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Client Stories

Client:
Mary’s Meadow Bed and Breakfast, Cazenovia, NY

Scope:
Create a printed piece to use for advertisements at tourist offices and other vendors.

Collateral:
Clients own photos of interior rooms and exterior building and landscape. Hand drawn art – for possible logo.

This was a referral client from my upstate New York programmer. He was working with her to establish her website. He was able to handle her website, but she needed some print work done as well.

I gave  Ginny, the owner, a call and we discussed her advertising ideas. She was looking for a brochure with content and full color photos and descriptions of each room.  I recommended a rack card since it would offer her plenty of space for photos and content and be versatile as a display piece and a mailer. The 4 x 9″ piece is a standard size so it’s inexpensive to print, fits in a #10 envelope, can be full color, double sided and use a coated or uncoated 15 pt. card stock. She was excited about the concept, so I sent her a quote for my design work and several options for quantity pricing.

Design:
I love using Adobe’s Creative Suites for my design work. InDesign, Photoshop and Illustrator all work SO well together. For this piece I opened a new layout in InDesign CS5 and created a new 2 page document of 4.127 x 9.127 inches, with a .125 inch bleed. I scanned the hand drawn art and using Photoshop CS5, I cleaned it up and saved it. Then I opened a new document in Photoshop, slightly bigger than the document in InDesign – I just like having a little more room to bleed my images. Using several photos the client supplied I created a “meadow like” heading to the top of the piece and then gave the top a gradient mask to allow for the placement of the hand drawn image and room for the name of the establishment. I chose a front, street view of the house for the bottom of the rack card. Not only does it show the beautiful architecture of this historic home, but it can be used for the travelers to recognize their lodging when they arrive. I placed a mask on this image as well to blend it into the center of the white card.

I used the font Linotype Zapfino to create the title, kerning it slightly. The font Goudy Old Style makes a nice compliment to the main heading. I added the line at the bottom in the same font as the title to create continuity, giving it a shadow to pull it out from the leaves in the photo. After finalizing the front cover I saved it and placed it into the bottom layer of the InDesign file I had created earlier. I created a text layer above the image and added the rest of the content, using the same fonts in various sizes.

The client had given me some of the information, but I chose to add the emphasis on the “peace and quiet” and “A place to relax” based on our discussions of the goals of her advertising. I always work hard to create a piece that is well thought out and will be above and beyond the client’s expectations.

The second side was created in a similar manner. I chose to photo correct the images in Photoshop, save them as tiff files, then place them into the InDesign file. I was able to work with the client to create just the right amount of content for each description, to make a consistent look. I also brought a piece of vector artwork into the piece to tie the second side together. The final piece was saved as a pdf for proofing and printing.

Ginny was very happy with the results, and has had an steady increase in her Bed and Breakfast bookings. We continue to work on her branding; I have developed tourist magazine ads, post cards, and gift certificates for her. I also created a Facebook image for her business page and updated her blog header. Most recently I’ve been updating her Trip Advisor profile creating another source of potential clients.

“Becky, You brought tears to my eyes.  I can’t believe the lovely job you did on the rack card.  It’s so much better than I could have ever imagined considering the pictures I sent you.” Ginny Krumkake, Mary’s Meadow Bed & Breakfast, Cazenovia, NY

I love finding an affordable solution for my clients and exceeding their expectations. How can I exceed your expectations today?

Becky Bayne

Becky Bayne is an international book designer, a published illustrator, and an experienced graphic design entrepreneur. She loves brainstorming with her clients about all the options for designing their unique book for self-publishing as they begin their authorprenerial journey.

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