gala program

To follow up on last week's post about the gala invitation for the University of Oregon,  I thought that today I'd share the program book I designed for the event.

I updated last year's square format with this year's color palette, damask pattern and logo border. The metallic paper worked especially well with the dark pattern, giving it extra depth and lustre.

The inside front cover was a flood of chartreuse green while the first page featured a black pattern band behind the logo – I love the overall effect and contrast it created.

The interior pages were reformatted to reflect this year's modern typography and color while the grey stripes from the save-the-date made an appearance as a header at the top and bottom of each page.

The end result: an elegant program book that effectively reflected the prestigious nature of the event while not breaking the bank in terms of design or printing costs.

welcome, OHSU

I have some exciting news to share: after going through a lengthy RFP and vetting process, Defteling Design is now an official approved vendor for Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU)!

Throughout the last few years, I had already done some pro-bono design work for Todd's department (the OHSU Library) and by coincidence, the Library turned out to be my first official OHSU client, too!

One of Todd's co-workers was in charge of an on-campus conference and needed help with the program book, which was used to provide information on 175+ poster presentations, 140 oral presentations and three keynote speakers.

She had already designed the square Research Week logo, a play on the periodic table. I simply expanded on that.

 

For the cover, I created  an abstracted "empty" periodic table that I overlaid as a subtle pattern over a Kraft paper texture. I also introduced a thick black bar with a pointed right edge and used that throughout the program to highlight important content.

Because of the relatively small quantity, this program would be printed digitally, which meant I could use that same Kraft paper texture as a design element on all the interior pages. I proposed the wire-o binding to give the piece a bit of a note book feel (we even added a dozen or so empty pages for notes).

 

To give this book a bit more physical heft, I wanted a really thick paper for the covers. Because a digital press has fairly limited choices when it comes to cover weight stock, I opted for a French fold: printing each cover and inside cover as one wide sheet, then folding them in half. Voilà: extra-thick covers!

I'm very excited to see what my next OHSU project will be!

more wedding style

A couple years ago, my baby sister got married and asked me to design, among other things, her invitation suite. She specifically requested a design that had been quite popular when I first debuted it as part of Cecily Ink (you can read about it here and here.)

Well, last fall it was time for another sister's wedding, and I was thrilled when she, too, asked me to design her invitation.

And yes, Marie also opted to use a best-selling Cecily Ink design. No problem, certainly made my job easier, especially given the relatively quick turn-around time.

Because both timing and budget were tight, I recommended digital printing. I chose a digital-friendly felt-finish paper so we could still get that wonderful texture. I also specified target PMS numbers so the printer could match the orange & brown colors as closely as possible.

Because the maximum sheet size for the printer's digital press is quite a bit smaller than a traditional offset press sheet, I adjusted sizes as necessary to still fit as many pieces as possible onto the sheet. This way, the bride could use her "wedding look" on things like thank-you cards, place cards and favor tags, too.

 

The invitation suite turned out beautifully and the bride was quite pleased. Thanks, Marie, for entrusting me with such an important part of your Big Day!