Question set 7 + weekly update!

Q: What have you learned about interacting with clients/customers (if applicable)?

A: I have not worked with clients or customers for the museum.

Q: What strategies lead to more effective client/customer relations?

A: I didn't get experience with this, but I would imagine that clear communication and listening are some of the most important things. A client may or may not know what they want, but it's the designer's job to listen to the client's needs and communicate clearly about what the design should accomplish.

This week I finished up a design for the enewsletter and sent it to Maggie to see what she thinks. In making the newsletter look more current and modern, I did not change very much about the layout, but changing the design of the thing was integral. The colors used and the amount of those colors used played a big part in why the newsletter looked so dated. Both the green and the brown used were very desaturated, and they were located throughout the newsletter in big solid places. I took out the brown altogether, and only used the green sparingly. I could not find on donorview where I could make new buttons, so I made pngs to use as buttons in the newsletter. 

The newsletter also had a lot of centered text, which contributed to the dated feel as well.

Here is what the newsletter looked like before I started: 

At first I was frustrated with how little I seemed to be able to do in donorview, but with more work, I was able to find a way around the issues I was having. I think it will be important for me to remember in the future that learning a new program to design in will always take some patience and tinkering. 

This is the design I came up with in indesign, before going back to donorview. It still looked fairly dated:

 

In this one, I started to use less color, and tried using a dark grey instead of the brown, but it did not seem to do enough to match the modern feel of some of the newsletters Maggie sent to me as examples of what she wanted.

I realized also that the squares on the pictures would be difficult to replicate in donorview when I'm not there, since they do not have a designer on their team, so I decided it might be best to work without those. 

Here is what I finished this week and sent on to her:

Overall I feel really good about this one, and I hope that Maggie likes it too. I want to start sending some test emails out to make sure things look okay in their actual setting. I am worried about the buttons stretching.