When En-Lyfe Nutraceutical Group engineered Out of Nature N-Zyme, a supplement that promised to boost energy when taken daily, they hired GMDS to develop the promotional materials for it.

Initially ENG presented us with three original logo comps that they had procured from another graphic designer, the design dimensions we were to use (5.5 x 8.5 inches with bleeds), and the actual product in a plain white bottle as the foundation for what we were to create. The logo comps were great and gave us a foundation on which to build. En-Lyfe Nutraceutical Group’s owner, Dr. Hall, also used a lot of great descriptive words when sharing his vision. He wanted something “impressive” that was the visual equivalent to the quality of his product. He forfeited the opportunity to share examples of product branding he liked that was already on the market. Instead, he explained that based on the work he had seen in our portfolio he trusted our creativity and would leave the creative direction to us. While this scenario seems ideal, it left a lot of room for error.

After reading more about ENG’s products and its claims, my next step was to research similar products on the market. While perusing the aisles of a pharmacy or two, visiting the websites of a few drug companies and looking at some magazine ads, I took note of how some visual brands made me feel. For example, a plain yellow and white bottle with “Vitamin C” written across the front in the Impact font made me feel that the product was low quality and mass produced. Ads with pink and purple hues or ones that donned script-style fonts seemed geared toward women.

ENG’s new product was something I might see in a natural foods store. One phrase that stood out in the copy was that these supplements contained “…the ionic minerals found in the rain forest of South Africa.” While the word “ionic” put me in the mindset of a chemistry class (font-wise that meant a structured, serif font). “Rain forest” reminded me of neutral earthy colors that you might see if you visited one.

To avoid going too far in any creative direction before getting his approval, I presented Dr. Hall with one cover design (above) to start. For the background I used a royalty-free stock photo of homemade paper. I superimposed another royalty-free stock photo of beige capsules (which were originally on a white background) onto the homemade paper background. I used an enlarged transparent watermark of the wheat element from one of the logo comps I was given to make his brand element more visible. Goudy Old Style and Copperplate Gothic were my choices for serif fonts.

ENG was pleased with the direction we went in on the first comp and had us develop the rest of its materials based on that look and feel. Get a closer look at this booklet design. Download the PDF.

We partnered with Oliver Imprints to design the Clayton County Board of Health State of Health Report. Initially our team presented the Board with four different cover and inner page options.

The report highlighted the goals and accomplishments of the organization with a unique focus on health programs and resources that are available to Clayton County residents. Though the board eventually went with another of the options we presented, we couldn’t resist giving this layout option an online home in the GMDS portfolio journal.

 

 

Girls Inc. of Washington D.C. held the The Power of the Purse Gala, a formal fundraising event to support young girls in their endeavors.

We created this vibrant 8.5″ by 11″ booklet design for the organization using the latest versions of Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop and InDesign. The booklet features introductory information about the event and Girls Inc. of Washington, D.C. along with photos of its members in action. It also features speaker photos and bios, and product shots of purses available for auction throughout the evening.

 

 

In recent years, Baltimore’s TV 25 public access channel’s viewing area witnessed an expansion from standard government access programming to the inclusion of a new block of prime-time shows.

After changing its name from TV 25 to CharmTV and getting a brand overhaul via a local design agency, the city called on GMDS to create several supplemental designs based on CharmTV’s new style guide.

Sponsorship Package

The CharmTV Sponsorship Package is one of about 25 individual projects GMDS created after CharmTV’s recent transformation. Based on its new style guide we used the vibrant color scheme, standardized fonts and professional photos provided by their staff to create the 18-page, 11″ by 8.5″ booklet. Potential advertisers download the document from CharmTV’s website to learn more about their options via informative copy, thought-provoking visuals and easy-to-read graphs and tables.

Rate Card

The CharmTV Rate Card is another item GMDS was hired to create as an informative piece for the channel’s potential advertisers. In this document we converted the data from an Excel spreadsheet to an easy-to-read rate table using the latest version of Adobe InDesign. We used clean and simple color blocking to showcase testimonials and resized the city’s images to span the width of the page to draw attention to examples of staff members in action. The 5.5″ by 8.5″ booklet has six pages and is also downloadable via CharmTV’s website.

 

Reynolds Cottage Art Booklet

Mary Schmidt Campbell was dean emerita of the Tisch School of the Arts and associate provost for the arts at New York University. Previously, she was commissioner of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, executive director of the Studio Museum in Harlem and curator at the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse, NY. It was no surprise that when she was appointed president of Spelman College in 2015 that she would adorn the walls of Reynolds Cottage (her new on-campus home) with breathtaking original art. When the college’s department of communications called on GMDS to quickly create two 5.5- by 8.5-inch booklets mapping the location of each piece within the cottage for visitors, we were honored to do so.

We created the booklet (above) using the latest version of Adobe InDesign. Since we had created items with a similar look for the college before, we were able to set it up relatively fast. The most time-consuming task on this project was formatting the images. Because the final was to be printed, it was important to make sure that the photos had a resolution of at least 300 DPI at their original sizes. Some photos fell short but we were able to make technical adjustments that were unnoticeable in print using the latest version of Adobe Photoshop.

One notable design implementation—We used the latest version of Adobe Illustrator to create vector illustrations of location markers. Each marker had a unique color and identified a specific area of the president’s home. Color-coding the zones where certain artwork was displayed proved to be useful for visitors.

Calendar with Brochure Fold

Spelman distributes this 6″ by 17″, double-sided, tri-fold brochure (below) each year in a gesture of gratitude to donors whose support enables students to experience an education at Spelman. We created the Spelman calendar using the latest version of Adobe InDesign.

 

Research Day Conference Booklet

The Spelman College Research Day program booklet (below), shines a spotlight on Research Day, a presentation of winning student abstracts and a 25-year-old annual conference that showcases student talent. Created in the latest version of Adobe InDesign, we used Spelman’s signature blue along with photos taken at the previous Research Day event to create this 8.5″ by 11″, 40-page document.

Faculty Booklet

The New Faculty booklet (below) recognizes newcomers among the Spelman College staff. The closed size of the 12-page booklet is 5.5″ by 8.5″, and it includes a welcome from the president along with the photos and bios of each new faculty member.

 

Here at GMDS we’re always looking for new ways to provide great resources, inspire you and show off our skillset. In the case of We Are DeKalb Magazine, that opportunity arose while I was on a call with my trusted colleague and great friend of more than 10 years, Gerrian Hawes of Oliver Imprints.

During our conversation, Gerrian enthusiastically explained the details of We Are Clayton, her latest endeavor—a free community magazine she’d created from the ground up that had been disappearing from the stands as quickly as she delivered them. Having already sold her first few ads and garnered support from influential figures around town, Gerrian was excited about her next steps.

Inspired, I suggested putting together a similar publication (above) for DeKalb County, Georgia. Like Clayton, DeKalb encompasses several thriving cities including a portion of Atlanta. After giving me her blessing, Gerrian began to help me map out how I should proceed. And just like that, her “We Are” brand had grown from one publication to two.

I soon realized that I had my work cut out for me. I was now responsible for the content planning, graphic design, photography, copy writing, publishing, promotion and dissemination of my very own community magazine. Gerrian had already done a lot of the heavy lifting. Because We Are Clayton was nearly a year old, she had amassed a solid business model; credible resources like printers, writers and photographers; media kit content and a pricing scale for ad sales.

My first independent task was to define my target audience which was people who lived, worked and played in and around DeKalb County. Then my creative goals: I had to figure out how I wanted my audience to perceive the publication? I wanted a lifestyle magazine like Gerrian’s, but I wanted a heavy focus on the arts. My next step was to find worthy story ideas. I did so by getting the word out about my upcoming publication and requesting relative submissions from subject-matter experts from the community. I also hired an affordable writer/editor to help develop additional content. In regards to photography services, I was lucky enough to have my partner, Johnny Mapp (photographer, documentary filmmaker and painter extraordinaire) of Bike Paparazzi popularity, to manage that part of the process.

When it was all said and done, We Are DeKalb Magazine was well received by the community and became an award-winning publication. We partnered with DeKalb Convention & Visitors Bureau and developed a special travel issue that won the Al Burris Award for Creative Expression (a Georgia Governor’s tourism award that recognizes an individual or entity that develops a creative community public relations initiative). The publication also won an Apex Award for Emerging Business from the DeKalb County Chamber of Commerce, and a Her Story award from County Commissioner Sharon Barnes Sutton.

A celebration for the ages. Sophia Wilson used GMDS to recycle memories for her mom’s 80th birthday. When Sophia Wilson hired GMDS to design this 8-page, 8.5″ by 11″, program booklet for her mother’s 80th birthday event, she stressed that she wanted it to look like a magazine with an upper echelon feel.

The booklet featured an agenda that outlined the order of events, a poetic tribute from the youthful octogenarian’s grandchildren and fun facts about each decade leading up to her big day. Her daughter provided us with professional photographs of her mom which played a major role and finishing the look effectively.

 

Georgia WIC (Women Infants and Children) goes out of its way to make a difference. GMDS’ creative services helped to augment its efforts. The organization hired us to design a variety of informative graphics for WIC Vendors throughout the state.

GA WIC Vendors Conference Program Booklet

Each year Georgia WIC holds an informative conference for program vendors and staff. When the organization requested a 20-something-page program booklet (below) design for it we were absolutely elated.  One caveat, however, was that they needed it 24 hours later.

After accepting the project our first deliverable was a good book cover idea. With such a short time frame, our goal was to create a cover (in a hurry) that did not look rush job. After a brief brainstorm and a little creative muscle, we came up with the concept of a collage. Experience has proven that despite seeming like a great idea (a good collage is a masterful way to visually summarize a variety of topics at one glance) in theory, a collage can easily become too busy and pollute the clarity of a design.

To steer clear of a collage that was too complex, we decided to use three photos to create one symbol. That symbol—the peach within the WIC logo. We used Adobe Photoshop to create a filtered image using one of the approved WIC colors in the background. We created the peach collage by cutting out visible portions of royalty free stock photos in the shapes of the enclosed spaces within the peach. Once notable challenge—when we positioned the photo cut-outs so that they would fit perfectly back within the spaces, the collage began to look busy. When we re-positioned each clipping and revealed a small amount of the white background the visual became easier to understand.

Within a few hours GA WIC Vendor Relations approved the cover. The final steps were to format and import the internal content, submit a PDF for review, and make edits in time for their team to have it printed. By conference day the program was printed and ready to hand out to attendees.

WIC Vendor Mail Newsletter

An ongoing design project GMDS provides for GA WIC Vendor Relations is the Vendor Mail Newsletter. Disseminated as a PDF on a quarterly basis, the 8.5” by 11”, 16-page publication is chocked full of notable administrative events, ethics-related updates, statistical data and nutritional information. The color scheme is based on the organizations existing brand colors.