A Report of Sports

I'm back again to discuss a publication that I've been involved with 5 years now. Two points about that:

1. Personal preference. I love the flexibility that comes with an annual project and one that I've spent countless months on (in 5 years). This is where the real understanding and implementation of a brand becomes second nature and part of why this job was given to me as a freelance artist after leaving my former position. It's an understanding that stems from just the general time spent, but also intuition and dedication to grasping and appreciating a multi-faceted brand with a similarly unique audience. This is the way I prefer to work. 

2. Practice makes perfect. While I love creating hand-drawn, creative, straight-out-of-my-head-onto-paper art, brand development and implementation is what I know as a professionally trained designer. This is what I've spent majority of my professional career doing. If you're not certain what I mean by this, I'll explain a bit along the way and please feel free to inquire specifically how I can help you change, establish, or sort-out your brands strategy through design.

What I appreciate about this project is that the importance of every student-athlete at F&M really comes through in the writing and that it's a publication that is almost non-existent among other D3 schools. It has been my task to show the collaboration and commitment through design, starting with the cover. I worked with the staff photographer to highlight the two student-athletes of the year. Previous editions worked in a collage of every sport. Last year was the first year I pitched a new concept—two student-athletes of the year. This publication in the work section of my site—you can see how they contrast but follow a similar style. This year, I decided an outdoor shot would suit the sports/athletes. An upward angle, strong highlights, and an edited horizon give the illusion that they are looming at the edge of the field, confident in what they've accomplished.

F&M student-athletes perform well on the field/gym and they balance that with intellectual growth. It's a major element sprinkled through every section of this book—these students have a true balance of athletic and academic excellence.

The importance on the individual achievement is shown—one full spread per student, showing and stating the achievements of five seniors.

There is a ton more to this 60 page publication for a variety of audiences—parents, donors, alum, professors, fellow students, deans, prospects, High School counselors, and more. I can't stress how cool it is that F&M promotes their athletes through this printed publication—a perfect bound beauty! I'm so pleased they asked me to design it for a fifth year. While I didn't get into every strategic aspect of this design, I hope that the thought comes through with this post and you'll take a moment to consider how a local designer could help strengthen the core priorities of your brand!