Let's work together.
Sound like something you’re looking for, too? Then read on.
What do you need help with today?
WORD HELP
WORD HELP
You’re doing fabulous, innovative work – you just need to tell people about it. I can write from scratch, taking your ideas and know-how and making them come to life. Or I can take your content and proof, edit, restructure ore rewrite it to give it more punch.
Call on me to:
- Develop concise, clear web copy to describe what it is you do and the impact you’re making.
- Build your thought leadership in your field by writing incisive white papers, blog posts or articles that can consistently reach your target audience.
- “Translate” a densely technical or industry-insider piece of work into everyday language that you can share widely.
- Clean up and tighten a piece of work that you’ve already written.
DESIGN HELP
DESIGN HELP
You give me a raw document that’s just words and a basic layout and images (if any), and I will give it a polished layout with beautiful graphics so readers will better engage with the content.
Call on me to:
- Transform your text-heavy Word doc with blurry graphs that jump all over the page into a slick, visually appealing document that won’t get lost on people’s desks.
- Create a shareable infographic to illustrate a complex idea.
- Design custom graphics to accompany a presentation or a fundraising appeal.
both = magic!
BOTH!
You know what it is you want to say, but need help to get your messages across in a way that is meaningful, concise and easy on the eyes.
I can:
- Interview your beneficiaries and gather compelling stories of the impact of your work, challenges, lessons learned, and pull them together to help tell your organization’s story in an honest, ethical way.
- Help you think of creative, different ways to present your annual achievements and impacts than the usual, run-of-the-mill programmatic report, and package it beautifully.
Strategically planned, well-designed publications aren’t just a “nice to have” –
they’re important tools to get your audience to take notice of your work and take action.
I work with organizations like yours to design custom reports, white papers, toolkits, training manuals, policy briefs, and other publications to make sure that:
Your publication will stand out in a sea of content.
There’s simply more noise than ever before, and you need to do something special to get noticed. Even if your content is top-notch, good design gets you to the top of the pile.
Your audience will easily understand your multifaceted work.
Clearly designed content makes it easy for industry insiders and outsiders alike to digest and understand your work. Content that is too dense or poorly laid out will put off even the most dedicated readers and keep them from engaging.
You’ll build recognition as a thought leader in your field.
When people read well-designed publications they take them more seriously, and start to consider you a thought leader. When you’re seen as a thought leader in your field you start to get noticed even more, attracting more interest in your work, supporters, and donors.
Your readers will “get” your point quickly.
Scannable headlines, callouts and captions make it more likely even for casual readers to take away your key points.
Your complex work will be easier to quickly understand.
Custom graphics help to illustrate your main points for your reader in a different manner, making complex concepts easier to understand.
Even casual readers will walk away with a complete story.
Compelling narrative captions, well-placed pull quotes and graphics tell your story for those “readers” who only skim your document.
Your audience will be able to read your publication with ease.
A clear organizational structure (headlines, sections, sidebars, etc.) to your publication guide the reader through the document and makes it easier for them to take it all in.
Your audience can easily take action.
Well-crafted design makes it easier for readers to know what actions you want them to take and what information you want them to continue talking about – they start engaging rather than just passively reading.
WARNING: Great looking, strategic design can be addictive.
You may never be able to send out a plain ole’ Word document again…
Full service publication design to get you from start to finish
Your organization has an upcoming publication that you know you want to knock out of the park, creating a killer product that really gets people talking (and taking action). You’ve got people who will work on the content, but you need someone to take the lead on crafting it into a thing of beauty (and influence).
WHAT YOU GET:
A 60-minute video kickoff call with you/your team where we develop the Publication Roadmap that will guide our work
A clear, easy to follow timeline that outlines who is responsible for what and by when to help keep us on track and meet your deadlines
My eye on your copy to make sure headlines are effective, powerful pull quotes are highlighted, images are effectively captioned, calls to action are clear, and important information stands out
Custom cover and page layouts that are consistent with your organization’s branding
Custom graphics (icons, graphs, charts, infographics) that visually move the story forward
Two rounds of review (one major and one minor) to make sure we’ve got everything right
Proofreading of the final doc to catch any last minute errors
Print and web-ready versions of the final publication that are ready for professional printing and for email/online use
Social media graphics to showcase your publications across your communications channels
BONUS! A guide to leveraging your publication with tips on how to get the most out of our work together
INVESTMENT: an average publication costs $2997*, and varies based on length and complexity of the publication.
* I work with clients worldwide, contact me for pricing in currencies other than USD
Q
What do you mean by publications?
A publication is anything that shares an aspect of your organization’s story with your audience – the impact that you’ve made over the last year, the journey of your beneficiaries, a record of an important event, a graphical representation of your work, or highlights from an exciting initiative.
White papers, annual reports, training manuals, conference and event records, policy briefs, success stories, appeals – all of these can be instrumental in building your relationship with your audience and establishing you as a thought leader, getting your work noticed.
How it works
Project kickoff meeting
We talk through all the details of the project: expected results, aim, audience, tone, voice, length, available resources, timeline, and more to make sure we’re all on the same page.
Planning and concepting
I review draft content, brand, tone, audience, and present you with a rough “look and feel” doc to give you an sense of what I think will work best to achieve your goals. We have the chance to course correct if I’m not on the right track.
Design iterations
I prep the final text* for layout, and work on images and designing graphics and iconography.
*Small edits and tweaks can be made during the revision process, but significant content changes once the layout is complete will add to project costs and time.
Review and revisions (x2)
We conduct two rounds of review and revisions – a first where we aim to catch 80% of changes, and a second where we catch the remainder. Any additional rounds of revisions are extra, so it pays to be thorough and make sure everyone has their say in that first round.
Final products
Once you’ve officially signed off on the document I’ll prep the document for print and web use (including hyperlinks and interactivity). I can liaise with your printer as needed. I also provide basic social media graphcis for you to share.
Launch, measure and learn
You launch your publication, sharing it throughout your network and on social media, and measure and track its impact. I’ll check back in with you post-dissemination to see what.we can learn from the process.
Some FAQs
Why should we work with you?
I come from a background working in organizations like yours, so I can jump right into the work. I understand the audiences you speak to – the donors, the stakeholders, the industry jargon. I am familiar with complex concepts across a variety of sectors – health, education, governance, tech, business development – and can translate your work into clear, simple graphical representations that help bring your publications to the next level.
You also get my experienced writer’s eye on your copy – I’m always keeping a look out for ways that we can package your words to make them have the most impact on your readers.
Who do you work with?
I work with organizations committed to making positive change in the world around them – nonprofits of all stripes, development firms, associations, educational institutions and similar organizations.
These organizations can be located anywhere and operate in any sector – I’ve had experiences across many different program areas, and am always keen to learn something new!
Within organizations I work with Communications or Marketing staff to help deliver high-quality products, and I also work directly with programmatic teams to help them fulfill deliverables. In smaller orgs without dedicated Communications staff I can be particularly useful, taking a burden off the plate of those of you wearing too many hats and giving you peace of mind that your publication is in good hands.
How do you work with clients in [insert country]?
I’m currently based in Cape Town, South Africa, but work with clients around the world in pretty much the same way. With video chats and phone calls, it’ll feel like I’m just down the road (though you’ll have to supply your own coffee for our meetings, sorry).
I like to kick off with a face-to-face meeting over Zoom, and then mostly communicate via email for routine conversations. For longer projects, I also build in regular video check-in calls to update you in progress, ask questions and make decisions.
South Africa is 6 or 7 hours ahead (depending on daylight savings) of the US East Coast, so if you’re in the US it’s similar to working with Europe. In fact, if we play our cards right we can even capitalize on any time zone differences there might be – I can be working while you sleep, and have drafts ready for review by the time you finish your morning commute.
If you happen to be in Cape Town, we can arrange to meet up, and I also make frequent trips to DC and NY so we can schedule a time together when I’m there. Even with local clients, however, I often find that working remotely makes the best use of both of our limited time!
Can you design me something in Word or PowerPoint?
Nope. I use Adobe Creative Suites software (InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop), the design industry standard, for most of my design work. I find Word and PPt are clunky design tools that don’t allow me to deliver as high-quality product.
If you let me know up front, however, I can make sure you have the graphics you need from the publication in the right format to place into other presentations or documents. And if you desperately need a Word or PPt designer, I can put you in touch with some great people.
Do you design websites?
Nope. I’m also not a photographer, videographer, fundraiser, or motion graphics designer. I have a great network of colleagues that I can refer you to, though!
What's the investment?
Ugh, the dreaded response – it depends.
On what? Well, on the complexity of the project – the design of a 60 page, visually complex toolkit with loads of custom graphics and images is going to take a different level of involvement from me than, say, a four page, text-based report that uses well-defined brand style guides. You may also need more bells and whistles than other clients –
I can say, though, that I’ve been doing this long enough that I have a clear understanding of what goes into each of these kinds of publications. A mid-length, mid-complexity publication starts at $2997. With a quick call, I can assess the complexity of your project and provide you with a custom quote so you’ll know if you can invest.
It’s also important to note that I work in a number of different currencies nad my pricing varies slightly in each. Please reach out to find out more about pricing in your country.
But I'm a small nonprofit...can't you design my publication for free?
Unfortunately, at the moment I am unable to take on additional pro bono work. I do plan to reopen my competitive pro bono application in the near future – make sure you’ve subscribed to my newsletter to be the first to know. I’m also working on some training resources that can help smaller organizations with their DIY publications for a much lower cost, please reach out and let me know if you’d be interested in this.
Yes, please! What are the next steps?
Great! Email me and we’ll schedule a brief call where I’ll ask you a ton of questions to get a better sense of the details (don’t worry, it’s not a test – I promise there are no wrong answers…) I’ll then take that info and work up a proposal for you with cost, timeline, etc. From there we’ll either get started (yay!) or make changes to the proposal if I didn’t hit the nail on the head the first time around.
And, of course, don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter to hear about news, special deals, new offerings, and trainings.
