Art Directing two monthly periodicals is a balancing act.
Between designing advertisements, client spotlights, layout design, photography, and updating the websites, there were many hats for me to wear while I was the in-house Art Director at Strictly Business. Below are a few of the highlights from the three main projects that I tackled every month.
Every month I would reach out to our planned client to schedule and coordinate the photoshoot for the cover of Strictly Business.
This included deciding on location, subject, lighting, and general ideas for the focus of the corresponding cover article.
After the photoshoot, I would design multiple mockups for the cover using the different shots I had taken. Following some back and forth between the client and myself, we would finalize the cover. Strictly Business’s staff writer would then provide the write-up for the “About the Cover” that had been approved by the client, and I would design a one-page that often included secondary and background photos from the cover.
This was my favorite project every month, as it allowed me to do photography commercially and experiment with different styles to represent Strictly Business’s clients.
A large part of my monthly workload was generating ads for Strictly Business’s clients.
I communicated with as many as 100 clients on a monthly basis as determined by the account executive, to place ads in each magazine. Most of the larger businesses that placed ad provided their own artwork. However, as many of the companies advertising in Strictly Business were local small businesses in Lincoln and Omaha, with no defined brand guidelines, I was afforded the ability to help them develop their visual identity and communicate to their potential audience.
The primary pieces of editorial content that I produced for Strictly Business are client spotlights.
A one-time full-page piece of advertorial content that lives in print and online. I coordinated with Strictly Business’s staff writer and the client to represent their brand in the best light. This included working within external brand guidelines and (in part) developing identity systems for small business clients that did not have their own. On average, I developed 6-10 spotlights on a monthly basis.
