Business cards with multiple backs

Recently I moved my office — so it was time for new business cards. As a designer, it’s important to make promotional materials that reflect my design style, so I put a lot of thought and time into my cards.

I’ve done some print projects for clients using moo.com. They have a nice selection of paper choices and do a great job printing photos at an affordable price. A feature of their business cards is the ability to print multiple backs within the same order, at no extra cost — as many as 50 different backs. This is a great option for someone with a portfolio to showcase.

I decided to print a selection of my favorite Cape Cod photos. I’m not a great photographer — I use my iPhone camera exclusively — but I like to say that, on the Cape, “the pictures take themselves.” I selected 21 photos as my favorites. It’s fun to hand out my cards and I’m pretty proud of them.

’Tis the season for annual reports, Part II

The second annual report I was happy to be involved with is from Ampersand Families — according to their website, “Minnesota’s only nonprofit agency focused solely on meeting the permanency needs of older youth (age 10 years and older) and sibling groups in the child welfare system.”

I had learned about Ampersand Families through my work with The Power of 100 – Twin Cities, a giving circle that was able to donate more than $27,000 to the charity in 2016 with the help of a matching grant from the Richard M. Schulze Family Foundation.

I was pleased to be able to partner again with Cornerstone Copy Center and Wendy Wehr.

’Tis the season for annual reports, Part I

I got two unexpected projects toward the end of the year: Annual Reports for nonprofits.

It’s been a while since I worked on an annual report, and I got TWO at the same time! Not one to turn down work, I accepted and learned a whole lot about two very interesting nonprofits in the Twin Cities.

The Hamm Clinic is a mental health clinic whose mission reminds us: “There is no health without mental health.”

From their website:

Hamm Clinic’s Mission is to provide:

Quality, culturally responsive outpatient mental health assessment and treatment for adults in our community, particularly the underserved and those who are unable to afford the full cost of care.

Expert training and education for mental health professionals.

Leadership in our community for effective mental health care.

The package included a six-panel annual report, two versions of an appeal letter, a remittance envelope, and an outside mailing envelope, all beautifully printed, assembled and mailed by Cornerstone Copy Center in Burnsville, my favorite vendor. They never disappoint and always meet my most ridiculous deadlines.

Writing and project management by Wendy Wehr, a gifted copywriter and marketing pro who specializes in nonprofits. She is a delight to work with!

A history lesson at the lighthouse

Many of you know that I spend several months a year at our home on Cape Cod. We are lucky enough to have inherited the cottage where my in-laws lived year-round for 40 years. Thanks to modern technology, I'm able to work remotely from Cape Cod, and spend my free time outside at some of the most beautiful places I’ve seen.

Cape Cod, in addition to its natural beauty, is rich with history. I volunteer as a tour guide at three historic properties: Nauset Light, built in 1877; the Three Sisters triple lighthouses, built in 1892; and the Captain Edward Penniman House, built by a whaling captain in 1868. I love learning about the history of these landmarks and the people who built and cared for them, and then telling the stories to others.

Nauset Light is operated by the Nauset Light Preservation Society, a group of volunteers who interpret and maintain the light (and move it back from the edge when erosion inevitably takes the land). We received a generous memorial donation, which we have used to fabricate and install a “wayside” exhibit, telling Nauset Light’s story when volunteers are not on site. I wrote the copy and designed the exhibit — using strict guidelines from the National Park Service, who is the owner of Nauset Light — and tracked down historic photos from the National Archive and the local historical society.

Today, the first of two wayside exhibits was installed. I was not there to help, but I can’t wait to see it next time I visit the Cape. There’s an image of the sign on my Portfolio > More page.

Photo shoot

This morning we had a photo shoot for the cover of Sales & Marketing Management magazine. My friend, designer Kathryn Forss, art directed. She also chose the venue, the Minnesota State Fairgrounds near Saint Paul. It’s a wonderful place to take photos; there’s so much interesting architecture and lots of spaces, surfaces and textures to explore. Kathy lives in the neighborhood, so she is intimately familiar with the fairgrounds. Our model, Tim Houlihan, was funny, relaxed, and so easygoing. He’s a business consultant and a working musician, and he brought along a couple of beautiful guitars. Photographer Stan Waldhauser is a true professional and made it look easy to get just the right photos we were looking for. It really was a lot of fun! Being mid-October, it was a chilly morning but we're going to hang onto the nice weather as long as we can. Winter is not far behind.

Kathy & I doing some test shots; Tim Houlihan with his steel guitar; a possibility for the cover.

YAY, A WEBSITE

This is my first website. Only 25 years in the making.

Thanks to my daughter, Kieran Riley Abbott, who helped me set it up. I greatly appreciate her patience and expertise. I created this website as a place where prospective clients can look at samples of my work, where I can showcase some of the interesting things that my clients and vendors are doing, and because, well, it’s 2017 and I ought to have a website.