Often the work of a designer is that of a problem solver, not just a visual creator. Sometimes that includes organizing lots of information, but other times require challenging logistics.

A Case in Point

I had been referred to a new client by a photographer who did work for them. The company produced machinery from pretty small to very large (some stories high) that chopped varying materials into smaller pieces. There were numerous types of equipment, some related but different, and many had numerous models to choose from. Additionally, there were also two types of end users of the equipment — municipalities and industrial users.

Sitting down with the new client he showed me the promotional materials he currently was using. Outside of many being very dated looking, there was no unified look to any of the pieces (save their logo). Different colors, typefaces and design elements were used in all the pieces. And there were many, many of them. Single sheets (sell sheets) for each piece of equipment and two bound catalogs — one for municipal and another for industrial uses.

To compound matters the company was constantly introducing new models or modifying existing ones of the various pieces of equipment. Needless to say this necessitated an large outlay of money for printing and a tremendous waste of paper with outdated catalogs.

The Solution

One by one each sell sheet was recreated with a unified design using colors to differentiate the various lines. Certain lines used varying shades of green, others of purple and still others of blue. Each piece of equipment had its own sheet with a chart outlining the different models in the line (usually related to size and output).

When enough sheets existed, a series of pages was designed outlining the company and its history with a cover, inside pages (four up front), a back cover and the reverse of that. When the company needed to distribute a catalog, only the necessary pages were collated and drilled (punched) for a spiral binding. This eliminated the need to create large printed catalogs that would be soon out of date. Lots of trees and money saved.