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.

My Singapore Library Connection

I recently noticed that one of my blog viewers was located in Singapore. What a coincidence! I thought, because my first experience designing for libraries actually occurred while I worked in Singapore as design director of a small creative design and branding studio called WordMaker Design, Pte Ltd.


WMD had been started by K.C. Chew about 25 years earlier as a typesetting shop that eventually took on more and more layout and design work. Over the years, WMD established itself as a bona fide and notable design firm that produced a wide range of award winning print design work for clients of all industries and levels. By the time I arrived at WMD’s historically quaint shop house on Ang Siang Road in Singapore’s Chinatown district in late 1999, K.C. still owned and operated the studio, but had given daily management duties to a very fine and capable young manager, Edi Fung. Under K.C. and Edi’s efforts, WMD built up a stable of clients ranging from small local enterprises to top 10 multinationals listed on the Singapore stock exchange.


One of our largest clients was the National Library Board of Singapore. The national library system serves the entire nation of Singapore (with a population nearing three million) and was, at the time, comprised of over 24 libraries, including one national, three regional and 19 public libraries. Although a small company, WordMakerDesign contracted with NLB to produce a variety of communications for them in all matter of corporate and retail communications, ranging from corporate branding strategy through product delivery. Projects included brochures, fliers and program notices for library patrons, program and service identities, trade expo convention booths, interior wall murals, and environmental directional signage for lobbies, book shelves, drop boxes, check out areas, staff offices, doorways, and external building markers. The most extensive project was to develop the visual image of the library to the public through the development and implementation of a thoughtfully and comprehensively designed, unified signage system.