Tuesday, June 8, 2021

DR2’s inception story


 

In 1998 a former co-worker who moved to the West Coast was not happy with the quality of copy and design he was getting.

 

He suggested that another former co-worker, Dave (not his real name), and I start a partnership, with me doing design and Dave doing copy. He promised he would throw us some work.

 

Dave had been doing catalogs for an automobile company on the side while working for an association. I was working for a large government contractor and keeping my sanity by doing nonprofit fundraising packages on the side for museums, symphonies and cultural organizations.

 

Dave came up with the name DR2, meaning Direct Response, Direct Results.

 

It was brilliant. I decided DR2 should be written like an element or chemical symbol because DR2 was an “essential” element for any client.

 

I designed a great brochure, Dave wrote it and got a printer to print it for free. We got business cards, put together a Powerpoint introduction largely featuring my work and off to California we went to pitch DR2.

 


 


 


We got the work. Not as much as we would have liked but our client list was off to a good start/was bolstered by this addition to the canon.

 

It was to be a limited partnership. Dave would still write copy on his own and I would design on my own and we would work together with clients who needed both.

 

Dave had been sent a newsletter for Wachovia Wealth Management to bid on for us, but never mentioned it to me since he disliked writing newsletters.

 

We both went down to North Carolina to pitch work to Wachovia and after the pitch one person in the room said to us, “How can you say you’re responsive and deliver my work in a timely fashion, when you can’t even give me a price quote on my newsletter in three months.”

 

I was completely floored. I didn’t know about the newsletter but couldn’t say that to the client. I just got back in my car and drove seven hours back home.

 

The so-called partnership had turned out to be not much of a partnership and I lost a lucrative potential client.  After a brief conversation, I learned that after just a few short weeks Dave had decided he didn’t like not having a steady paycheck and never intended to work with Wachovia.  The partnership was dissolved on the spot and I kept the name DR2 for my solo business.

 

The logo I designed for DR2 back in 1998 to symbolize a PMS chip and a postage stamp becomes something new for 2021, It still keeps the symbolism of those two but adds the symbolism of a pixel as well.

 

The original logo was black—grounded and solid. The characters DR were cut out because I like to let my audience in on what's behind the curtain.


This new logo keeps those elements but is sky blue for optimism and creativity.

Since 1998 DR2 have worked with these amazing clients and more:


 
  • AARP
  • AARP Foundation
  • Adventure Aquarium
  • Advocate Charitable Foundation
  • African Wildlife Foundation
  • All Children’s Hospital
  • Alley Cat Allies
  • ALS Association
  • American Farmland Trust
  • American Friends Service Committee
  • American Foundation for the Blind
  • American Heart Association
  • Americares
  • Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
  • Born Free USA
  • Boston Foundation for Sight
  • Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra
  • Bridgeport Hospital Foundation
  • Bronx Zoo
  • Capital Area Foodbank
  • Carnegie Hall
  • The Carnegie Museum of Pittsburgh
  • Center for Victims of Torture
  • Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
  • Children’s Inn at NIH
  • Children’s National Hospital
  • Cincinnati Zoo
  • Clean Water Action
  • Conservancy of Southwest Florida
  • Cornell Lab of Ornithology
  • Dallas Zoo
  • Defenders of Wildlife
  • Environmental Defense Fund
  • Experience Music Project
  • FINCA
  • Foodbank of Central and Eastern North Carolina
  • Friends of the Earth
  • Foxchase Cancer Center
  • George Mason University
  • Goodwill Industries International, Inc.
  • Greenpeace
  • Green-Wood Cemetery
  • Hanna Boys Center
  • HealthWell Foundation
  • High Museum of Art
  • Human Rights Watch
  • Humane Society of the United States
  • International Campaign for Tibet
  • International Rescue Committee
  • Isaac Walton League
  • John Ball Zoo
  • League of Women Voters
  • LGBTQ Task Force
  • Lincoln Park Zoo
  • Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service
  • McNay Art Museum
  • Miami Cancer Institute
  • National Audubon Society
  • National Trust for Historic Preservation
  • National Wildlife Federation
  • The Nature Conservancy
  • Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
  • New Jersey Symphony Orchestra
  • Oakland Zoo
  • Optometry Cares AOA
  • OUTSERVE/Servicemembers Legal Defense Network
  • Partnership with Native Americans
  • Philadelphia Zoo
  • Phelps Regional Medical Center
  • Physicians for Human Rights
  • Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra
  • The Planetary Society
  • Planned Parenthood of Southern New England
  • Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains
  • Potomac Conservancy
  • Potawatomi Zoo
  • Public Citizen
  • Rainforest Alliance
  • Rehabilitation Opportunities, Inc.
  • Rush-Copley Medical Foundation
  • St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital/ALSAC
  • Save The Chimps
  • Seneca Park Zoo
  • Sonoma Humane Society
  • Special Olympics of Southern Maryland
  • Student Conservation Association
  • Students First
  • Temple University
  • Toledo Zoo Pals
  • Trust for Public Land
  • University of Maryland
  • University of Virginia
  • USA for UNHCR
  • Vermont Foodbank
  • Victorian Society of New York
  • Washington National Cathedral
  • WETA
  • White Coat Waste Project
  • Whitman-Walker Health
  • The Wilderness Society
  • Wilderness Conservation Society
  • World Wildlife Fund
  • Year Up


 

 

Friday, June 4, 2021

Screaming for cooperation


 

When I think of a project that screams for cooperation between copy and design it’s a newsletter.

 

Newsletters are a good way to provide something of perceived value to the donor that doesn’t break the bank.

 

And it’s a good way to forge a relationship with the donor by promoting your cause.

 

Digital or in the mail, a newsletter can take the reader where you want them to go and show progress and need.

 

Save the Chimps just updated its brand and with that update I was afforded the opportunity to take their newsletter in a different direction.

 

 

Previous Design

 

 

 

  Updated Design

 

 

The previous design was focused on putting as much content as possible into two sides of an 8 ½ x 11-inch sheet.

 

The design had served them well but I suggested using a larger point size for the type and bigger images more appropriate for older eyes.

 

This would mean that the writer would need to be even more concise with his copy.

 

I provided him with word counts for each article space and he came very close to hitting the mark even after client edits.

 

Word count is crucial when writing for a newsletter. It can be difficult for the writer to pare down all that great information he has acquired from subject interviews to fit a limited space.

 

Clients may insist that writers provide lots of copy for a newsletter but often do not consider that there should be more than just text.

 

Having to shoehorn in images and graphics makes the reader’s experience less than ideal.

 

Lucky for me I have a long relationship with this writer and I am able to share my ideas with him before he makes his first key stroke on the copy.

 

He makes design suggestions and sometimes I make copy suggestions for space but most of the time we respect each other’s craft and make stuff happen.

 

The best thing for a designer when working on a newsletter is to have the ability to go back to the writer and ask for copy edits for space.

 

Writers are brilliant at cutting just enough copy to make it fit.

 

For the redesign of Chimp News, I opted to keep a large banner on page one and keep the “cover chimp” featured on page two.

 


 

Previous Newsletter Banner

 

 

 

Updated Newsletter Banner

 


 

I used an oversized silhouetted image to draw the reader in to the first article.

 


 

 

Updated Chimp News design

The previous design had no call-to-action but the client agreed to let me add it to both front and back pages along with social media badges.

 

Get Playful

 

Now if you’ve read any of my previous articles or listened to me ramble on at Bridge or a Lunch and Learn, you will know I always like to let the reader “in on the joke”—make them feel like they are an insider.

 

I added a couple of whimsical items to this newsletter that may bring a smile to the reader.

 

The “over please” is Pumpkin (a chimp I sponsor —I HAD to find a way to use him in this issue) on his back in a playful pose with the direction “Pumpkin says to turn over.” 

 


 

 

 

I also added bananas to the Save the Dates section.

 

I’m sure some of you on my wavelength wonder why I didn’t use dates. I did consider it, but I really needed a color pop for that box and dates wouldn’t have done that as well as bananas.

 

 

 


 

You will end up with a better product if you let your writer and designer talk.

 

Have an editorial meeting prior to copy and design kick off.  The designer can be researching/obtaining images while the copy is being written.

 

Another thing that helps is to build the newsletter with first draft copy. That way the designer and writer can solve space issues before the client sees it.

 

It’s not an ideal way to work for a lot of packages but I find it to be a much smoother process for the client when designing a newsletter.

 

Production changes

 

The previous newsletter had a bleed (color running off the edge of the page.) I thought we really didn’t need that for the new design and could save a little money by not having to print on an oversize sheet of paper to be able to bleed off the page.

 

The quantity (for now) is not overly large, so we were able to move the newsletter to a digital press allowing us more time flexibility.