Graphic Redesign: Easter Mailer (part 1)

Hi! Happy Monday. Thanks for the nice comments on my last post--it seemed like it was more popular than some of my other Thankful Thursdays, for whatever reason. :)

Today I have another redesign--this time an Easter mailer my friend C passed on to me. You can read my disclaimers about this type of post here.

This was put out a couple of years ago to advertise the various church services available in Blockhouse Bay (Auckland, New Zealand), but in order to keep things somewhat anonymous, I blurred out the names/locations and put in generic names on mine. I think you'll still get the idea of the changes, though. This is just the inside of the mailer, and I'll hopefully do the outside in a separate post.

ORIGINAL:


MY UPDATES:


As always, there are lots of other ways this could've been done, and lots of improvements that could be made to my quick redesign, but here are some of the changes and why I made them:

1. I changed the background to white. Since this is an Easter piece, I wanted to give it more of a fresh "Eastery" feel. (Which is going to be different for everyone, I realize.) I kept it in black and white because that restriction was put on C as well, for cost reasons. I wanted to stick with the original guidelines as well as I could.

2. I added a background image to liven things up and give texture, but still leave plenty of room for all of the text. It's hopefully not too feminine, and in this case it seems like it can work for the southern hemisphere since Easter is in the fall. Hopefully it doesn't look silly...hey, I've never designed for anything in New Zealand before! But for the record, my lovely Australian friend Danielle says, "We take most of our holiday cues from America anyway, so hills and flowers and bunnies and things all factor into Easter here." So I guess I'm safe. :)

(2-b. I found this image for free on Vecteezy, but there are a number of sites with either paid or free (usually with some restrictions) images. If you're interested, one day I can give you a list of ones I use.)



3. I made the title more prominent and in a font I felt better reflected the holiday.

4. I added some lines to help separate the text a little so it's easier to read. If my church secretary is reading, I bet she noticed that this actually looks a lot like my church bulletin that I designed, so I guess I'm a little predictable. :) (Okay, a lot.) NOTE: A common "mistake" I see is when lines are too thick. There is a time for every line thickness, but make sure it goes with the overall design and feel. In this case I wanted them more delicate and kept them at .25pt.

5. I organized the info so it was more consistent. In the original, each took on a different order of dates, services and times, so I rearranged things. When there's a lot of text, it's extra important to make everything as clear as possible. Otherwise people might just toss it aside instead of trying to decipher it.

6. I kept my margins roomy and balanced. I like a nice cushion. I don't want text to get really close to the edge of the page, nor do I want my margins to be inconsistent. There are a few different margins within this piece, and I tried to make them feel balanced. The bottom margin under the church listings is larger than the one above it, but I felt it worked okay in this situation and would be better than trying to stretch the text to fill the inner box.

It's quite possible that I didn't capture the look that the church producing this was after. Maybe they wanted something more contemporary, for instance. Those would be things I'd consider if I were actually hired for the job, but as it was I didn't ask C too many questions about it other than whether it had to be in black and white. Anyway, thanks for reading!

Any questions?

If you have a piece you'd like to submit for me to possibly makeover, please email it to me at jessica @ greengatephoto.com. Thanks!