For our first project in my pr pubs class, we were asked to pick an organization to design a business card and letterhead for. I choose to do the Museum of the San Ramon Valley because it is a big part of my life and the community in the town where I grew up. When I was in middle school and high school I volunteered at numerous events hosted by the museum. My mom also came to work there as one of their executive directors, so I spent many summer days helping out in the office. It is a small museum, which is why it is important for the members opinions and complaints to be taken into great consideration. The museum was originally a train depot located in the heart of the town’s downtown area, and was later converted into a museum when the train tracks were covered by a regional park trail.
The museum mainly attracts an older crowd (those who are retired) and children in elementary schools who attend on field trips and with grandparents. The museum also has high Saturday visits because of the farmers market that happens in the parking lot right outside the building. The museum receives a significant portion of its funding from donors, so it is important to listen to their needs and wants when designing something for the museum. I tried to keep this in mind while I was designing the business card and letterhead. My main objective was to keep the feel of the historic building but add modernity to it.
Designing the business card was very difficult for me. I went through about 10 different designs and layouts before choosing this design/layout. I expected this to be an easy thing to design that I could do it in about two days, but it took me two weeks to find the right one and I know that I will continue to improve on my design capabilities and abilities as I do more projects like this. I choose a typewriter font for the business card to to stay in touch with the historic aspect of the museum. I took my moms position for the business card of executive director. On the back is an old sketch of the museum that they have recently started using again, so I choose to incorporate it into the business card to keep a similarity between documents. Also on the back is the mission statement of the museum which they hold very important and is posted on their website as well as their social media.
The letterhead was easier to design in my opinion. I included the sketch of the museum that is currently being used for publicity and the stamp of the museum in the top left corner that is commonly used for documents such as this. I wrote the press release over the current exhibit which is Cowboys and Cattlemen – Ranching in the San Ramon Valley, to help increase the number of visits the museum receives. I used an easy font to read since it is a press release and typically about a page long, so readability is very important on these kinds of designs.
Overall I enjoyed this project and I am looking forward to how I will grow in my design capabilities because there is always room for improvement!
Originally posted at Grace Vojvoda