Now Open: Library Teen Space Marketing Designs

The newly created Teen Space identity.

The Teen Space entrance.

The ACLD Headquarters Library recently unveiled its new Teen Space, an area specifically set aside for teen reading, resources, games, and activities. A section of the library that housed the audio/video collection was renovated to create the space, and once everything was in place, a series of openings were held to announce its availability to the public. The space is large and in a partially enclosed corner of the library to help reduce noise levels drifting into the common reading area. A false wall with a window and doorway with the word "TEEN" serves as its entrance. 


For developing promotional materials, I went to inspect the aesthetics of the room. The colour scheme was gray and blue; the natural wood beams overhead were brown. The lettering on the entrance wall a generic helvetica-esque font. Overall, unremarkable if you don't consider the already existing architecture. I hoped the furniture would breath some life into the space later. But in the meantime, invitations, programs, and website banner ads needed to be made.


I wanted to promote the Teen Space as a vibrant, fun, exciting, teen destination of choice. But I couldn't do that with the existing bland gray and blue colour scheme already in place, so I just decided to boldly venture out on my own and hope for the best. I did, however, take my typographical cue from the entrance font style and would use that as the basis of a modern looking identity mark for the space. 


My first sense was to portray a person holding their arms wide apart in a grand gesture to impart the concept of greeting an open space. I wanted to investigate integrating the figure with a flood of light rays bursting forward from a central source to create a sense of dynamic energy. Fortunately, I knew I already had separate public domain clip art elements that could be combined together to achieve this affect, so I sourced for these and alternative choices to experiment with.

Teen Space Grand Opening event invitation front / back.

I also thought of a way to partially "frame" the illustration/text elements to further impart the idea of a defined space, so I used  typographical brackets set wide apart on either side of the text. This way it could "contain" the illustrative/text identity, yet also remain as an unenclosed space too. The brackets are also used in the library's quarterly newsletter, THINK..., so they also had a connection to additional library iconography already in use.

Teen Space Grand Opening program. Side flaps folded over the back to open out to reveal the event schedule.

A series of website banners were created.

Just as I used the colourful background image to show inside of the brackets on the invitation, I would also have it be contained within the word "Teen." The swirling background would center around the open armed human figure to focus attention on the teen. I worked with all the elements until I came up with positioning and size relationships that looked well as a strikingly colourful, vibrant identity mark. Then I applied the image to the front of a quarter page invitation, and utilized a modified set typographical brackets that included the background colour in them (rather than reversed out of it as it was on the front) for the back side to contain the invitation message.


The same identity image was used for the front of the follow-up promotional piece, the event program. I wanted to continue exploring the connotation of spacial relationships, so I made the program long, then folded two panels over the back to meet together in the middle, allowing them to open outward much in the way french doors would. The panels would display the event date and location, and opening the panels outwards would reveal the program schedule of events displayed inside on the program back.

TV PSA image.

Quarter page handbills, 20x30 inch welcome posters, a television public service announcement image, and a series of website banner ads were also created to promote the openings. Each utilized the Teen Space brand identity, and where possible, the library identity as well. At the grand opening event, the Teen Space identity even appeared as frosting on the cake!


Once the opening ceremonies were past, a rethinking and renaming of the Teen Space tagline would change from "A Space Of Their Own" to "A Space Of Our Own." 

Folding / trimming of the grand opening programs. Print two-sided front / back,
trimmed side excess areas, then folded to fit to back seam before trimming top / bottom
so that back flaps were evenly aligned with the front / back center panel.

The grand opening event even included a cake with the Teen Space identity on it!

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.

Library Event Marketing Design: Keep It Simple

8.5x11 inch sign.

When time is of the essence and a program you want to promote isn't a particularly visual one, often times the best solution is to give more room to the typographical information and less to visuals trying to illustrate the subject matter.

A good example of this was a recent event that addressed how to search for college scholarships. Aside from the event name, location, and time, I thought including the events descriptive text would help pique potential attendee's interests, so I worked it into the design for both an 8.5x11 inch sign as well as quarter page handbills.

Knowing that I was going to attempt to get the descriptive text on such a small space as a handbill meant that I would want to work out my solution on that promotional piece first. If I could get something to work on that item, then I knew for certain it could easily be applied to a larger promotional piece.

Once all the text was in place, I selected and styled a sophisticated font for the essential display information. I then worked out a styling solution for the descriptive text and assessed what kind of room I had left to work with.

Handbill design, four up to one 8.5x11 inch page.

There wasn't much remaining room, so for the illustrative element I considered visuals that had to do with money, paper, and searching tools such as binoculars and magnifying glasses. While sourcing for images, I liked a particular silhouetted magnifying glass and chose to work with that. Because it didn't require being in a boxed in area, I could wrap the essential text elements around it.

For a little enhancement of the message theme, I chose to run a line of typographical dollar symbols behind the magnifying glass, then enlarge them when they passed through the glass lens.

An additional online web banner completed the promotional materials. Because the web banner was smaller in dimension than even the handbill, only showed for five seconds on page, and also made use of a descriptive caption line below it, less text in the art area was necessary. I used the most essential event information and then angled art elements at a slant to make it more dynamic.

Overall, the solutions were an easy and simple. They took minimal time and effort, which resulted in a clean and sophisticated styling of promotional pieces that were better served by not getting bogged down in grander, more complicated illustrative storytelling.

Web banner shows the most essential text elements, and
leaves the finer print details for a (unshown) caption line below.

The full compliment of print and online elements used the promote the event included:

200x quarter page handbills

10x 8.5x11 inch signs

1 website web banner

Repetitive Motion Injuries: Chopping Board Shoulder?

Just one of the many projects that were
hand trimmed using the cutting board.

It seems most professions have some sort of physical repetitive motion injury potential: carpel tunnel syndrome for typists, back pain for heavy lifters, ankle tendonitis for drummers, tennis elbow for tennis players, leg burns for pole dancers, (I suspect). Who knows? For graphic designers--aside from computer keyboard use--I can't think of many other physical things we typically do on such a high volume, repetitive basis. So, just like in every sport or activity, when you don't use certain muscles frequently, they get out of shape. You don't even realize it until a particular project calls upon their use again. 


This is the case when a number a projects I worked on between late January until late February called attention to the topic for me. During that time, I designed a variety of bookmarks, invitations, event programs, and handbills. As I finished printing projects, each required me to trim them by hand, using a manual cutting board. By the time those four weeks passed, my shoulder was telling me it had a pretty good workout. Curious, I tallied up all the cutting I had done, discovering I had cut 2,146 separate items for 13 projects. That was a lot of cutting board paper chopping! 


And there is still more to do. 

Just another typical day in design paradise.

I arrived at work by 8:50am and powered up the design office like one would power up the USS Enterprise. I then knocked back a healthy dose of caffinated coffee and turned the afterburners on for another day of break-neck speed designing. 


I quickly got a head start on the guaranteed mass of emails, calls, and visits by trimming 100 event invitations that were requested late the day before. I then reviewed the production schedule to check on the status of 16 works in progress, read ten emails, collected art attachments to reply to one email, and sent ten emails of my own  to keep projects moving along. I critiqued an advertisement sent to me and replied with my review—but not before I was interrupted in the middle of it to have a meeting to discuss the status of three display posters that were already designed, printed, and/or soon to be delivered and installed. Afterwards, I completed my email reply and turned my attention to designing two event posters, one handbill, and printed/trimmed one large format poster—each requested only an hour earlier. Out went email notices with proofs for review. 


It had been a full day. But wait! This was only the first three hours. It was time for refueling. I did this while working on another project and answering emails.


By 5pm I’d reviewed three more revisions to one advertisement sent to me, revised and sent out another ad for approval, edited and printed a blue print for the lighting plan diagram of one of the libraries, exchanged another round of various emails, made two rounds of revisions on a web banner and submitted for uploading, agreed to do an extra cirricular assignment, made plans for a meeting for tomorrow morning, revised and printed an event program for review, sent out another set of emails, sourced and worked on some images for a newsletter and related print advertisement, and updated the ever-changing status of the production schedule as I went along.


You’d think by this time I would have completely cleared my schedule. But I still had 16 more projects on my schedule to complete. For now. You can bet tomorrow will bring plenty more. This is a pretty typical day for me!

Library Book Talk Event Signs & Bookmark Marketing Designs

Two posters from the library "Book Talk" series.

The adult services department at our Headquarters Library recently developed the idea to hold a public book talk event each month. Each event would focus on a specific topic and/or book and would be presented by one of the staff librarians.

Since there would be one event each month, I proposed we consider the events be promoted as an identifiable "series" rather than a bunch of random, unrelated ad hoc events. This way, I could develop a basic, yet consistently applied visual identity and reusable loosely structured template for each of the promotional elements that each event would use. The idea was approved, and I developed a set of promotional marketing templates based on the very first event: Love A Mystery.

The librarian giving the talk had already picked out the artwork she wanted to use and written the text to accompany it. She wanted to offer large bookmarks to attendees, which I thought was a fine idea. I suggested that the same bookmarks be created and offered in advance, however, to be used to promote the event ahead of the event date, which she also thought was a good suggestion.

So with her nicely prepared text and visuals, I developed a bookmark design and applied the styling to an 11x17 inch poster. She liked them, so those designs became our standard template to apply to the remaining events that would follow later in the series, such as the March Book Talk: Book Discussion event about Electromagnetic Pulse Terrorism.

The artwork I selected for the EMP book discussion wasn't as simple and clean as the Mystery event style. But as intended, the design solution would maintain standard design elements for consistency, while other elements particular to each unique event would be allowed to change. For the EMP event, I included semi-translucent darkened bands to help separate—yet continue to integrate—the text with the art. Another semi-translucent box—only this time in white—would be inset into the artwork to contain the descriptive text.

Front and back of two "Book Talk" bookmarks.

Total collaterals, per event:

2x 11x17 inch posters

50 bookmarks

1 web banner

Library Anniversary Event Marketing Designs

Library anniversary sign.

Thirty years ago Alachua Branch Library was the Alachua Library. It wasn't until 1987 that it joined the Alachua County Library District. So on February 19, the library branch will celebrate its thirtieth anniversary by holding an event at their location.

Invitation back.

I was asked to create marketing collaterals to promote the event, including an invitation, web banner, and timeline handout. Curious to know what material has been traditionally chosen to celebrate a thirtieth anniversary, I went online to look. Pearl was one of the selections, so I sourced for public domain photography that resembled the sheen of a pearl surface and elected to use one that had a silvery-gray sheen to it.

I wanted the pearl texture to be an enlarged background surface, and for the main visual I selected a watercolour painting of the branch library. Each of our libraries has been painted in watercolour by an artist, and because these paintings are used on occasion by each branch as an easily recognized visual element, I felt it would be the best go-to image to identify and support the event location. By itself, however, the watercolour is unframed, so to add a touch of elegance, I placed a detail of the watercolour image into an oval frame that had some interesting detail work of its own.

Event timeline handout.

Lastly, I designed a motif for the event name using a simple typographical solution based on our corporate typefaces—Arial and Garamond. An ACLD book logo lays behind the event name text, large but subdued, burned semi-translucent into the pearl textured background. This gives the District identity a presence without overshadowing focus on a larger, more complete consideration of this particular library's history.

The web banner utilized the same design elements, only reoriented for the horizontal banner dimension.

The branch library later requested creation of a historical timeline for handing out at the event. The essential text was provided, as well as the request for a half page size. I challenged, however, the request to have the handout printed on pink paper, since pink had no visual connection to the other collateral elements already developed. Instead, I used the same pearl texture on both front and back sides so that the back side wouldn't simply look like cheap, white card stock. The event name motif and watercolour on its oval frame were both added above the timeline text to keep this collateral piece consistent with the others.

Web banner.

Total collaterals:

200 invitations

1 web banner

175 timelines