Library Author Series Integrated Promotional Marketing Designs

Above: speaker podium signage helped to reinforce recognition and recall of the program series identity.

Project: Alachua County Library District Author Series Identity and Promotional Materials.

Brief: Establish a visual identity mark and develop integrated print and digital media marketing collaterals to promote the library's newly created speaker engagement series. 

Above: one of the seven 8.5x11 & 21x28 inch author posters.

Required collaterals (and printed quantities):
Series logo, with element variations and formats in both colour and black/white (8)
14x8.5 inch gatefold brochure (2,000)
Library website blog icon (1)
Library website banner ad, 
one per speaker (7)
Newspaper print ad, one per speaker (7)
Magazine print ad for entire series (1)
17.5x18.25 inch speaker podium sign (1)
45x45 inch library poster (1) with
one 17x11 inch author poster insert
per speaker (7)
11x17 inch mini-poster (2)
8.5x11 inch mini-posters (40 per speaker)
8.5x11 inch mini-poster for 3 speakers  
(1 .pdf for branch printing)
5.5x8.5 inch half page handbill for Steve Berry event (1 .pdf for branch printing)
21x28 inch library poster, 
(7 for each speaker)
14x8.5 inch author poster inserts (1) 
Two-sided 2.5x8.5 inch bookmarks, 
(one per speaker, in various quantities from 300 printed in-house to 1,250 printed by vendor)
Public Service Announcement broadcast media ad, one per speaker (7)
Library newsletter cover and two-page layout design (3 pages, 2,750 printed copies)
Library newsletter website blog icon (1) 
Library newsletter cover website image (1)

Top: library one of seven individual author website banner ads. Bottom, left to right: library website author series blog icon, THINK... newsletter cover library website icon, THINK... newsletter library website blog icon.

Above: 45x45 inch poster with 17x11 inch author bio insert.

Top: front and back of 14x8.5 inch gatefold brochure. Middle: THINK... newsletter cover and interior pages. Bottom: magazine print ad, author bio insert (same design for both 17x11 inch and 14.8.5 inch inserts), and front/back of bookmark concept design.

Above: TV broadcast media public service announcement.

Above: one of seven individual author TV broadcast media public service announcements.

Above: all seven bookmark fronts plus common back. Greater emphasis was placed on listing complete book titles over author and book cover photos.

One of seven newspaper print ads.

Three smaller sized newspaper print ads.

8.5x11 inch mini-poster of three speakers.

5.5x8.5 inch half page handbill for individual speaker.

Integrated Library Literacy Collateral Re-Design

A variety of new and redesigned integrated marketing collateral materials for the Literacy
 office include 8.5x11 signs, quarter page handbills, recruitment cards and utility bill insert,
 a tri-fold brochure, a six-page tutor handbook, and a 24-page PowerPoint presentation.

In 2013 the Alachua County Library District hired a new literacy coordinator. I felt this was an opportune time to tackle the job of updating the literacy office's array of materials with a redesign so all collaterals were better integrated with one another. 

Previously designed items borrowed from each other but lost a sense of continuity when seen as a whole. This redesign would take the opportunity to maximize use of its primary visual image of a globe, simplify the colour palette from red, white and blue to shades of green with white, refine the typographical fonts and treatments, and to broaden the use of a simplified corporate brandmark.

I started with the most pressing of items needed, quarter page handbills that advertised the service to patrons in need, then additional ones used to recruit potential tutors. While the both the fronts and backs of these two-sided card stock items would look very similar, both would utilize different headlines geared toward their appropriate audience. Similarly, contact information on the backs of each would be adjusted to suit the appropriate reader. The response was so tremendous that I had to order second and third printings of the cards to keep up with demand as they disappeared from where they were distributed in libraries and around the county.

Next up was a redesign of the existing Literacy Office brochure. Both updated and new information were provided, so a new layout was created to arrange and display sections of text into shorter blocks for easy reading. About the same time that the brochure was being developed, a website blog icon was created based on the cover of the brochure which used a green band of colour with white text reversing out of it overlaid the green globe.

The same design solution for the Literacy Office brochure and blog icon was then employed in development of aTutor Handbook design. A fresh re-write of the six-page document text was matched with an equally refreshed new look and that would maintain the same typographical treatment from the brochure for strengthening brand continuity.

For tutor training, a 24-page PowerPoint presentation was created utilizing the same design elements and sensibilities. 

While tutor training was underway, agreements with existing and new tutoring sites required advertising of their locations and dates. One quarter-page handbill design was used both as a handbill as well as a utility bill insert. Other single and two-sided handbills and associated 8.5x11 inch signs for posting were produced in both English and Spanish language to better serve both speaking populations. 

Lastly (for the time-being), a point of purchase sign was created for fundraising during one of the local Friends of the Library book sales. Placement of the sign at a location outside of the library where book lovers and supporters of the library mission congregated was a great idea and hopefully produced measurable results for the library's literacy program.

Projects included:

200 internally printed tutor recruitment cards 

+ a revised printing of 200

400 internally printed reading help cards 

+ additional reprints of 400, 600, & 5000

55 internally printed literacy office brochures 

2500 vendor printed literacy office brochures

150 internally printed six-page tutor handbooks

One local utility bill insert advert .pdf

One library Website Blog Icon .jpg

24-page tutor training PowerPoint presentation

40 Two-sided English / Spanish quarter-page handbills

11 New classes 8.5x11 inch Spanish version sign

11 New classes 8.5x11 inch English version sign

One "Help Promote Literacy" 8.5x11 inch sign .pdf

Stay tuned, because more marketing opportunities are continually being explored, and along with them, additional design projects.

Marketing Design Collaterals for 2014 Library Volunteer Appreciation Luncheon

To strengthen recognition of any single event, its marketing collaterals
should be created to maintain a cohesive look from one piece to another.

Top row: starting images.
Bottom: modified images.

For the 2014 Volunteer Appreciation Luncheon, the library chose John Cech, who—among a variety of notable accolades—was Director of the University of Florida’s Center for Children’s Literature and Culture. He planned to speak about local Florida “treasures” that literary work had written about.

In conversations with my internal client, we agreed on exploring a visual solution that imparted the idea of a long-held keepsake from childhood that over the course of time might have become a little worn but nevertheless remained a personal treasure for the memories it evoked. 

Since the event was for a library, it was only natural to settle on a book concept—if for no other reason than to help present the essential invitation and program information. A book or personal journal could be the quintessential keepsake. 

Two sides of printed
program cover.

Next was to create something that looked like an “old book.” I already had a selection of domain free images of textures I could tap into from previous projects, and easily selected a brown leather grained material to be the cover of the book. A second book cover image had a wonderfully aged texture and decorative flower motif that would serve well as an accent to the primary cover material image. As it turns out, I also use the same image used in black/white as a pattern inside large “brackets” in the quarterly library newsletter, THINK...., so there is already a subliminal connection to the library for those who really look hard. 

Both original images needed to be modified for use in the luncheon event, however. I brightened both up and also changed the dark brown leather to be purple. The purple/gold combination looked more festive—perhaps a little more regal or “award ceremony-ish”—it was certainly a more youthful than the darker and duller original images. My client remarked that the purple/gold comination reminded her of the book The Little Prince; I was leaning toward Harold and the Purple Crayon myself. Neither was spot on, but hey, if the colour choices emparted any specific childhood book then I was already on target.

250 single-sided printed invitations on
 110lb stock before folding into card.

I planned to use the purple leather as the exterior cover of the book, then use the gold patterned image as an interior cover end paper surface. Once I placed text on the cover, however, I decided I wanted the cover to be more immediately recognizable as a book, so I included the gold accent image along the spine. I also used the accent pattern inside of a gold star that rested atop the display text, providing readers with an eye-catching place to start reading from.

I also wanted a playful, hand-generated looking display font with a thick line weight so it could still look bold even if used at a small point size. For this, I chose a font named “One Starry Night.” For the bulk of remaining text, I kept with the library’s corporate standards of Arial and Adobe Garamond.

The completed print invitation.

The first item of business was to create a print invitation in order to get it mailed out to recipients with enough advance notice. The library had typically used front/back printed quarter page card stock inserted into invitation envelopes for mailing. But because this theme involved a book design, I wanted this year’s invitation to be a “mini book” of sorts, with a cover and at least one internal page spread to open to. Having that would mean there would be four individual pages to provide information on in addition to the external and internal cover surfaces (not that I would advocate filling every open surface with text). It worked out well to have the event name on the cover; an invitation message on the first inside page; speaker credentials information on the left interior spread; event theme and essential date/time/location information on the right inside spread; and RSVP information requirements on the back inside page. The back cover and inside cover end pages could remain decorative and uncluttered. 

The e-vite version of the event invitation.

A separate RSVP card was created to be tucked into the invitation, but was later cancelled in favour of having attending guests either phone or email in their RSVPs. I was hopeful that the interior 24lb text pages could be bound to the exterior 110lb card stock cover by using a thin gold stretchy band, but due to a limited budget we used a thin, tan rubber band which--although cheap--didn't look terribly bad.

Checking program trim and alignment.

With the invitation setting the tone for the visuals, an e-invitation image was created to mimic the print invitation. This image would accompany electronically delivered invitations to invited guests. It would be followed up a few weeks later with a save-the-date email that included an instantly recognizable theme design image as an reminder.

Taking its cue from the invitation design, the event program would follow suit. It would utilize the same invitation book style and be more substancial in content with 12 interior pages: an opening dedication page; speaker bio; event schedule; six pages of branch volunteer highlights; a spread highlighting the speaker’s key points with a map to refer to their location; and a list of contributors to thank. Two slits into the back cover would hold in place a discount entrance ticket to one of the locations from the speaker’s list.

Above, below:
program interior pages.

The interior pages looked too stark and cheap against the detailed texture of the inside cover end pages, so I wanted to find something that had a little texture to it but not so much that it competed with the inside cover textures. I used an image of a handmade paper that had thin fibers and some golden accent leaves in it. After toning the original image back to 30% brightness, it provided a nice compliment to the cover textures. For continuity from page-to-page, I also made use of the gold patterned star as an accent above disaply text ascenders, as text bullets, and site locations on the map. Like my hope for the invitation, I hoped the program would make use of a nice, decorative gold stretch band. But finding materials within budget was a challenge. In the end, although a single staple held interior pages to each exterior cover, a length of gold yarn was used to hide the staple. It wasn't anyone's first choice, but it worked for those concerned with budget issues and the appearance of appearing too extravagant with public funding; a reasonable concern, of course.

While program language was being developed by others, I worked on designs for a raffle winner star and a discount ticket to one of the speaker’s destinations of choice. The raffle winner star was quick and easy: I picked up the accent star icon from the invitation and program, added a border around it using the purple cover texture, added the words “You Win!” inside the star, then duplicated the design multiple times on a single 8.5x11 inch page and them out for cutting out with an X-acto blade.



The discount ticket would require a little more work. I wanted it to have a carnival or movie ticket shape and use the same purple/gold textures. I created an outline of the ticket shape in Adobe Illustrator, then did the same with the border design. I turned the border into an outline stroke that I could import the gold texture into, then saved it as an image to place on page over top of the purple background texture. The ticket required text on both the front and back, so I placed that language into the center of the ticket. 

Program coupon front / back.

Originally, I wanted to have the border treatment on both sides of the ticket, but the paper pick-up on the office copier I used varied too much from page-to-page for me to count on a reliable alignment of front-to-back images. To address this, I opted against using a border treatment on the back of the ticket and centered text in a box ghosting out of the gold accent paper image instead.

Twentyfour table assignment markers were next to complete. I used 8.5x11 inch 110lb card stock pages to duplicate a design three times per page so that I could fold the page into a vertical pylon. Enough unprinted excess left on one side of the page provided me with enough room to act as a tab I could double stick tape to the leading end on the opposite side. To coordinate it with the other designs, I used the program page image of the handmade paper for the primary background of the table marker, used the purple and gold book image patterns for accent, along with the gold star.

Three-sided table markers.

Collateral designs produced for this event included:

Print Invitation (250)

Print Invitation Interior Pages (250)

E-Invitation Image (1)

RSVP Invitation Insert Card (Created but cancelled)

E-Save The Date Image (1)

Raffle Winner Stars (23)

Event Program Gift Coupon (250)

Event Program Exterior Cover (250)

Event Program Interior Pages (6 pages x 250)

Event Table Reservation Markers (24)

Event Table Veggie Plate Markers (12)

Some production shots. Upper left: trimming invitations; Upper right: trimming
invitation interior page; Middle left: notes on printed coupon pages during
effort to align printed fronts and backs; Middle right: cutting out scallop portion
of coupons after printing both sides; Lower left: cutting and folding programs;
Lower right: trimming collated interior pages of program before stapling together.

Integrated Marketing Designs for Kids, Teens, & Adult Library Summer Reading Programs 2014

News of the summer reading programs was showcased on the cover of the quarterly newsletter, THINK....

The Summer Reading Program is the Collaborative Summer Library Program’s (www.cslpreads.org) annual effort to encourage people of all ages to read. They break the effort down into different age groups that have their own themed application. For example, this year’s Summer Reading for kids was: “Fizz, Boom, Read!” For teens, it was “Spark a Reaction.” And for adults, it was “Literary Elements.” 

To help publicize this, the organization provides a CD-ROM of custom-made art and a few pre-formatted marketing items for each age group, such as a bookmark, an 8.5x11 inch sign, and a PowerPoint background image. Space is left on each designed collateral item for local libraries to add their own language. Unfortunately, it might not be enough space for the needs of each library. 

Our library happens to be one of those that needs more space. We prefer to advertise and promote the Summer Reading program across multiple channels of publicity, such as for print, broadcast and online applications. The wide variety of unique collaterals we use—30 at the time of this writing—each have their own dimensional requirements, which means that few, if any of the pre-formatted layouts provided by the CSLP will match the full range of formats we need. Because of this, I end up creating everything we need from scratch, incorporating artwork I select from what was provided, and supplementing with my own additional images if needed to unsure a consistent style is used for each age set. 

Typically, our library youth department manager will coordinate the gathering and dissemination of planned event information to the marketing department for creation of materials requested. Our adult services department will use one of its own staff members to coordinate adult summer reading publicity separately. I’ll work with both of these internal clients as well as our marketing / public relations director to round out development of the full compliment of marketing design collaterals requested throughout the summer.

Because there are so many separate pieces I've created to support the entire Summer Reading program, instead of discussing the process for each. Instead, I'll just provide some sample images with a brief description.

Three 100x100px library website blog icons depict the essential theme identities for children (left), teens (middle) and adults (right).

Three library website banners 
show an expanded view 
of the essential theme identities.








Three online advertisements 
list children and teen events 
for June, for July, and for 
June–August.







Bookmark fronts / backs 
for children and teens.















Two television broadcast PSAs.
Top one for children / teen 
combination, and bottom one
for adults.












The top portion of 
MS Publisher templates for
children and teen half-page
flyers (top), full page signs
(middle), and quarter-page
handbills (bottom).

Children's quarter-page 
handbills.










Top left: online publication banner advert.
Top right: magazine print advert.
Bottom: publication print advert.










Exterior (top) and interior (bottom) 
views of a 14x8.5 children's 
tri-fold brochure. Used to log books
read, as well as to act as a 
game board to guide readers
through the summer.

The game board was also printed 
as 55.5x36 inch large format posters
for each of the 12 district libraries to
use with youth readers as they
charted their reading progress 
during the summer.



A version of the game board
I presented as an alternative
to a single linear game, this
version allowed users to read
at-will, and check off the 
"molecules" represented as
they progressed. Surprisingly,
it confused some of the 
librarians, so we went with the 
more structured, linear design.

An 14x8.5 inch tri-fold brochure
for the adult reading program.
Images used within the theme
display lettering and background
were images I sourced for to 
supplement the provided 
iconography with. Book covers
provided by the librarian.







Single-colour image 
(white ink) would imprint
onto a purple tote bag 
for adult summer readers.








COMPLETE SUMMER READING PROJECTS DESIGNED (+ QUANTITY):

Kids 3.625x4.875 inch Giggle Magazine Print Advert (1)
Kids/Teens 3.625x4.875 inch Giggle Magazine Advert (1)
Kids/Teens North Florida School Days Print Advert (1)
Kids/Teens Black College Monthly Newspaper Print Advert (1)
Kids Bookmark (5000) Vendor Printed
Teens Bookmark (1000) Vendor Printed
Adult 45x45 inch Publicity Board Poster (1)
Kids 8.5x11 inch Template (1) 
Teens 8.5x11 inch Template (1) 
Kids Half Page Template (1) 
Teens Half Page Template (1) 
Kids Quarter Page Template (1) 
Teens Quarter Page Template (1) 
Kids/Teens Half Page Handbill (240)
Kids Fun4GatorKids 150x300 px Online Advert (1)
Kids Fun4GatorKids 8x11 inch Online Advert Jun-Aug (1)
Kids Fun4GatorKids 8x11 inch Online Advert June Only (1)
Kids Fun4GatorKids 8x11 inch Online Advert July Only (1)
Kids 3ft Vert. x Prop Width Large Format Game Posters (18)
Kids 14x8.5 inch Tri-fold Game Brochure (4000) Vendor Printed
Adults 14x8.5 inch Tri-fold Brochure (700) Vendor Printed
Kids/Teens Broadcast Television PSA (1)
Adult Broadcast Television PSA (1)
Kids Website Blog Icon (1)
Teens Website Blog Icon (1)
Adults Website Blog Icon (1)
Kids Website Banner (1)
Teens Website Banner (1)
Adults Website Banner (1)
Adult Mini Tote Logo (1)
THINK... Quarterly Newsletter cover and interior pages (2750)