what's for dinner?

It's barely starting to feel like fall but I've been thinking about Thanksgiving dinner for months! Not because I'm an avid cook (far from it!) but because I've been working on the holiday line-up for Harry's Fresh Foods.

Harry's needed a brochure that presented their food service holiday line-up in one easy-to-read brochure that's packed with information and appetite appeal as well as order form.

So I designed the brochure to look like a restaurant menu, complete with linen fabric texture and Harry's signature illustration used as a subtle background throughout.

 

As the main font, I chose Carolyna Pro Black, which has the elegance of a script mixed with the ligatures and flourishes of custom calligraphy.

I blended the plate shots with the background in Photoshop, creating soft vignettes that added to the festive holiday feel.

 

And just to show you what a departure this holiday menu is from the standard product sheets I designed for Harry's, here's a quick comparison:

 

I'd say let the holidays begin!

accordion-fold brochure

One of my clients recently asked me to design a leave-behind brochure to showcase some of their products. They specifically requested an accordion fold, which is in essence a long zig-zag fold – the perfect fold for this particular project.

I worked with Brown Printing to determine the overall size and number of panels. We wanted to show as many different office chairs as possible without going too small, so we settled on a 16-panel brochure that folded up to a little 3.5" square.

Each panel showed a single chair, along with the product name and specific item number, which referenced a short price list on the back panel.

This tiny brochure has made a huge impact – the client has already had to order a reprint twice! Their sales reps simply love having a small leave-behind that gives a quick overview of what the company is all about: office chairs.

in praise of helvetica

I've never liked the font Helvetica. I know, that's almost blasphemous, but I always thought it was just humdrum, so-so, boring, meh... well, you get my drift.

Then a couple years ago I watched the film Helvetica and my mind opened up a bit. Hmmm... yes, it's a ubiquitous font that's perhaps slightly overused but alright, maybe it is okay to use here and there, on occasion.

I've now been converted. I love Helvetica. Really! See, it all started while I was working on a brochure for the Oregon Bach Festival. For the last five years, I've designed all their season collateral, from their main season poster and ticket brochure to full-page magazine ads, postcards, billboards, banners, you name it.

So when it came time to discuss the look and feel of the 2011 season, the client wanted to show that the organization was headed in a new, modern direction, different from the way things had been for the last 40 years. The request came to use the font Helvetica.

My heart sank. Not the dreaded H-word... how could I possibly create something fresh and exciting with such a static font? But I accepted the challenge and I'm glad I did: I have seen the light!

Once I started playing with the various weights combined with color and size, I realized that yes, I could create an entire brochure using Helvetica for just about every bit of copy while still imbuing each page with variety and life.

I am quite proud of this brochure. It conveys a TON of content in an organized, visually pleasing manner with an informational hierarchy that helps the reader find what they're looking for.

So yes, I now love Helvetica. On occasion. For this occasion. And likely many more.

keeping it together

When I first started working with RFM Seating last summer, they asked me to redesign their overview brochure of in-stock office chairs. Their direction was to keep it ultra clean and simple, almost minimalist in its design. The result: one big chair on the cover, lots of smaller chairs on each interior page. Easy to read, clear communication – mission accomplished!

So when it came time to redesign RFM's big binder that holds all of their product specs and sales collateral, we continued along the same theme and maximized the use of white space. A row of small product photos wrapping from front to back quickly communicates two key messages: (1) we sell chairs, and (2) we have lots of options.

The binders turned out beautifully and were well worth the long lead time the printer needed to produce them.