Ebony & Ivory

Whether a duet between buildings—or a moment of serendipity—I'll take it. These chance musical murals, blocks apart in North Beach, made my walk to Coit Tower even more enchanting.

Designed to the Nines

Our third fundraising campaign for the U of U College of Nursing mailed out this week. It will start landing in homes while we're in San Francisco celebrating the award our previous campaign received. Whereas the first two campaigns were more emotional—and relied heavily upon relationships—this campaign is simple, accessible, and leveraged on a small, but specific ask: please give $9.99 in '09. (Or $99; or $999.)

Since this is our third request of the same audience, we made sure to thank them for giving already; offered them a quick status report on the progress of construction and all previous donations; and expressed the type of things just $9.99 more can provide: books and supplies, scholarships seed money; etc.

The outer envelope was designed to provoke curiosity: a hydra of 9's swarm the address field. Inside is a simple flat insert. The front side is a concise appeal for $9.99 in '09. The reverse is a collage of polaroids—the captions of which evoke project status as well as the needs of students and faculty. The polaroids float on a field of nines to both reinforce our theme, and more subtly imply the aggregated effect of thousands of donors. I designed the reverse side as a giant poster with 38 different pictures so when the parent sheet cuts down we have 16 different backs. Yet each back side covers two themes: construction, and either student or faculty needs. Each card was round cornered, like our first campaign, and then perforated for easy mail-back of the donation form.

Parent sheets were pulled during press-check as posters to hang in the various spaces our faculty and students have been spread to through this construction dislocation. Kind of a morale booster, as well as something to keep the end goal in focus.

The Caring Continuum

A year after the first campaign, the U of U College of Nursing returned to us for a new opportunity to help raise funds to aid the national nurse educator shortage. With the monies secured for expanding and retrofitting the college, our new task was to raise $12.5 million through naming opportunities for educational and simulation spaces, as well as donations to endow chairs, grant scholarships, and fund fellowships.

The Caring Continuum Campaign was told through a wide-format booklet, filled with vivid imagery of nurse educators, and compelling statistics about the impending health care crisis. We used clear varnish on Sappi's white Lustro Offset Environment paper. Inserts used the varnish to add both a finishing touch, and emphasis. A folio, reminiscent of the first campaign, opens up to a beautiful photograph of one of our nursing students. The case statement was sent out in an extra-long converted envelope to make sure it would be noticed.

This campaign and it's accompanying DVD were submitted to the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education. We received the silver award of excellence in the area of fundraising publications packages. This weekend I fly out to San Francisco to join our nursing development staff at the CASE District VII conference to receive the award.

Building the Future of Nursing Education

In 2007, the University of Utah College of Nursing came to us with a goal of raising $8.5 million for expansion of teaching facilities. With a thorough understanding of who their primary audience is, we crafted a kit with impact that delivered. A bold envelope distinguished the piece from mail clutter. It opens to reveal a concise letter from the dean followed by an accordion-style brochure leveraged on high-impact and emotional photos of nurses in action. Supplemented with warm colors and a humanistic script, a concise call to actions gives the audience the opportunity to help build the future of nursing education. A business-reply envelope made submitting donations easy. The college met their goal in just a couple months.

Memphis Color Palette

I finally found a way to design on my iPhone.

My personal project, while attending the AIGA Make|Think conference, was to capture the local color of Memphis with my phone's camera. Then I used the Pantone application to isolate swatches and e-mail myself ASE (Adobe Swatch Exchange) files. My goal was to be open and receptive to what turns up; not to force the colors. And I must say I'm pleased with the results. One stream of colors is called Mistaken Reds because I found a lot of red objects to photograph, only to discover they were browns, violets, even fuchsia. The Mississippi river eluded my perception and revealed hues that were darker and greener than the silt I thought I was seeing. This palette is inspired by neon, the Lorraine Motel, bricks and graffiti, the Beauty Shop restaurant and it's tasty drink The Crush, flowers growing between benches, monuments, and maybe even a little bit of soul.