Bob's Banners

This project was a long time in realization. Drafts were done in miniature, for easy comments, and while I knew all would be well, there is always that nagging feeling.

photo by Dusty Embree



Above are two display banners for Jones County Tourism. These are part of a makeover started earlier this year. I'm on the left, Bob Hatcher, Director of Jones County Tourism is on the right. Each banner is 36" wide and 80" tall, and they retract for easy portability.

For a project like this, high quality photos are a must. Do not, I repeat, do not, think you can right click on an image you see on the web and think it will blow up to 18" x 33" (the largest size on these banners) and not have any issues. You'd be wrong. Many images are optimized for quick loading and are poor in quality when on paper.

And once you have your photos, trying to pick (in this case) the 12 that best represent the area you're trying to promote is like slamming into a brick wall. The photo selection took the most time. Color and people doing things were the top criteria. And once everyone was happy, we could not order the banners fast enough, lest we began second guessing ourselves. ;^)

Ventilators

Went on a photo hunt a couple weeks back with the director of Jones County Economic Development. It was a nice day and I've been helping out where I can in gathering pictures for Travel Jones County.

We passed  an old creamery. I could not pass up the architectural details.

 I did not enhance these photos in any way, that's just how the blue skies registered. Simply stunning.

Ads in Print

I described these ads here, and it's good to see them in print!

Work for Jones County Tourism

When I started working on a simple display banner project for Jones County Tourism (JCT), I didn’t know I’d be a catalyst for a makeover.

Bob was looking for a banner that retracts for easy storage. I remembered one used for New Harmonies: Celebrating American Roots Music, which was/is a traveling Museum on Mainstreet program through the Smithsonian. Long story short: retractable banners are neat.

We decided on a size, and the collecting of photos began. While deciding on an arrangement, I had several pieces of JCT literature and items that had the JCT logo on them. There were several versions of the logo. No. No. No. One logo used consistently. Not several used randomly, scattershot; it does nothing but dilute the identity.

This one is going in the local Jones County Vacation Guide.

 

They have a brochure labeled “PASSPORT.” I didn’t do it, and had I been responsible, I should’ve been flogged. The theme was a good, but the execution … meh. Can I do better? We’ll see. They still have several hundred, and as money is tight, they’d rather use ‘em than junk ‘em. (Ah, budgets.) Eventually, I think I’ll have a crack at it.

 The one on the left is for Our Iowa magazine, hopefully the one

on the right goes in The Iowan.

 

Going off the passport idea, I thought about a passport stamp and putting it on variety of photos in a series of simple ads. Some ads would ultimately evolve from a current design with multiple pics.

 

Quick note on the banners ... They've not quite done yet. Sometimes during a project, you realize you can either get it done, or get it done right. Time isn't too much of a factor in this, and as spring is slowly making its way here -- seriously, it was trying to snow just a few days ago -- the decision was made to wait and stage a few shots after things warm up.