Blog

The

Task

This was a project that almost never happened. I initially heard about this project in a meeting with marketing and content directors. We were 1 week away from our print deadline and the Head of Content was asking about a header graphic for some leave behinds. after learning a bit more I found that their  solution for these leave behinds were to print the Google Doc at a smaller font on standard copier paper, formatted the way they were provided form the speaker with an added header graphic. There was a lot to balance in regards to other tasks but I knew that we couldn’t just print these on copy paper. Taking on a short turn around project days before a major deadline isn’t something I’d normally advocate for  but I insisted they take the time to outline where the project came from and what it’s purpose was in an email, which is below.

We have "From the Desk Of..." sessions. For each of these sessions, we requested that their CEOs send their top 10 tips to scaling. I imagined this as a rectangle but am open to other shapes - ideally these would each be a third of a standard sheet of paper so you could print three per paper. (we have to order like 400 per session so this would help on cost) I've linked Profitwell's top ten tips to scaling below.

SaaStr Head of Content

The

Process

When I got the information and was advocated to be brought on for this project, we only had about 1/2 the submissions for the “10 tips..” and about 1/2 were still outstanding from the session hosts to provide our team. I noticed some similarity’s that I used as a template for the remaining half, not knowing if it would work for the remaining half. A bit of a risk but worth it in the end.

The original provided content and design

Length
Most of the tips were on the short end, 150 characters or less. Which meant for spacing it would be better to do a taller format than a wider one.

Format
Some of the tips were broken up into two sections, while others were not. I could have a two formats one for two sections and one for a single section.

Call to Action
Some of the tips had hyperlinks, having a simple CTA to the companies site was an ideal compromise for driving traffic but not having a printed URL or QR code.

Personality
Each of these sessions were back to back over the course of 4 hours (30 minutes slots, 7 slots total). I thought making them a bit more unique visually and representative of the brand on stage than following a template of our brand would not only add personality but also help difference the beginning and end of each session.

The

SOlution

A 1 to 10 system was used for the cards since there wasn’t time to go back and forth with any copy or changes to the content. This worked since most of the session hosts submitted their tips in this format. From there I made the choice on document sizing based on our provider and print deadline, which was fast approaching. After the basics of the format were determined I dived into the visuals, taking heavy inspiration from each of the individual’s brand and personality that I could derive from their logo, website, marketing materials researched.

Sourced Branding from ProfitWell
Mimicked Branding
Sourced Branding from ClickUp
Mimicked Branding
Sourced Branding from Samsung
Mimicked Branding
Sourced Branding from Pendo
Mimicked Branding

The

Learnings

The resulting project was highly successful, not only was something unique and interesting created, but each session host loved having a custom take aways for their session. What could have been a throw away project basically copy and pasting text into a basic format turned into a branded experience that increased the value of each session without adding any burden to additional departments or stressing any budgetary restraints.

I really took care to match as much of the formatting as I could from each of the session host’s brand, I ussed drastically different type faces, colors, and design elements, while also ensuring that when all of the take aways, when side by side, looked like they belonged together. This proved really fun for brands with big personalities and distinct voices. and difficult for brands with little to no personality. I wanted each of the cards to look like they were designed by each brands internal marketing department, and something each brand would be happily surprised by at the event.