Marketing Designs for Author Lauren Groff Library Event

A 45x45 inch large format poster in a main traffic way of the library announces the author event. 

Author Lauren Groff visited the Alachua County Library District in October. I have to thank her for providing high resolution images that allowed for good reproduction, most notably for use on a large format poster scale.

Fabrication of the 45x45 inch large format poster required splicing
two separate prints together using double sided tape. The incomplete
second poster portion above the completed one shows the line where I
cut one of the posters to lay over the other in order to hide the cut.

Groff provided a high resolution black and white image of herself, as well as a nicely designed cover image of her book, Arcadia. To compliment the two, I sourced for a nice image that I was able to use a detail portion of to use as a background.

I began my design exercise with development of a 45x45 inch large format display poster. For the promotional marketing event materials, I used the three photo images and typography that mimicked the fonts used on her book. As a finishing touch, introduced a small cartouche under her name to add a small, delicate detail to play off the curly flourish that sprouted from the apex of the capital "A" on her book title.

The completed 45x45 inch display poster.

Once the poster design was approved, I could continue with the remaining collaterals. I scaled the poster down to become quarter page handbills, and used a a strong horizontal section of her book cover with stylized text for an online web banner. 

On the 8.5x11 inch page I was using for printing the handbills, I had a little excess unused space, so instead of wasting the paper I took the opportunity to create a complementary bookmark, taking the right side section of the poster/handbill design for use as the bookmark. 

Lastly, the poster/handbill design was used as a small 3.25 inch square black/white print advertisement. The colour conversion turned out quite nicely, avoiding any potential muddiness between the typography and the background images. 

Taken as a set, the large format poster, the handbill, the bookmark, the print ad, and the web banner all maintained a cohesive visual presentation that held together, thanks to the strong imagery and consistent typographical use. 

Trimming handbills and bookmarks out of an 8.5x11 inch page.

Total yield:

1x 45x45 inch large format poster

1x online web banner

1x black/white print ad

25x bookmarks

200x handbills

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.

Too Much Language, Too Little Space? What You Can Do.

8.5x11 inch promotional sign

It should come as no surprise that writers love words, illustrators and photographers love images, and designers love organizing. It is when those interests intersect with each other that designers play the part of visual communication mediators. There is no mistaking that a written message is important, but when language is excessive, it leaves little room left for making a visual promotional piece eye catching to the casual observer whose attention you want to capture. As those sayings go: "when everything is important, nothing is important." And "when everything shouts, the message is lost in the noise." (I just made up that second one, but it sounds good, right?).

Sometimes when language crowds out all the space and there is simply no room left for images, the only solution left is to make the words speak for themselves...by giving them the personality and design features required to sell the piece. If they want all the glory, make 'em work for it! A good example of this idea is an 8.5x11 inch sign and a quarter page handbill used to advertise a library event that celebrated both the end of summer and the beginning of the school year.

The handbill replicated the 8.5x11 inch sign--4 handbills per page.

Because there was so much text, I knew right off the bat that I would want a condensed ("squeezed") typeface because it was going to need about as much "squeezing" as it could in order to fit it all in. I also wanted the text to have a little more character than a simple condensed or compressed font, so I chose something that had a distressed or "roughened" appearance (to give it a more casual appearance, not to impart that returning to school creates distress!). 

I also wanted the collective text to create a solid visual block that conformed to the dimension of the promotional piece, so I altered the point size of various word combinations until I could get them to work in justified right/left arrangements. Alternating the text colours helped to provide visual diversity within the message and to call out more important aspects of it as well. 

Finally, after all the type styling, I slipped a photo of a bright sun with its rays bursting through the leaves of a shadowed Florida palm tree behind the text to give it one last brilliant punch of colour. A word of caution: you don't want your text to become illegible due to the choice of your background image. Whether it be a photo, illustration, or other graphic image, be sure that your background does not make your text difficult to read. Generally, the simpler the image is, and a colouration different from your text helps to reduce difficulty reading. Knowing what your reader's distance will be from the image is also comes into play. For instance if you look at my handbills at the size they are on screen, you may have difficulty reading the white text and anything smaller than it to. This can emulate what seeing a sign would be like from a distance. 

Since the handbill is intended to be read at less than arm's length, this shouldn't become an issue for most people. And the 8.5x11 inch sign is intended to be seen from a relatively short distance as well. The key things work at varying sizes to draw you in a little at a time: the colour catches your eye, the event name instantly tells you what it is about, and the text gets smaller from there in order to its importance in the reading hierarchy.

So in the end, all the elements came together to create an eye-catching presentation. Its natural: sometimes the yin speaks louder, sometimes the yan. Just squeeze and massage your content, and as long as all elements get their day in the sun, everyone will be happy. =)

Crazy, Brave, Employer/Designer ROI

45x45 inch large format display poster.

I am behind the times to show some promotional work I did to promote the guest appearance of author Joy Harjo at our library last week. She spoke about her publishing work which included her book Crazy Brave. For her author talk event, I produced the following publicity items:

200x quarter page handbills
1x 3.25x5.25 inch publication print ad
1x 45x45 inch large format display poster
1x 11x14 inch author display bio sheet
1x web page banner

Harjo provided access to photos from her website. Unfortunately only about two were usable from her book publicity. I selected one of her and added her book cover to my options. On her personal photo, I noted she was displaying a henna marking on her hand which reminded me that I had a few henna images I had collected from other sources, so I looked to see if I could make something happen out of a combination between our collective sources.

Web page banner

I found and settled on a small illustration of a henna patterned hand and used that as a background pattern for Harjo's event publicity. I also picked up on the dashed lines she used on her book cover. To me, they brought to mind the feathered ends of arrows. Using that reference, I added a few more design elements such as the red bar above her photos and the angled triangle at the bottom right that helped to anchor the photo to the base of the collateral items. Overlapping elements took advantage of empty space and allowed elements to interact more dynamically as well. To work towards a unified typographic styling, I sourced for a display font that shared the characteristics of what was used on her book cover and used that, then pulled colour from the two photos to highlight the key points in the language.

Publication print ad

So how can I be behind on my post, you ask? Well, as I'm wrapping up my second year as designer for the Alachua County Library District, I have been busy not only with the daily flow projects, but also reviewing my department performance over the past 12 months. 

And the tally is in. In the roughly 249 working days of 2011-12, I produced 679 unique projects, up 295 projects from the 2010-11 count of 384. So if I figure there are 1992 hours of annual work time, that figures out to me completing a new project every 2.93 hours every work day for a full year. 

11x14 inch author bio page

That doesn't even factor in all the other things that take place. Things like  administrative duties, meetings, phone calls, countless emails, webinars, printer and vendor coordination, asset management, ordering of supplies, evaluating and advising other people's creative projects, time stuck on surgically removing melted lamination film off heated rollers (oh how I love spending my time on that). There's plenty of behind-the-scenes work that never appears on a visual project itself. Factor all that in—and a week of vacation time I didn't account for above—and I'm sure I'm well below that 2.93 hour mark per project. If you're beginning to see Lucille Ball working on that chocolate factory conveyor belt as it continues to speed up, then you've got the general idea of what my typical day is like. Even when I'm sitting motionless staring at my computer monitor, things are still speeding along "upstairs." I'm either planning a strategy, having a "zen moment"...or in the process of developing a decent brain aneurysm. Whichever it is, don't interfere; just let it happen.

Hey employers, hows that for ROI? Both a little crazy, and a little brave—but on whose part? On the upside, there's something I like about reviews. It gives me time to assess what my ROI is too.

The large format display poster installed on site.

Courses Andy Wished They’d Offered in Library School

Every once in a while I get curious to see if anyone else has any information about graphic design for libraries, and when I do, I go to google.com to input a few select phrases to see what pings back. The results always come back with my Library Marketing Design blog at the top, followed by other websites that include some combination of the words I use, although not in the exact order. 

Today, one of the web pages I previewed while doing my search was a thoughtful entry by Andy Burkhardt at:

http://andyburkhardt.com/2011/12/06/courses-i-wish-theyd-offered-in-library-school/comment-page-1/#comment-2902

Thanks to Andy & others for your generous compliments!

There, Andy discussed his views on some things he'd wished he had the opportunity to learn more about both while studying to become a librarian, as well as once he had become one. He offered a few links that other librarians and marketing agents of library services might like to view too.

I felt compelled to introduce myself to Andy and to thank him for his blog post because it expressed what I often feel about marketing for library events and services: that the responsibility falls on librarians who are inadequately trained to generate high quality level promotions and/or have little physical materials or software expertise to do so. 

Librarians, I hear you! That is why I like to find you and let you know my blog is here to raise awareness about promotional marketing for libraries, to offer examples of work I've done for my own library, and to hopefully provide inspiration, tips, and resourceful information to those interested in creating their own promotional marketing materials.

So I commented on Andy's blog as a way to introduce myself to him and other librarians who might find my blog of interest and use to them. I welcome your readership, your questions, and comments on how I can help you more.

My message to Andy:
Hello Andy,

I’m discovering your entry here about six months after its posting and thank you for your links; I thought they were interesting and valuable. Since your entry is asking about library graphic design and promoting library events, I’d like to invite and welcome you and your colleagues with a link to my blog that is dedicated entirely to the design and development of promotional materials for library events and services. I hope you will find it helpful for generating ideas and in the development of your own promotional materials.

librarymarketingdesign.blogspot.com

At my blog I give examples of my work as the sole graphic designer for the Alachua County Library District in Gainesville, Florida. I show samples of my work, add some commentary about the project requirements and development of the pieces, mention occasional obstacles encountered, and share production tips, ideas, and where to find helpful resources.

I’m happy to receive comments and to strike up a dialog with librarian staff who might be looking for inspiration, information, and advice.

Thanks for your posting and potential interest to join me over at Library Marketing Design.

Best,
Scot Sterling

I didn't include this link in my message to Andy, but had it out to review and offer it as a good resource for current designers and designer "wanna-bes": 
http://psd.tutsplus.com/articles/web/50-totally-free-lessons-in-graphic-design-theory/