When Projects Grow Change

Sometimes, countless hours are spent working on one project only to realize it needs to be something completely different. It happens in the professional world all the time and in order to survive, you’ve got to be open-minded, quick-witted, and flexible.

To quickly recap, I’ve been interning at The Village of Arts and Humanities for a year now where I’ve worked on internal branding as well as CRED Magazine design (more about that in my previous blog post here).

Most recently, I’ve been working on designing The Village’s 2012 Annual Report. It’s particularly important this year because it’s been a long time since The Village has released a printed collateral piece to the funders, board, and public eye. My boss, Aviva Kapust (Programs Director at The Village), allowed me the freedom to determine the form and structure of the report. With her direction, I was able to settle on a 6″x6″ report that told the story of what happens hour by hour, day by day at The Village. The entire project turned out to be a beautiful collateral piece over 60 pages long. In discussing the project with the other directors, it became apparent that this annual report presented the opportunity to blossem into a timeless piece that would motivate funders and raise moral for The Village. Quickly, the annual report that I thought I was designing became more of a descriptive anthem piece. While I was a bit surprised, I understood the reasoning and I worked with Aviva to modify the design accordingly.

In the end, I learned that a project can change direction at any point and it is important to always assess the goal and application not only at the beginning but throughout the project’s execution. I’m proud of the end result of this annual report (that is actually not an annual report) and I’m excited to add it to The Village’s printed collateral as well as my own portfolio!