Design and Wonder in the Everyday

2009 Conference Brochure Design

Tuesday, August 19th, 2008
The 6th Annual Best Practices Conference brochure

I was dreading the design of this brochure since I first heard the topic: mental health forensics. It’s such a dry topic for one thing, and another, the obvious imagery had to be avoided at all costs: handcuffs, jail cell bars, jumpsuit orange, and so forth. The conference is about providing help to people with mental illnesses who would otherwise be imprisoned.

It took a while, but I finally came up with the symbol of the hand. It’s a bit generic, but only as it needs to be. Most people in law need to take an oath and those testifying in court need to swear in. A hand in the position of swearing an oath seemed like the perfect visual for the main conference theme of “Responsibility and Recovery.”

The hand on the cover may be viewed as a palm facing outward during a swearing-in process or as a palm downward on a book to swear by. The hand also serves as a reminder for those in positions of power that the human touch is essential in what they do.

I’m pleased with the design and look forward to designing the rest of the brochure.

19.08.2008 Design, Print Comments Off

A Presentation for the Unprepared

Tuesday, July 15th, 2008
Task Group Orientation Presentation

Task Group Orientation Presentation (right-click to save to desktop)

This is a slideshow presentation I created on a complex and very dry topic. In an ideal world, I would follow Guy Kawasaki’s 10/20/30 rule for slideshow presentations because it’s simple and effective. Essentially, his rule states that every presentation should have no more than 10 slides, lasts for 20 minutes, and use at least 30 pt fonts. If everyone followed this rule, audiences all over the nation would find themselves alert and informed. Shocking.

I tried my best to follow Kawasaki’s rule and many other rules for this particular project, but unfortunately, this was not my presentation. I was tailoring it for a team who would take turns on certain slides and of course,  not everyone prepares as well as they should. 

The less prepared your presenter, the more slides and the more text you’ll find in their slideshow.

So for your consideration, here is what I came up with in the end. This is the slideshow minus 11 text-heavy slides because I wanted to keep the file small and spare you minutes of your precious time. Click the movie or use the right arrow on your keyboard to advance.

For more on the perfect presentation, 43 Folders has a great article on the topic.

15.07.2008 Design, Presentation Comments Off

A Quick Cover

Tuesday, July 1st, 2008

NARI Fiscal Resource Inventory Addendum

All too often, a designer will have projects assigned to him or her on a whim of a manager. This is such a project. This was done in a couple of hours, and while it passes my standards for design, I still consider it uninspired.

As designers we can’t make everything a work of beauty when deadlines loom and when frankly, the audience couldn’t care less (this report is going to a small handful of federal administrators).

To maintain sanity, we as designers need to choose the lilies we gild.

01.07.2008 Design, Print Comments Off