Library Presentation Pocket Folder Design

Design of a new pocket folder incorporated elements taken from the recognizable past 
(watercolour image of Headquarters Library) and recently emphasized (mission statement 
language used in a bold corporate colour scheme) for a more dynamic marketing tool.

Want a way to keep yourself organized and be remembered at the same time? Consider a pocket folder, the relatively inexpensive stationery tool that can carry your essentials while also delivering your organizational image and branded message at the same time.

Pocket folders are a great way to present a collection of otherwise separate, loose documents together all in one convenient manner. They also offer an excellent opportunity to act as a "leave behind" product that can extend your organization's visibility well beyond the event at which they are first received. Use the folder to present information to people at meetings and events. Once the event is over and the shelf life of the information contained within expires, the pocket folder could potentially live on to remain useful by both containing new information and by continuing to keep your image in view. 

When I had the opportunity to redesign the corporate pocket folder for the Alachua County Library District, I reviewed the existing folder. It was about as minimal in design concept and material use as you could possibly imagine. It literally only printed its logo in one colour on the cover and inside pocket, and the paper choice appeared to be a flimsy, 8 point coated cover stock. Any thinner and it would have been a piece of writing paper. The message it presented was that the library, while getting kudos for being thrifty, was also being exceptionally cheap and unimaginative. 

I wanted to redesign the folder do some work for the library. I felt it was important to maximize the opportunity to be not only a practical tool, but also one that brought two existing and easily identifiable branding visual elements that had yet to be seen together into the presentation. The folder could act as "a bridge" by bringing together these two visual components of the library's visual branding elements: an old watercolour image and a new graphic presentation style dominated by bold colours, typographic styling and a newly refined logo treatment.

One of the library's long-standing and most recognizable images was use of a watercolour painting of its Headquarters building. It was the image that appeared on every personal library card, so it would be easily identified on the folder. You can see how the library card looks here:
http://librarymarketingdesign.blogspot.com/2010/11/library-card-month-display-september.htmlhttp://librarymarketingdesign.blogspot.com/2010/11/library-card-month-display-september.html

Another more recently developed branding piece the library was beginning to use was its new welcome brochure. It utilized a bold colour scheme and prominently featured three important words identified in its mission statement: "participate, connect and discover." You can see how the welcome brochure looks here:
http://librarymarketingdesign.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-evolution-of-library-welcome.html

The watercolour image of Headquarters Library had been used for years, but it was both small in dimension and low in resolution too. It wouldn't scale up to a 10x14 inch pocket folder size without becoming noticeably pixilated, so I requested the Library Foundation—which had the original artwork—to allow me to photograph the painting. That way, I could start with a much larger, higher resolution image and save it for future projects as well. Once I received the original painting, I discovered that I couldn't remove it from its glass covered frame without tearing off a backing paper that sealed the painting to the frame. I had hoped to avoid shooting through glass because of the potential for light reflections and mirroring. Nevertheless, I managed to shoot the painting at an angle to avoid those things, then used Photoshop to correct the slightly perspective-distorted digital image created from shooting the watercolour at an angle.

The library also had two versions of its logos: one with its name under a book, and one with its name and a tag line to the side of a book. I recently updated both of these logos so they could seen better when displayed small. I had removed portions of the original book rendering and increased line weights for greater visibility so they would reduce instances of lines disappearing when displayed small. 

I wanted the redesigned pocket folder to have a colourful and bold quality like the recently created welcome brochure. To achieve that, I used big, diagonally placed bands of the same primary and secondary corporate colours to contain the mission statement words. The words were set using the library's corporate bold italic Arial font style. I angled the colour bands upwards from the back (where the words would be seen) to cross over the upper left of the front (where one of the bands would contain the corporate logo + tagline). This would allow me to utilize the space well and in an energetic manner, and to visually connect the front to the back of the folder. I duplicated and flipped the watercolour image so that it created a continual, seamless background image behind the diagonal text bands. This also allowed the roof of the building to poke up from behind the colour bands which was important for when the folder was viewed only on the back side.

Inside, the two, five inch pocket flaps would use the two primary corporate colours, display the primary corporate logo (the one that doesn't use the tagline), and offer a place for inserting a business card into die cut slits. 

For paper, I chose a heavier 12 point coated cover stock to make the folder sturdier and to appear more luxurious. Because the paper stock was already coated, I could leave one side unprinted to save on printing cost, knowing that the unprinted side would still present nicely due to its already coated sheen. The inked side was coated with an additional aqueous clear coat after printing to help reduce fingerprint smudging and to protect the printed surface.

Hopefully, this design example shows that although the pocket folder may be just paper, when used well it can go a long way to deliver not only your news, but how you want to be remembered too.

Before and after: the redesigned pocket folder (top three items)
along with the older pocket folder (bottom two white items).

Library Recruitment Job Fair Poster Designs

Four posters derived from Welcome Brochure styling and coupled with
visuals from the employee recruitment campaign worked together to promote
an increased effort to develop consistent brand elements for the library.

A representative of our library needed marketing materials to display at a local job fair and asked what we had to offer. Aside from the usual pens, pencils, magnets and such take-away chotskies, we only had a selection of collection and service brochures and handouts to offer. Unfortunately, our newly redesigned welcome brochure was still in the process of being finalized and printed, so it was unavailable at the time.

On site photo shows posters as used
in the folding presentation display.

The job fair would have been a prime venue to have offered welcome brochures, but in lieu of them, I suggested we utilize the design esthetics of the welcome brochure and incorporate those elements in with our recently developed employee recruitment effort, the "I Am The Library" campaign. Combining elements of each together could build a visual bridge between the two projects and strength the message that everyone is welcome, and that "you too can be a part of the library."

The vehicle for delivery of that message would be in the form of a four panel presentation display that could be set on top of a table. On each 18x24 inch panel of the display, a poster could be placed to identify potential job titles for job seekers, to provide a general message and website address directing seekers where to keep an eye out for such openings, and to present the testimonials of current staff members about why they like being a part of the organization. Independently as well as collectively, the posters would work to introduce the library in short, succinct ways to active browsers as they passed by in a crowded, bustling environment. 

People pass by the display at the job fair, providing a sense of scale
to the display. At this distance, poster text is easily read.

As it has increasingly become, the production window for the project required a quick turnaround. Text and visuals were created, vetted, and posters printed for assimilation in only a couple of days time. The result was a simple and modestly sophisticated presentation that brought attention to itself through the use of large visual elements on bold backgrounds related to our print, online, and television recruitment campaign and the branding design elements put forth through the welcome brochure and other promotional marketing templates available to all branch staff.

Library Marketing Templates... = Design “Magic”?

Above, the full range of monthly event sign template sets. Each branch library received
four coloured choices to select from for display of their monthly calendar of events.
For branches that required two sizes of signs, a template set for each size was created.

Unbelievably, I've been away from Library Graphic Design since the middle of August. Now, here it is the middle of October. Believe me, it hasn't been because of lack of work to show. No, quite the opposite in fact. In the 21 days of work immediately after my last post I'd completed 97+ projects and had more pouring in by the day. In the month of September, I tread the proverbial waters with over 80 projects in the works, and in October over 90 projects were in production (and only a count of projects, not including components of projects, for which one example is shown above).

This kind of project quantity has led to the discussion of how such a level can be sustained without burning out the single designer generating the creative for it. One of the more palatable options was to put the power into the hands of people wanting publicity materials when the designer could do no more. By this I mean create basic document templates that any staff member could use to expound upon to develop specific marketing materials when those items could get by without requiring the creative skills a designer. 

The template is a document that places important, standard elements into a format that becomes the base design that should be maintained for purposes of brand consistency and recognition from one project to the next. Having these standard elements already in place diminishes the chance that they will be inadvertently left off by the subsequent user of the document, while leaving room where users can place whatever additional elements they want in order to make each project unique.

One set of branded marketing materials for one of the 12 branch libraries
shows the uniformity of design that carries through from (left to right):
11x17 inch sign, 8.5x11 inch sign, quarter page handbills, and book cards.

To make these templates available to all staff, however, means the designer overseeing consistent brand development first has to create them. And in order to develop the entire complement of no less than eight branded documents specific to each of the 12-branch library system, 204 individual final documents had to be delivered to the branches. And in order to do that, the full process involved creation of 612 separate files. So initially, the effort to reduce work overload ironically actually significantly contributed to a work overload. Few people realize this is the process required as part of a holistic branding effort by the designer to provide the one or two materials that any single individual user might utilize on the rare occasion they need it.

This example demonstrates how one 8.5x11 inch page 
renders three book cards for one of the 12 branch libraries.

Once in place, however, one hopes these templates will be used by the non-design staff to help reduce work primarily done by the designer. It also gives people who perceive a template as meaning the work is virtually finished and "all you have to do is..." an opportunity to experience and appreciate first-hand for themselves what that "all" actually involves in the remaining development of project. The "magic" patina of a template will quickly wear off to reveal the reality of the remaining content development, information/presentation judgment, and production work left to be done before it reaches the hands of the public consumer.

This example shows how one 8.5x11 inch page renders four
quarter page handbills using the branded design template.

In my case, the process of developing branded marketing materials involves creating each design using the layout program InDesign, then saving the work as an image and importing it into a Microsoft Publisher layout. Creating the branded content as an image helps remove the possibility that it would be altered—or worse, left off the marketing piece entirely. The collective group of documents are then placed in folders on an intranet server for the appropriate branch staff to have access to. And if someone accidentally deletes or otherwise mucks up a document, I can redistribute a copy of the master document that I retain.

The drawback to releasing templates to non-design staff is that quality control is significantly diminished. Templates rely on others at every possible level of technical experience and visual savvy to exercise good judgement on the quality and quantity of visuals and information presented on the documents. Rarely would these documents be submitted to the design department for review and comment. Instead, the materials would simply appear wherever they are locally created and corporate brand managers would just have to hope for the best.

After the fact, perhaps there could be opportunity for review and give advice, but it is unlikely since these items would rarely be sent to the marketing department unless otherwise requested or required as part of the process. This would be a decision left to a marketing manager to decide on its importance for publicity and brand management. Additionally, with an ever-changing workforce, educating staff who might potentially create marketing materials would become a never-ending exercise in itself that still couldn't guarantee premium results. It would also replace the workload of one kind with the workload of another, which wouldn't necessarily provide the solution initially sought (to reduce the workload of the designer). At that point, the designer would effectively become a design manager—an additional role and scope of work not initially accounted for.

At least with the branded content consistently formatted from one piece to another, this treatment will aid in building brand recognition and provide actionable information (contact information and website address) for viewers to refer to whenever unique design and information is unclear.

The Evolution of a Library Welcome Brochure

Three generations of welcome brochures for the Alachua County Library District.

Oldest Welcome Brochure version.

In mid-2011 our library district began running low on of our long-used Welcome Brochure. Since we had used it for so long, we wanted to take the opportunity to update some of the language regarding basic services and information. But before that happened, content writers (administration, public services, and public relations/marketing) wanted to get a sense of what kind of space there would be for the text. 

Before I could begin designing it, however, I needed to know what their presentation and content expectations were for it, so I asked for a design brief to detail what should be removed and included. This way I would be working with at least some idea of what they wanted, rather than working in a total fantasy world and producing a solution that would have to be completely revamped later. The essentials they wanted included: redesign of a two-colour, 14x8.5 inch, quad-paneled brochure with no bleeds and a new selection of existing photos, preferably with unrecognizable people; inclusion of the library logo prominently displayed; use of the brand slogan ...thinking outside of the book; the website address; a listing of all the branch libraries, their locations, phone numbers and hours; text large enough for easy reading. And oh, by the way, they were in a big hurry for it too. 

Duotone 2011 redesign of original Welcome Brochure.

I referred to the current brochure (cover seen at top left image) and used the information it had in it to create a new design mock-up for their reference and use in determining the amount of space remaining for language content. The design utilized new selections of black/white photography on the inside and duotones I created from a set of familiar full colour watercolour renderings of each branch building on the cover. It was ugly, but it answered their brief the way they wanted it to.

After some weeks, new language was vetted, approved, and submitted for placing into the brochure. After design tweaks were applied, it was submitted for approval and accepted. Once the final English language version was approved, a second Spanish language version was to be created by having a staff member translate all the language into Spanish. Another month or so went by before we received the Spanish translation, after which I used a copy of the English language brochure to flow in the Spanish language. Spanish language typically reads longer than English, so adjustments were made to the layout to accommodate the text, then it too was submitted for approval.

New Welcome Brochure 2012 exterior design.
Bottom panel folds upward, away from viewer.

About that time, there was some discussion about how a change in the language regarding a safety procedure might be needed to be reviewed and updated in order to be correct, but that required library board vetting and approval before it could be confirmed. So the Spanish language version was put on hold. Weeks turned into months, and by the time five months rolled around when the board finally got to the safety issue and resolved the language, the library district was completely out of welcome brochures. Hmmm....

Finally, in a model demonstration of speed and efficiency, the brochure design file (cover seen at top center image) flew from my desk to the printer lickity-split for a press run of 5,000 copies once the new safety text was set into the brochure and approved for release.

When I received the redesigned duotone brochure, I instantly hated it. The cover elements were off-center—something you couldn't detect from the printer's .pdf proof; the contrast in the duotone watercolours was flat and dull; the text a boring series of bulleted, itemized lists; and the photography boring and uninspiring. Nothing was "warm and fuzzy" about this brochure. And worst of all, in an effort to keep costs as low as possible, the paper stock was about the lowest possible grammage available at a flimsy 60lb text stock. In short, from a design (and what I consider a branding/pr/marketing) standpoint, I considered the brochure horrible...seriously horrible.

New Welcome Brochure 2012 interior design.
Bottom half folds upward, toward viewer, allowing
three mission statement words to remain visible.

By July of 2012, when the library district was running low on copies of the new duotone brochure and wanted another round of reprints, I simply couldn't contain myself. I had to let requesting parties know my feelings about how tragic I regarded the welcome brochure design to be. I couldn't stand the idea of that it would continue to be used to promote our library. In my opinion, the message it sent was "we are a cheap and unsophisticated library, and that's how we regard you too." If that was what they wanted to put out there, fine. But I had to at least put my point of view out there for a little reality check. 

I designed a new welcome brochure over the course of a couple of days. I took the necessary text, regrouped it into new sections based on the library's mission statement, and highlighted them in bright, cheerful colours. I wrote an introductory welcome paragraph, added a branch location map, removed the dreary photography, and organized it all into a more interesting folding layout. I even modified the standard logo so it would finally reproduce better when seen at smaller sizes and reversed it out of the background. It was a tri-panel brochure with an additional uneven vertical fold measuring roughly 10.5x15.5 inches when open. It was simple yet modestly sophisticated, with neatly organized essential information and some actual welcoming text. It also avoided the pitfalls of tacky clip art and poor quality photography as a result of being too cost-conscious to consider hiring a professional photographer with proper equipment to take good quality shots.

Top: printed brochure exterior unfolded. 
Bottom: flip side of the unfolded exterior shows
interior side with long panel folded upward.

I then asked for an audience with the senior staff who were responsible for putting together content and approving funding for the brochure. Before I showed them my redesign, I set out on a table one at a time a selection of brochures from other local similar level organizations to show the level of presentation and sophistication they offered. They all looked acceptably decent for what they were. I then showed the duotone version of our welcome brochure and sat back for a moment to let them take it all in. I already knew what the impact would be.

I asked which organizations caught their interest and appealed to them based on how their brochures looked. I told them: "if we are going to welcome people to the library, why don't we do it like we mean it? Why don't we show them how much we care about them by showing how much we care about how we appear to them in our branding effort by using a nice looking brochure? It will be one of the first items given to them when they become a visitor or patron. It will represent the quality of our library. Because of that, it shouldn't be some flimsy, cheap looking piece of bond paper printed off an office copier." I had to say these things because it was true, and because I was embarrassed for us whenever I saw that brochure. It was terrible. They agreed; we looked cheap, uninspiring, and barely even sincerely welcoming. 

Top: printed unfolded exterior. 
Bottom: flip side of the exterior
 shows interior fully opened.

Once it was agreed that a new direction was needed, I was ready to pull out my more colourful redesigned welcome brochure. I went over how it addressed and improved upon all the deficient points of the previous brochure. I even went over how printing it on a heavier weight paper and/or textured paper could enhance the presentation of the brochure. The way the brochure folded even allowed for it to wrap around and package a patron's new library card when it was issued. The design direction and talking points were all well received and it was agreed that we would pursue the new redesign instead of a reprint of the previous duotone "ASAP" brochure. Believe me, I was very relieved.

I contacted the printer to ask for a selection of papers from their stock that interested me. Once received, we selected a couple of papers that appeared to have a suitable weight that was within our budget. I then asked the printer to send new unprinted samples of the selected paper cut to the correct dimension and machine folded so that I could assess the folds for any splitting along the seams. It took a couple of weeks before I received a selection of blank, poorly hand-folded papers. I could see that the preferred heavier weight paper would crack far too much along the folds, so I went back to the paper samples to find lighter weight versions and asked to receive new samples of lighter weight stocks along with estimates for printing. 

Another couple weeks passed before the next set of folded papers arrived. Fortunately, one of the selections appeared to be suitable in weight and price. After it was approved by the library client, I sent my design file to the printer for the next step in the process: having them create a digital print of the brochure and mailing a physical proof to me for a final review. Once received, I could assess it to make certain it was folded and trimmed properly, that the colour panels were the correct dimensions and didn't bleed into the panel space of other colours, and that fine lines in the art elements didn't fill in or wash out. I didn't want to leave any stone unturned for quality control checks. With a print run of 10,000 copies, I didn't want to spend another year feeling as badly about this welcome brochure as I did the last one. After this version was printed, we'd move on to creating its companion Spanish language version. That is, if we'd commit ourselves and the funds to it. If not, well, there's always the flimsy, two-colour duotone version to fall back on. But we all know what that says about us and how important you are to us too.

Library Rules: Library Conduct Signage Design

A new conduct sign was created in three sizes to be displayed in library environments.

As we all know, the library has always been a place where people could go for reading. In order to do that, a certain amount of ambient quiet has always been encouraged in library settings. Earlier generations of visiting patrons used to be more restrained and considerate about noise. But with the passage of time, the evolution of library services and activities that include much more than reading—as well as generational changes in behaviour—the rise in noise has increased in the library setting.


I'm sure few librarians relish the task of enforcing library rules of conduct, but this has fallen upon them as first responders to violations. After that, reinforcements—additional library staff, managers, private security, and even city police are called if needed. Problem behaviour reports are then generated and even no trespassing violations are issued to serious or repeat offenders.


Library staff look for ways to reduce their front-line involvement, as well as a way to validate interjecting themselves into problem behaviour situations. Often, violators will feign not knowing rules exist for simple common sense and courteous behaviours. A way to address this lack of knowledge and to raise awareness about what isn't acceptable public behaviour is by posting rules where patrons will see them.


Unfortunately, when a code of conduct sign is installed, it is all too easy for patrons to not  notice a sign in a location that displays the rules. I can empathize with patrons who might miss seeing such a sign due to the visual assault I see myself when upon walking in to some libraries. There is simply way too much material clutter to take everything all at once—especially if standing in a room to read all the signs posted everywhere isn't your primary reason for coming to the library.

Whether or not patrons actually see a conduct sign or not, there is no way for library enforcement to guarantee they have. Therefore, librarians request additional signs be placed in all areas where undesirable behaviours occur. Then, when signs are placed there and problem behaviours continue, they ask that the signs be made bigger.


One can easily see where this escalation in signage creation and placement is going and ultimately how ridiculous it will become. Because at the end of the day, no matter how many signs you make, nor how big you make them, there will always be some problem behaviour visitor who will say they didn't see a conduct sign or know the rules (when in fact, it would be almost impossible not to know).


Finding a suitable informational vs. aesthetic balance is always a challenge I face as a designer. Whereas librarians want multiple, large signs conveniently placed within eyesight and an easy finger-pointing distance away for when they have to address behaviourly-challenged patrons, I want fewer and less conspicuous signage that doesn't add to the already volumnous clutter on display in the library environment. I believe that the exercise in behaviour modeling should be in continually educating the public about conduct rules without posting a written message over every available surface of the library. This will undoubtedly continue to be the ever-present debate between first-line responders who must manage patron behaviour, and designers who must manage aesthetics.

The early conduct sign I inherited when arriving at the ACLD.

For our library, no conduct signs had ever been created for consistent district-wide use. The closest that had been developed to date was the "please be considerate" sign which was used in a couple of  libraries. Later, different libraries would request signs with different messages that pertained to specific offending behaviours they wanted to address. This resulted in a variety of ad hok, unrelated new sign designs and sizes, with new language on them—none of which looked like they belonged to the same corporate organization.


After getting requests for more different signs, I asked that the district approve development of a standard sign design that would be used district-wide. The first requirement was to reduce the 33-odd formally identified rules of conduct down to a more manageable top 10 or less—otherwise the sign would either have to be very large and dimensionally impractical, or the text would have to be very small and ineffective for reading. We needed a sign, not a memo.

A conduct sign to address specific single rules.

Next was to develop a simple and recognizable style that utilized the corporate brand elements—logo, type face, colour—one which reflected the corporate identity design sensibilities. I first proposed a sign style (seen right), and later  was asked if I could include pictogram elements to further illustrate each behaviour for quick identification. The result was the sign at the top of this blog post.


The sizes this sign design was applied to include 1): a 20x30 inch large format poster that would be placed in a glass enclosed pedestal display at the entrance of the Headquarters Library; 2) a 5x6 inch small sign that could be wall mounted in a variety of locations in every library; and 3) the same 5x6 inch sign image used as the screen saver on computer monitors.

Featured In Friends of the Library Newsletter

In July I was featured in the Spotlight on Library Staff section of the Getting to Know You page of the Friends of the Library newsletter. Why the new edition coming out in July says "April 2011" on the banner, however, I have no clue.


Also, never mind that I had to write my own write-up; what was important was that although I meet people from the Friends of the Library and the library district branches, in most cases my contact with them is fleeting and in very specific, project-focused meetings that leave little time for getting to know one another more fully. The Spotlight provided a small opportunity for those who might be interested to get a better sense of my past credentials and interests both in and out of the library. It offered an additional "peek" into both professional and personal sides of my life that could be appreciated and a potential source for connecting further with whomever I may come in contact with as I help the library reach out to others.


This FOL newsletter is the last print issue to automatically be sent to recipients without special request; all others can receive electronic copies by emailing a request to folmembership@yahoo.com. Whew! I made it just in the nick of time. I'm in real print.


For the digital divide, however, here's the text as it appeared in the print edition:


Spotlight on Library Staff

Scot Sterling

Position: Graphic Designer, Headquarters Administration

Background: Joined the ACLD staff in July 2010 after volunteering part-time for 18 months at the Headquarters Library.

I've had both typical and atypical connections to libraries: joining summer reading programs as a youth, attending community performances and events as an adult, logging long hours of study and writing research papers for a bachelor degree in visual communications, then later for a professional certificate and continued medical education credits in diagnostic medical ultrasound. As a college student I worked two summers as a book binder at the University of Kansas library; years later I provided professional design services to the national library system of Singapore. Lastly--believe it or not-- my mother even works as a library communications specialist.

My career as a designer has focused on providing visual solutions for promotional marketing and editorial publishing needs. I’ve worked in many creative environments including advertising agencies, branding consultancies, public relations firms, in-house corporate communications departments, consumer and trade newspaper and magazine publishers, and as an independent freelancer.

The diversity of my work has taken me to equally diverse locations, including Kansas, Texas, New York, Florida, Singapore, and Bangkok, Thailand. While in Singapore, I served as creative director of a branding consultancy that provided design services for the National Library Board--the corporate entity that governs Singapore's entire library system. While there, I helped to define NLB's corporate and retail branding strategies, develop internal and external communications vehicles, and implement display and directional signage for the then 22-branch system which included one national library, three regional libraries, and 18 community libraries.

In my time away from the library, I share down-time with my wife, Sirima. In May 2011, we returned from Thailand where we act as stewards of the family estate. There, we renovated and expanded the family house, and prepared to plant an orchard of 420 rubber trees for future investment. Later, an additional 5,180 trees may be planted, pending acquisition of another property near our home. In time I suspect I’ll be visiting the village school library too; I just donated my old college English dictionary to it.

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

The library (read: the marketing & promotions / design department) produces a 12-page quarterly newsletter/program guide called "THINK...". The inner most four pages are printed in one colour--usually black--and the outer eight pages in full colour.


The guide reports on current and upcoming news, events, programs and information related largely to a common theme. The first issue I produced was for the Autumn 2010 which focused on environmental "green" issues. The following issue for Winter 2011 focused on job search and career building assistance.


Prior to my arrival as the district's graphic designer, this publication was a virtual bouquet of visual elements, apparently trying to squeeze the most out of the department's wealth of fonts and clip art--all in one issue. The menagerie of unrelated visuals reminded me of a grandmother's china cabinet collection of ceramic chotskies.


My goal was to refine the publication by reducing the large number of display fonts in favor of using a set standard of fonts as identified by the corporate identity standards, and by using more contemporary photography, illustration and clip art. The end result aimed to make the publication look more up-to-date, more in step with a sophisticated readership audience, and to polish up the public image of the library district.

In previous issues, the name of the publication itself had not even established a consistent styling, ranging from serif to san serif fonts in different sizes. My first goal was to establish this element as a strong visual. Because I wanted a strong impact, I went with a san serif bold font from the Arial family--a font that was already part of the corporate identity standard. 


Additionally, because the library incorporated the tag line: "...thinking outside the book" I wanted to refer back to that concept by setting the word "THINK" into a rectangular "book" shape, and allowing the ellipsis typographical mark "..." to remain outside of the book, as if to say "Think...outside of the book." The connection between the ellipsis and the box itself would be established by utilizing the same background/interior pattern or image. So for example, if the rectangular "book" had a green leaf in it, an extension of the same image would be captured within the confines of the ellipsis as well. It the box was a solid colour, the ellipsis would share that same box colour.


Serving as an additional accent that could vary from issue-to-issue, a symbol relating to the issue's theme could also be placed above the letter "i" as if it were the dot to that typographical character. I worked up about 20 variations of these nameplate designs to present to my supervisor to show its versatility and appeal. Some boxes used solid colours, some images. Each had it's own "i" dot icon related to a variety of seasonal or social references. Thankfully, it was immediately accepted and approved.


Thinking about what to do with the remaining space adjacent to the THINK...name plate, I chose to create a second "rectangle" composed of text that teased to the interior contents. To differentiate from one teased item to the next, I would vary the text colour, but keep each reference within the same colour family--all blues or all reds for example. This relative consistency would unify the text as a single visual item. And as it worked out, the natural reading flow would read: "THINK...(and then the items to be thought over). In time, I would offer each text reference in different colours that were derived from whatever cover image I used.


With the nameplate worked out, it allowed the largest square area of the cover to be designed as required by the issue's theme.

Signage: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

Above: nine panels of a PowerPoint presentation, using images from the movie The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly to highlight examples of library signage. 

Thinking about clear, cohesive signage as part of my work in Singapore definitely reinforced my appreciation not only for its importance and impact on the public, but also about the kind of materials which were technically important for durability and to thwart vandalism as well. Developing a unified and consistent approach to how a corporation’s signage program is presented not only reinforces the effectiveness of the signage itself, but also projects a perception of a company’s level of attention and service to the public. Signage is just one aspect of the total package used to project the corporate image out into the public.

Where I work now for the Alachua County Library District in Gainesville, Florida, signage is everywhere at the 11 library branch locations. You could even honestly say that signage has run amuck for them. There is all kinds of signage, ranging from essential way-finding signs, all the way down to how much a copy machine costs to use. Much of the essential, legitimate signage is old and in need of being freshening up. Other signage is placed in locations and in such hap-hazard ways that they leave a person scratching their head, perplexed as if to say: what were they thinking? High on this list include signs produced by librarians on-the-run, responding to short-term problems with short-term solutions, often using whatever rudimentary computer text and decorating skills they have, then printing 8.5x11 inch signs out of the office printer—or worse yet—hand writing messages onto torn paper or Post-It notes. Occasionally, these solutions wind-up becoming semi-permanent fixtures in the public space. I cringe at the thought of all of these whenever I encounter them. Often, the word “tacky” rushes to my mind.

On the flip side of things, the library's display signage for collections, events and services is warm and welcoming in a home-made “crafty” sort of way (because that is essentially what it is—a lot of coloured butcher paper, print-outs, and Ellison cut stencil lettering like you might imagine being used on elementary/primary school bulletin boards. For better or worse, our library certainly won’t be mistaken for a high-end, slick retail space. 

I wouldn’t mind raising the aesthetics bar higher, however, so I have been compiling a selection of photos taken of signage throughout the our Headquarters Library branch to use in a PowerPoint presentation to highlight what I think examples of good, bad, and downright ugly use of signage has been in our library. I included bulleted discussion points of what makes signage effectively good, and what makes signage poor or ineffective. Over time, I plan to expand my appeal beyond my empathetic supervisor (with her assistance) for a more unified, cohesive branded approach to the use of signs throughout the library district.

Now, for most people, the design and development of informational signage is understandably boring. Either they don’t design or create signs, or they have little creative, technical, or material experience with the process of sign making. This is understandable, so in an attempt to liven up my presentation, I incorporated it into a tongue-in-cheek movie theater theme, featuring images of an indoor movie theater and screen, followed by images borrowed from the movie The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly. 

The title just worked so perfectly, I thought, and that is how I divided up my presentation, with bulleted points on each slide to reinforce the themed category I place them in. This presentation may never see the light of day; it might be revamped, toned down, or made more palatable to corporate viewing tastes. But for now it has been fun to work with and I think if nothing else, a way to open the eyes of the few who make decisions about the brand experience of the library either through signage directives or purchasing.