Integrated Promotional Advertising Campaign for Freegal Online Music Service

13x2 foot banners.

Project: Freegal Music Service

Creative brief: Create an integrated advertising campaign comprised of print and digital materials to promote Freegal online music service which provides five free music song downloads per week to subscribers. The campaign seeks to increase public awareness and generate greater subscriber traffic results by being visible in more locations and with greater frequency and duration. The design should provide a new look that captures people's attention and communicates the key points of the service.

Content messaging: Multiple language options were provided, each lacking engaging or inspiring direction. Additional content marketing that advertising was to support was not yet in process, created nor in place, and/or had details still in flux with no reliable completion date in sight.

Number of integrated items requested at outset: Between 16 and 38 unique items.

Number of integrated items requested as opportunities were reassessed and re-imagined: 29 unique items.

Requested turn around time: 15 days. (+ additional deadlines created as adjustments to initial and additional project opportunities were realized and requested). Good luck!

Production challenge note: 27 other unrelated projects with a varying range of their own completion deadlines were also being worked on simultaneously during this same initial time frame. 27 + 16/38 projects = 43/65 projects in 88 hours. No problem!

Sets of PSAs 34x22 inch posters and 11x8.5 inch signs

Website banner advertisement which links to blog.

Website banner advertisement which links to blog.

Children's publication print advertisement.

Projects produced  (+quantities delivered)
Marketing Campaign Concepts 
(33 Integrated Page Designs)
Web blog icon #1 Cool (1)
Web blog icon #2 Soul (1)
Web blog icon #3 Workout (1)
Web banner #1 Cool (1)
Web banner #2 Soul (1)
Web banner #3 Workout (1)
Broadcast TV PSA #1 Cool (1)
Broadcast TV PSA #2 Soul (1)
Broadcast TV PSA #3 Workout (1)
Quarter page Handbill of album covers (400)

Quarter page handbill front (top) and back (bottom).

5.5x3.5 inch Shelf Promo Sign Template (1)
5.5x3.5 inch Shelf Promo Sign #1 Cool (1)
5.5x3.5 inch Shelf Promo Sign #2 Soul (1)
5.5x3.5 inch Shelf Promo Sign #3 Workout (1)
5.75x4.5 inch Print Publication Ad (1)
8.5x11 inch Sign for Airport Users (4)
11x8 inch Sign #1 Cool (45)
11x8 inch Sign #2 Soul (45)
11x8 inch Sign #3 Workout (45)
21x28 inch Poster #1 Cool (6)
21x28 inch Poster #2 Soul (6)
21x28 inch Poster #3 Workout (1) 
34.75x22.125 inch Banner #1 Cool (3) 
34.75x22.125 inch Banner #2 Soul (2) 
34.75x22.125 inch Banner #3 Workout (1)
45x45 inch Poster (1)
13ftx2ft Banner #1 Cool (2)
13ftx2ft Banner #2 Soul (2)
13ftx2ft Banner Workout (1)
1.5 inch Circular Ear Bud Case Adhesive Labels (100)

8.5x11 inch airport user sign

5.5x3.25 inch "shelf talker" cards mount to front of book shelves.

Compare to 2015 collaterals: poster & flyer (left), PSA (center), web ads (top, middle right) and wallet card (bottom right).

Compare to 2013 collaterals: poster & flyer (left), wallet card (center top), print ad (top right) and PSA (bottom right).

Marketing Designs for Author Stephanie A. Smith Library Event

A 45x45 inch large format display poster "set the stage" for
the integrated collaterals designed to promote the author event.

A revised print ad squeezed in a third
location and time.

Todays Art in an Hour installment features the design of promotional marketing materials for our library's upcoming author event featuring Stephanie A. Smith, author of Warpaint and Rocket Baby. I was asked to create a large format 45x45 inch publicity poster, quarter page handbills, a print advert, and a web banner to promote her upcoming speaker event. The materials provided for use included two book covers, a photograph of the author snuggling with her dog, and language for the event specifics. At events that feature a quest speaker I instinctively want to use an image of the person so people can immediately see who will be presenting the material. But as I have come to learn, many authors simply don't take the time to provide a good, even semi-professionally photo of themselves taken for use in promoting their themselves or their products. Once shocking to me, I have grown accustomed to expect this unfortunate trend. In this particular case, the author's face was partly obscured by the pet she was nuzzling into, so I quickly and easily vetoed that image and moved to select the more visually dynamic, striking, and professional looking book covers to use in the design of our publicity.

As it turned out, both the covers used the same colour palette of red, white, and shades of black. I would use the aesthetics of these covers to become the basis of the publicity design. The strength of the book covers was enough to carry the visual impact of the designs, but two covers on a white background with simple text still needed a little variety to break up the monotony of a simple solution. To emphasize that the event would take place on two different dates in two different library branches, I prominently underlined and highlighted in red the two locations. I also used the underscore and highlighted two letters in the author's name to bring a little more of that red up higher into the design as well. The design looked good but bland on plain white, so I used an enlarged and toned back detail portion from one of her book cover illustrations as the background of the entire design. This gave a little visual texture and variety to the background so it wouldn't be so bland. 

The design was scaled down to become six handbills arranged on
an 8.5x14 inch page to print out and trim by hand.

Once the large poster design was finished, I applied it to the handbills which I arranged as six images on an 8.5x14 inch legal page for printing. Seventy six pages of these would be printed out using the office copier and trimmed by hand to size for a total yield of 200 handbills. The same design was slightly modified to a new dimension and saved as a black/white image for a print advert. Image tonal densities were balanced out in Adobe Photoshop for better print reproduction. After completion of the print ad, one of our other branches let us know that they were also having the same event at their branch, so the advert was revised to include them, shoehorning their location and date into the remaining open space under the book covers. Lastly, a different arrangement of the visuals was repurposed for use as the web banner; all removed language that served to detail the locations and dates would appear beneath the image as a caption line on the website.

The design treatment was arranged differently for use
as a web page banner.

Library Groundbreaking Ceremony & Corporate Identity Logo Oversight

Quarter page event invitation.

One of our newest library branches celebrated with a groundbreaking event in March. Cone Park Branch library is just over a year old and has been housed in a mobile home-like unit until its permanent building is constructed. The groundbreaking event marked the beginning of the next phase in its branch history. 

Event program front / back.

To help promote the event, I was asked to design an invitation, program, and web banner. When the branch library was first opened in 2011, I designed grand opening promotional materials that coupled the image of a rainbow with a architectural blueprint and drafting materials to support a theme of "Building the Dream" ( http://librarygraphicdesign.blogspot.com/2011/12/cone-park-library-branch-grand-opening.html ). For this new groundbreaking ceremony, I extended that reference further by using the same rainbow integrated into the a shovel's handle. I also used a strong, cheerful orange background to relate to other recently developed marketing materials (welcome brochure http://librarygraphicdesign.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-evolution-of-library-welcome.html , library employee recruitment posters http://librarygraphicdesign.blogspot.com/2012/10/four-posters-derived-from-welcome.html , and presentation folder http://librarygraphicdesign.blogspot.com/2013/03/library-presentation-pocket-folder.html ).

Event sign and detail view.

After the event, I received photos to post to the library Flickr account (www.flickr.com/acld). I was shocked and dismayed to see a large sign with a logo (aka "brandmark") on it that had been created for the event. The sign used the library's logo...or rather I should say part of the logo correctly and another part incorrectly. I wondered how this could be. Did someone send the sign fabricator the brandmark exactly as it appeared on the sign or perhaps only the book portion of the mark was sent, leaving the sign fabricator to recreate the typography? Either way, what resulted was simply wrong. Worse yet, how is it that nobody noticed except for me?

Our library has two main versions of its brandmark, a book that can be used alone or in combination with its library descriptor ("Alachua County Library District") centered underneath the book. An alternate brandmark displays the book to the left with the library name flush to the right in two lines with a tagline hanging to the right below the library name. Those are the two main "lock-ups" of how the text and book image are to appear. The only variations to those marks are to change the colours to full black, full white, or full blue. The mark on the event sign used incorrect fonts, font sizes and font colours. It also presented a bastardized arrangement of the two different mark lock-ups. I was none too happy about it. After all, how could the library not get its own logo correct?  

You would be surprised at how often this happens in the semi-corporate world where employees aren't adequately trained to embody, reinforce, or even advocate for "the brand" of their organization. Some organizations are good at it; most are not. As an extension to this kind of training, the same is true even for the use of the organization's visual identity. 

In Journalism 101 one of very the first "golden rules" students are taught is that the worst mistake you can ever make as a journalist is to incorrectly spell a person's name (plagiarism no doubt leads the list of worst offenses). There are similar "golden rules" to follow in other industries. In the design profession, an equivalent rule is to not bastardize a company's corporate visual identity brandmark unless doing so is considered allowable within the corporate identity standards policy.

A good thing (if one can presume to adequately leverage that sentiment in their favour) is that if the logo isn't bastardized too much it will most likely still be recognizable to a familiar, yet otherwise clueless public. The flip side of that oversight, however, is that if the company's own people can't recognize that mistake, then the situation should be incredibly disconcerting.

I share that sentiment because the people who work for a company and are most likely to see its brandmark every day and should be the ones who would most easily recognize whether or not it is correct or not. Not only that, but they should also be the very same people who should help by being brand advocates for its proper usage. As a maker of corporate identity standards and the guidelines that establish best practices for the usage of a brandmark, of course I understand that I'm in one of the best positions to realise the good and bad points of a visual mark, of its technical and aesthetic limitations, and of its misuse. I can also appreciate that others wouldn't be as knowledgeable or keen to observe these finer details. But there are certain changes to a brandmark that should be glaringly obvious.

So on occasion I find myself in the role of "brand identity advocate." Whenever I see the visual identity of my library has been used incorrectly, I search out the offending party to inform them that they have incorrectly used it. More often than not, the offending party had no idea the brandmark was used improperly. If they had, or if they had been more sensitive to its use, they most likely wouldn't have used it incorrectly. I inquire about how the improper use happened in order to understand how we can work toward averting the same scenario from happening in the future. 

Through what advocacy I can offer, I hope to educate staff on the proper manner of using our library's corporate identity system consistently so the integrity of the brandmark will remain uncompromised and better able to ensure public recognition. It may not mean much to others, but it means something to me. Proper brandmark usage; you might say that I'm building a dream of my own.

Library Volunteer Appreciation Luncheon Invitation & Program Designs...Serving Up a Second Helping

Guitar invitation front and back.

Our library really appreciates its library volunteers. Every year, somewhere between 300 and 2500 individuals (depending on how you calculate it) selflessly provide an incredible amount of assistance in hours and effort to extend the library's operational service. Because of this, the library likes to invite volunteers to enjoy an annual luncheon together.

This year, the event planning committee selected a Brazilian guitarist to be featured at the event. From the design side, invitation concepts were designed, approved, printed, and in hand to mail out; program designs were also well into development and on schedule for completion. 

Guitar program / CD insert cover exterior (folds).

Then plans changed. The guitarist was out, and a new, more generic theme based on "the gift of time" was mandated. A scramble ensued to get a replacement speaker, develop a new invitation design concept, then print and deliver to the invitees in as little-past-deadline as possible. There's nothing quite like a change of plans after a significant amount of work has already been done to make things exciting, is there? Well, these things happen on occasion, so you just have to roll with it and hope things will work out better next time around.

Guitar program / CD insert cover interior (when opened).

So, what started out as one design concept for a volunteer appreciation luncheon, turned into two. And why not? We can say that our library loves our volunteers twice as much. Well, almost. We'll give them face time but not Brazilian music.

Clock invitation front and back.

Both designs utilized domain free photography which I modified to suit the theme. The guitar image colour was intensified by saturating it in Photoshop; text, a library logo, music note clip art, and additional photo images of utensils were added to make the guitar opening look like a table place setting. For the blue clock, its hands were topped off with the very same fork and spoon images used from the guitar concept to equally give reference to the meal aspect of the event. The final blue clock image was selected from a total of 24 preliminary designs urgently created within a few hours after the announcement that plans had changed from one theme to another.

The initial guitar concept included quarter page invitations and a program that would double as an insert into a music CD case which would also include a music CD from the guitarist. Opening the case would display the program event schedule on the flip side of that outer-facing guitar image cover. Pulling the insert out and opening it would then reveal names of all the companies that donated gifts to be raffled away to lucky prize winners at the luncheon. The music CD was going to look pretty cool. But I regress on the magnificence of what could have been.

Clock program front and back.

By comparison, the clock concept version utilized a simple front and back quarter page design for invitations, half page design for the program. Table markers based on the design were also made, folding an 8-1/2 x 11 inch sheet into a tall, 11 inch triangle pylon and set upright on tables to indicate seating table seating assignments. It wasn't nearly as exciting as the guitar concept, but hey, by then it was all about getting things done in time which I'm sure everyone appreciated.

TOTAL ITEMS:
300 Guitar Invitations (unused)
300 Clock Invitations
200 Clock Programs
24 Table Markers