Tips from Hollister Creative

Hollister Creative has won 51 national and international awards in the past 5 years.

The Main Line Chamber
of Commerce has honored Hollister Creative as Small Business of the Year.

Hollister Creative has been a Philadelphia Business Journal 'Top 25' in graphic design for 8 consecutive years.

Featured Client

Who they are

Drexel University College of Medicine is both an educational institution and a provider of medical care to the general public.

The College of Medicine currently educates 1 in every 73 medical students in the United States. These students receive their clinical education at more than 20 affiliated hospitals and ambulatory sites. An additional 630 medical residents are training in Drexel-sponsored programs. There are also more than 850 graduate students in Ph.D., master's and professional studies programs. The College has more than 650 full-time clinical and basic science faculty members, augmented by more than 1,700 affiliate and volunteer faculty.

The clinical practice, known as Drexel Medicine®, delivers quality, compassionate healthcare to the Philadelphia region through a network of more than 250 doctors who also teach at Drexel University College of Medicine. As teaching doctors, they stay up to date on the latest advances in their fields.

Successor to the merger of Hahnemann University and Medical College of Pennsylvania (formerly Woman's Medical College), Drexel University College of Medicine is a leading center for women's health, spinal cord research, malaria study and neuroengineering. Faculty physicians are highly respected in dozens of specialties, including HIV/AIDS care, cardiology, pain management, sports medicine and toxicology.

Click image to view ebook

What we do for them

Drexel University College of Medicine came to Hollister Creative for help in rethinking and redesigning its most important communications vehicle: a newsletter distributed to alumni, students, faculty, staff, donors and friends of the College. The publication formerly known as the "NewsPager" was renamed and relaunched as "Pulse" in August 2012.

Hollister Creative continues to design each edition of Pulse, which is published in alternate months as a 20- to 24-page print piece and as an interactive online ebook.

Why they like us

"Hollister Creative came in the door asking questions - all the right questions as far as we were concerned - about our audience and our goals for the newsletter. It was clear they brought with them a sharp editorial sensibility as well as a keen eye for design. Hollister presented several draft concepts. In the final result, they gave us a sophisticated yet warm design, including a front cover that invites the reader inside. Hollister's team had excellent ideas for how to treat a disparate group of recurring columns and departments; and they turned a throwaway back cover into a place to spotlight an event or an intriguing image. Our parent institution unveiled a new graphic identity system just as we had begun the redesign. Hollister adapted easily, and made us proud to produce a beautiful reflection of the new standards in our reincarnated newsletter."

- Jean Tracy
for the Marketing & Communications Department, Drexel University
College of Medicine

See previous Featured Clients.

Why do more than 1,600 people follow us on Facebook?
We are entertaining our fans with examples of good and bad writing and design. New posts 3x per week. Join us and enjoy!

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Are your current marketing efforts generating an ROI
of $42 for every $1?
Email marketing generates a return on investment of $42 for every $1 spent on it, according to research conducted by the Direct Marketing Association. That ROI outperforms all the other direct marketing channels examined. Ask how Hollister Creative can help your organization write, design and distribute an email newsletter that supports your business development goals. The publication can be created on a platform like Constant Contact (as this one is), or it an be designed like a print piece and published online as an ebook that recipients can read on an iPad as well as a laptop or desktop. Call Kim Landry at 484-829-0021, ext. 101.

Thanks for all
the fan mail!
We've posted comments from readers of this e-newsletter. Read fan mail.

Get the tips you missed on our blog
Our Creativity Blog is on our website. Read the blog.

Strategist Quickie

What features on this website provide credible evidence
that The Wizard of Oz is a true wizard? Click for answer.

Show the wizards behind the curtain

When Dorothy began to ease on down the road to Oz, she was a person with a problem in search of a wizard who could solve it. If she'd had Internet access, she could have Googled "transportation wizard" and perhaps found the websites of multiple companies claiming they alone had the magic to get her where she wanted to go. Alas, wifi had not yet come to Munchkinland.

Fortunately for Dorothy, she didn't need to research the qualifications of multiple providers because she was acting on a very strong referral from Glinda. The Good Witch had quickly become a trusted advisor, as she clearly knew how things worked in that world and proved it by saving Dorothy's life with a great pair of shoes. Dorothy believed that Glinda had her best interests in mind and would connect her to the right wizard.

Since your company solves problems for people, you are some kind of wizard. You may get prospects from referrals. Some of those prospects may arrive at your door already believing you have the magic. They may feel no need to peek behind the curtain and see for themselves how great and powerful you really are.

But what about prospects who find you in some other way? Most of them are not gullible enough to select you just because your website claims you are a wizard. Self-proclaimed wizards are everywhere. If you hope to be selected, your website needs to provide credible evidence of your wizardship.

Ideally, this includes client testimonials, case studies and news of industry recognition. But at minimum, reveal the people behind the curtain. With professional bios and/or links to their LinkedIn profiles, show the greatest and most powerful evidence that the top people in your company are true wizards worthy of trust.

We limit our Strategist Quickie to 300 words. If you would like to discuss this topic in more depth, specifically as it relates to your unique situation, email Kim Landry.

Editor DOs and DON'Ts

What is your sign saying about you?

People like to collect weird stuff: old typewriters, salt and pepper shakers, Coke cans from around the world. At Hollister Creative, we collect bad signs. When we're out and about, we take pictures of signage boo-boos. We have three categories for them. Below are recent examples in each.

DO expect your writing and editing to be held to a very high standard when it is begging for public attention on a sign.
DON'T put up a sign that contains a spelling or grammar error, no matter how much you paid for it. Fix it and pay again.

1. Questionable but forgivable

While this sign's misspelling of "its" gives us grammatical indigestion, we'll get over it. It's an ephemeral hand-drawn sign in a grocery store. We won't insist on perfection. Plus, cute crab. Pass the cocktail sauce.

2. Unquestionably unforgivable

If you sell it, you must spell it correctly. That is our stationary position and we will not be moved. If the thing you sell is part of your business name, look it up in a dictionary before you have it mounted on your storefront.

3. Forgive us for laughing

Holy hot mess of ironic doom. Let's paraphrase this sign: Hello, there! I'm the big-blue-eyed cyclops of marketing! I come from the land of mauve clouds and mascara. I want to help you with your marketing, but I'm too myopic to proofread my own tagline on my own trade show banner.

If you enjoy bad signs, too, take a picture of one and email it to us. We will share it on Facebook with our 1,600 fans.

View more editor tips on our Creativity Blog.

Challenges and Solutions

If it's just a flyer, can't we just wing it?

2013 Rosemont School donor thank you flyer - click image to enlarge

Donor support is hugely important to most nonprofits, and Rosemont School of the Holy Child is no exception. School leaders want to make sure donors feel appreciated. Among the ways that Rosemont School shows appreciation is by mailing donors a printed thank-you message showing how their generosity has helped the school.

At many nonprofits, creating a simple piece like this is done in-house, often by a non-designer using desktop publishing software or a ready-made template. With limited funds, the thinking goes, spend on core mission activities and major donor outreach initiatives such as a gala, annual report or glossy magazine. In short, why pay money for professional design when the piece is just a double-sided flyer and you could do it yourself?

Here's why: Every communication from your organization is marketing your

organization, for better or worse. The way it looks says something about you to stakeholders and anyone else who sees it. This spring, Rosemont School decided to say thank you in a flyer that projected genuine gratitude from a high-quality institution run by true professionals.

2012 flyer

Here are three messages each communication should be

conveying with its design:

You are important to us, and communicating with you is a privilege you grant us, so we take care to do it well.
We value quality, and quality requires attention to detail, so we pay attention.
We are professionals, and we want to be seen that way, so we take pride in projecting a professional image in everything we send out.

Have a creative challenge? Let Hollister Creative help you find the best solution. Email Kim Landry.

Designer DOs and DON'Ts

Size up your tagline

Many memorable logos have taglines. While the logo is the driver, the tagline is its little buddy, riding shotgun to explain what the company does, how it does it or how customers should feel about it.

Problems arise when the tagline is out of proportion to the logo size. Your logo and tagline need to be legible in a variety of sizes and in many settings, from business cards to websites to billboards.

If either completely dwarfs the other, it will wreak havoc with overall readability.

DON'T choose a tagline font that is difficult to read, such as a script or an ornamental font.
DO test tagline readability by shrinking and enlarging your logo/tagline combo. How does it look when sized for a business card? Readers shouldn't have to squint as though it's the last line of an eye test chart. How does the proportion hold up if you print out the combo, tape it to a wall and start backing away?

View more tips on our Creativity Blog.

Free Stuff and Fun

Wouldn't You Like to Know ...

... A way to teach kids more about great wildlife?

On Earth Day each April, people around the world pay fresh attention to the environment and the wildlife that inhabit it. This year, the Great Apes are getting renewed attention because their existence in the wild is in more peril than ever. Great Apes are humans' closest relatives among animals, and studying their behavior can give students a better understanding of how humans interact. To help children understand how much animals and humans have in common, the education division of Hollister Creative produced the learning booklet "Animal Connections" for elementary and middle school students. This learning package features lessons from nature on group dynamics, family structures, communities and the environment, and explores wildlife and environmental issues through current events found on news websites, in magazines or in newspapers. Eye-catching up-close photos add to the fun in this Earth Day celebration.

If you would like a copy of this proven learning guide, email us. (This copyrighted material is for private individual use only. Schools, businesses and institutions may inquire about purchasing a license.)

What We're Reading

Wild:
From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail

By Cheryl Strayed

This remarkable memoir by Cheryl Strayed is the account of her summer spent walking the Pacific Crest Trail, a rigorous hiking path that runs from Mexico to Canada along the Sierra Nevada mountain range.

After her mother died and her marriage ended, Strayed started the adventure as an attempt to heal her aching soul. Woefully unprepared for the 1,100-mile journey, she encounters many trials along with unexpected animals and surprising people. Beautifully honest and unquestionably exciting, it is a quintessentially American story of setting out into the wildness in search of one's self.

We'll send a free copy of this book to the first three newsletter subscribers who request it. (Those who have never won will move ahead of previous winners.) What are you reading? Tell us your tip and we'll share it in a future edition.

What We're Watching

Silver Linings Playbook

Silver Linings Playbook made Upper Darby's Llanerch Diner a celebrity and earned Jennifer Lawrence an Oscar. Lawrence's nuanced and affecting performance is the anchor of this light romantic comedy that, for better or worse, floats loopily close to farce on more than one occasion. She plays Tiffany, a tough-babe-with-a-heart-of-gold smitten by an arrested-development guy named Pat (Bradley Cooper), who has trouble keeping his temper under control and his life in order. Adding to the complications, Pat is just out of psychiatric treatment (which he was forced to get for brawling), is intent on winning back his had-enough estranged wife and is living with his parents (played with cartoonish fun by Robert De Niro and Jacki Weaver). But there's more: Tiffany promises to help Pat get his wife back if he agrees to enter a dance contest. As the plot escalates, and the dance competition gets sucked into the gambling addiction of Pat's dad, hilarity ensues and the pace becomes a manic run for the money. Silver Linings Playbook probably didn't deserve a Best Film Oscar nomination, but that's OK. It's an entertaining couple of hours and has fun Philly flavor.

We'll send a free copy of this DVD to the first three newsletter subscribers who request it. (Those who have never won will move ahead of previous winners.) What are you watching? Tell us your tip and we'll share it in a future edition.

What We're Listening To

The 20/20 Experience

Justin Timberlake

Instead of us waxing poetic about the power and allure of JT, why don't you just check out the 8-ish minutes of "Mirrors." If you don't have 8 minutes, just skip to 5:40 and soak in the precision and grace. Then admit it. You like Justin Timberlake. It's OK. The boy band alumnus went from guilty pleasure to artist deserving unqualified respect years ago.

On his first album in six years, the 32-year-old dives headfirst into old school grooves and whips through global scales and rhythms without completely eschewing the pop ambrosia of his "SexyBack" days.

We'll send a free copy of this CD to the first three readers who request it. (Those who have never won will move ahead of previous winners.) What are you listening to? Tell us your tip and we'll share it in a future edition.