in Gainesville. The library also operates two bookmobiles, multiple deposit collections throughout the county, and provides library service to inmates of the Alachua County Jail through an interlocal agreement with the Alachua County Sheriff's department.


In 2007-08, 70% of the county population were registered borrowers of the library. In 2008-2009, visits by patrons district-wide totaled 1,404,869--accounting for a visit rate of 5.48 per capita, and borrowing rate of 11.34 items per capita.


The 2010 collection and materials account for a circulation figure of over 3 million items. At the headquarters branch alone, average monthly circulation is between 90,000 to 125,000, monthly reference questions are between 10,000 to 30,000, public programs or events range between 8-20 per week, and public computers range between 55 to 85.


The Library District offers borrowing privileges free of charge to any resident of the State of Florida. Through reciprocal borrowing agreements, Alachua County citizens may borrow from library systems in these surrounding counties: Baker, Bradford, Clay, Columbia, Dixie, Gilchrist, Lafayette, Levy, Marion, Putnam and Union. Additionally, Alachua County citizens may borrow materials from public libraries in Nassau, St. Johns, Flagler and Hendry counties, which also offer free borrowing privileges to Florida residents.


In addition to reciprocal borrowing agreements, the Library District has contracts with the Murphree Law Library, the Matheson Historical Center and the Civic Media Center which provide for the inclusion of the collections owned and maintained by these organizations to be listed in the District’s online catalog.


The ACLD is an independent special taxing district that derives nearly all its revenue for ongoing operations and capital development from one source…property taxes. In 2007-08, ACLD local funding support per capita was the highest of the top 10 Florida libraries, at $62.09. In 2009, the ACLD Technical Services department successfully administered a materials budget of slightly over 1.6 million dollars.


In 2010, the ACLD was named a Florida Library Association Florida Library of the Year. It also helped the city of Gainesville garner one of  America's Promise Alliance's “100 Best Communities in America for Young People” by being a key component of the award criteria.


In September 2010, ACLD's Library Partnership branch was recognized by Harvard’s Bright Ideas Program for providing services to the community through the coordination of multiple agencies at a one-stop center. Bright Ideas is an initiative of the Ash Center’s Innovations in Government Program, which spotlights exemplary models of government innovation based upon four criteria (Novelty, Effectiveness, Significance and Transferability) and advances efforts to address the nation’s most pressing public concerns. The Library Partnership was selected because of its innovative concept of offering centralized social services through a neighborhood resource center combined with a full-service public library branch. Agencies refer clients to library staff who assist with online applications for benefits and jobs, provide literacy and computer training and offer other ways to assist families in need.


In March 2011, it was reported to me that the ACLD benefited in 2010 from the service of 2,495 volunteers who provided over 22,314 hours of service to the library system, equal to that of 10.5 full-time staff positions.