Hilary Legacy
Portfolio Site

WORK EXPERIENCE

12/04—08/08    Graphics Production Coordinator    HANLEY WOOD, LLC

Overview   Hanley Wood is an international B-2-B company dedicated to those in commercial and residential construction. They provide a network of services including marketing, market research, and trade shows, as well as books and magazines, dedicated to informing the construction industry of new products and services, safety concerns, and innovative techniques, among others. They have offices across the country and continue to increase their coverage of this ever-growing industry. They have also become one of the foremost pioneers in the area of sustainable, or “green”, construction methods and materials, and are looked to by their customers as a trustworthy, expert voice in the area of environmentally conscious construction practice.

My role   Production & Design Coordinator: graphic, editorial and advertising production; proofing lasers/dylux; creating, verifying and uploading PDFs, as well as all necessary communication with the printer; designing, collecting, and processing ad material; assisting design team with layout/design changes; design and creation of table, graphs, and charts; customer service.

  Pre-Production: 15%  Production: 78%  Post-Production: 7%

TITLES  PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES: Editorial production [some design and graphic contributions]: CONCRETE & MASONRY CONSTRUCTION PRODUCTS, CONCRETE SURFACES, MASONRY CONSTRUCTION, THE CONCRETE PRODUCER, and World of Concrete PRE-SHOW PLANNER. Advertising production: PUBLIC WORKS’ Action Card Deck. ADDITIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES: Design, graphic, and editorial production contributions on: CONCRETE CONSTRUCTION, PUBLIC WORKS, RESIDENTIAL CONCRETE, and World of Concrete PROGRAM GUIDE.

ACTIONS 
Magazines
PRE-PRODUCTION
- Provide editorial with any archive materials they require
- Scan and edit any photos, film, slides, or other documents submitted
- Update all mastheads, mailing labels and other magazine pages with new or correct material from corporate, sales, circulation and editorial
- Occasionally pulling documents down from the FTP, and often hardcopies are made for editorial
PRODUCTION
- Date stamp and make corrections to articles as they are submitted by editorial
- Ensure text meets with editorial standards regarding handling of widows/orphans, fractions, symbols, leading, kerning, etc.
- Build final document including full page ads, full page fractionals, editorial pages, editorial ad space
- Responsible for placing all reader service number lines except on full page ads
- Setting up certain portions [ad space, folio, text runners, RS numbers, headlines, alignment] of the showcases, corners and classifieds
- Responsible for checking alignment and overall placement for fractional ads
- Verification of all editorial corrections and the presence of all necessary design elements [usage, rules, trapping, headlines, folios, images, etc.]
- Circulation of laser proofs and their review [new corrections verified against originals], making of all marked changes except on full page ads
- Make all laser corrections excepting full page ads
- Postscript pages individually [by batch print or printer presets], convert to high res PDFs, review PDFs [making necessary corrections]
- Verified PDFs are posted to printer’s portal through InSite, any difficulties that arise due to incorrect files, low res images, etc., are handled
- Review of dylux [new corrections and verification against lasers] and making of all marked changes except those on full page ads
- Postscripting, reviewing, and posting any revised pages to InSite [verifying before partner approves them]
POST-PRODUCTION
- Making any corrections that are submitted after dylux corrections are complete
- Provide PDFs [including additional covers pages without mailing indicia] for website
- Archive issue on disk [one copy for production and one copy to IT for outside storage]
- Upload all magazine files to reprint company’s FTP
- Review printed magazine: mistakes noted and added to checklist [see PROJECT]; problems reported to supervisor and addressed with printer
- Keep one issue of each magazine for personal archives, and store one year’s worth of pre-lasers, lasers and layouts in storage

Direct Mail Deck [PUBLIC WORKS’ Action Card Deck (quarterly in [typically] March, June, August and November)]
PRE-PRODUCTION
- Review insertion orders, enter them into Datatrax, run Datatrax reports for each deck, keep customer information up-to-date
- Verify IO information with client or their agency, answer any questions, and collect ad materials
PRODUCTION
- Creation of Flexo [card deck wrapper] and the updating of date and any text changes requested by sales
- Review material as it is submitted and compare again customer proof [when received]
- Complete ad requisition forms for each element and submit it to the printer with its ad material [form contains all necessary information].
- Printer proofs are checked [verified against customer or printed proof], problems handled and any necessary corrections made
- Submit the following to printer: go ahead to print [necessary corrections made], collate order list for card position, office copy request form
POST-PRODUCTION
- Review printed deck: mistakes noted and added to checklist [see PROJECT]; problems reported to supervisor and addressed with printer
- Ensure office copies are sent in correct numbers to our office and to accounts payable at corporate
- Keep personal archive copies as well as copies to be used as tearsheets for future decks

Buyer’s Guide Issues  [TCP and MC June Issues (i.e. “yellow pages”)]
- Help merge section lists into their Quark documents
- Check lists for doubles, mis-alphabetizations, wrong or missing or incorrect information [as verified via database or customers]
- Coordinate inch ad placement with Ad Production Coordinator to ensure integrity of editorial flow
- Merge advertising index information into Quark documents, ensure that all information is present
- Merge product index text into Quark document, ensuring all categories are correct, have necessary cross-referencing information

Design
- Design of charts, graphs, and tables for both print and web
- Re-design of the first issue of CONCRETE SURFACES [see PROJECT section below]
- Act as design consultant for editorial when requested
- Aid in any ad creation and revision [or that of any editorial materials] upon request

Web Files
- Ensure web produces receive PDFs and a hardcopy of each issue within two days of finalization
- Provide any additional information and files required by the web producers

Archiving
- Make two copies of each issue within 30 days of finalization
- Store one in production archive and provide one to IT for offsite storage

Reprints
- Ensure a collected copy of each issue is uploaded to reprint FTP within 30 days of finalization
- Provide any additional issues reprinter requests [usually from before they took my books over]

Reports
- Datatrax reports for the PUBLIC WORKS’ Action Card Deck
- Image tracking reports [scanned and edited images for each issue of each publication]
- Editorial deadline tracking [each section is date stamped when it is received and reports are submitted upon supervisor request]
- [pre]Flight Checklist [see PROJECT section below]

Other
- Create specially requested PDFs for columnists, customers, article subjects, and other write-ups [copyright permissions obtained]
- Provide editorial, sales and design with any information or files they’ve requested
- Provide corporate with any information or files they requested, specifically for house ads and media kits
- Handle any additional project that is assigned

PROJECTS
Redesign of First CONCRETE SURFACES Issue: A freelancer designed the launch issue of CONCRETE SURFACES. However, there were myriad design and functionality problems that had to be addressed. Time was of the essence, and we weren’t able to extend a deadline on a launch, so a total redesign was impossible. I had two days in which to rework the issue, adapting design elements as well as insuring they were functional, and get my own job-related work completed. The book has been redesigned since, but it is still based on the foundation I established.

Residential Consumer Publication Showcases and Advertising Listings: I was given a special project from outside of our division which included design, production and layout for advertising showcases on: AMERICAN DREAM HOMES, AMERICAN PRIDE COUNTRY HOME PLANS, CUSTOM HOME [quarterly and annual], CUSTOM HOME OUTDOORS, COUNTRY LIVING DREAM HOME, DREAM HOME SOURCE, HOUSE BEAUTIFUL HOME BUILDING, HOUSE BEAUTIFUL HOME REMODELING & DECORATING, HOUSE BEAUTIFUL KITCHENS & BATHS, HOUSE BEAUTIFUL PREMIER HOMES, LUXURY HOME DESIGN, SELECT HOME DESIGNS, ULTIMATE HOME PLAN COLLECTION, and WILLIAM E. POOLE. For each issue, I had to get the updated showcase ad images and text, as well as any updated listing information, and adding or removing companies by request. Each issue had to be done according to the provided layout, and had to be fitted into the allotted space. Then the pages were postscripted, PDF’ed, and posted to the printers.

Reworking of Buyer’s Guide and Manual Layouts: I was asked to look into converting the company directories from their traditional six column format into both three and four column formats. We were considering expanding sales opportunities by offering companies a logo to be placed with their listings. I tested these changes on each buyer’s guide [CONCRETE CONSTRUCTION, MASONRY CONSTRUCTION, THE CONCRETE PRODUCER and PUBLIC WORKS MANUAL. I was also asked to test the effect of adding different numbers of logos would have on the length of the section. I then made hardcopies of my experiments and presented everything to my supervisor. The company logos were adopted in PUBLIC WORKS MANUAL, but it was decided at that time that it was not yet necessary to do so in the other publications, based in part of my findings and advice.

Creation and Implementation of the Pre-Flight Checklist: Being responsible for so many publications can make it difficult to remember everything needing to be done, watched out for, or verified. And because each publication is different, as are the teams working on each book, this becomes double true. I decided that the easiest way to handle this was to create a kind of checklist, allowing me to keep track of all necessary steps while being in an updateable format. So I created [pre]Flight Checklists for both the magazines and the card deck. It is broken up into four sections: Assembly [pre-production], Proofs [production], Dylux [proofing], and Closing [after printing]. One is completed for every issue, and the checklist is updated with the situations I’ve experienced and any additional circumstances that arise.

5/04—9/04    Graphic Designer    REGENERATION PRESS, INC & MOMMY’S MIRACLES

Overview   Regeneration Press, Inc. is a small design firm in the South Loop specializing in print and web design, digital printing, production, and web optimization. The company’s origins lie in Mommy’s Miracles, a now sub-company of Regeneration Press. Mommy’s specializes in note cards, announcements, invitations, stationery, note pads, and other elements to celebrate pregnancy and birth.

My role   Client & In-house Designer: as the only graphic designer, I handled both in-house and client originated design. This job also involved anything from putting sample packs together for Mommy’s Miracles to re-creating [from scratch] an entire identity system. I helped to redesign RPI’s logo and all of Mommy’s Miracles materials to updating a photo archive databases for several clients to helping address client’s IT issues. I also acquired additional responsibilities in marketing and sales.

Regeneration Press : 25%  Mommy's Miracles: 20%  Client: 55%

ACTIONS
Branding, Identity and Marketing
IN-HOUSE
- Redesign of Regeneration Press’ identity and materials, development of a brand strategy and a marketing plan
- Redesign of Mommy’s Miracles’ identity and materials, development of a brand strategy and a marketing plan
CLIENT
- Recreation [from printed materials only] of logo and stationery, as well as the design of some marketing materials, items for an interior designer
- Re-branding plan and marketing strategy, including branding and marketing strategies and materials for six of his businesses, for our biggest client

Company Materials
REGENERATION PRESS
- Redesign of Regeneration Press’ identity and materials, development of a brand strategy and a marketing plan
- Redesign of Mommy’s Miracles’ identity and materials, development of a brand strategy and a marketing plan
MOMMY’S MIRACLES
- Recreation [from printed materials only] of logo and stationery, as well as the design of some marketing materials, items for an interior designer
- Re-branding plan and marketing strategy, including branding and marketing strategies and materials for six of his businesses, for our biggest client

Photographs  [their biggest client and his associate are avid birdwatchers who photographed all their bird safaris]
- Responsible for making sure all marked photographs are properly edited [when requested] and printed at the client’s preferred location
- Sorted through photos to determine the species of bird, it’s sex, and any other data necessary in order for the photo to be cataloged
- Using Digital Pro, each photo was properly sorted and cataloged, then tagged with metadata so that it could be included in the searchable database
- All photos were then archived in all appropriate folders on the client’s hard drives
- Also provided any necessary technical support for these clients regarding their cameras, photographs and computer hardware and software

PROJECTS
Identity Re-creation: In addition to the face-to-face meeting, part of the interview process was to come up with some ideas for a new logo and identity for Regeneration Press. The dozen or so designs I submitted helped me get the job, and it became one of my special project once I had the job. I worked with the owner to come up with an identity, brand strategy and marketing plan that would help the company solidify its current market share, and help it to move into new horizontal markets and new aspects of vertical markets.

New Business Plan: I had developed an idea regarding a possible new source for clients in our newly expanding desktop publishing, printing and copying division. I approach the owner with the idea, and she thought it had merit. I began to research colleges and universities in the Chicago area to see what kinds of services they made available to their students regarding copying, printing and publishing. I evaluated my research, developed a marketing plan to advertise our services to students at those schools that didn’t offer sufficient services. I also designed some potential advertisements to be posted around those schools. I estimated possible 60% growth in this division due to the strategies derived from this project.

06/02—03/04    Editor-in-Chief, Mixed Media    INTERNATIONAL ACADEMY OF DESIGN & TECHNOLOGY

Overview  IADT is a graphic, fashion and technical design school with many branches around the world; the Chicago campus alone has more than 2250 students. MIXED MEDIA is IADT Chicago’s student newspaper, put together by student and faculty volunteers interested in improving their design and writing skills, as well as those students who want the opportunity to publish work, or just have some fun. When I started at IADT, there was essentially no newspaper; there had not been an issue published in at least a year, and the last one that had was not a good example of a design school.

My role  Student Manager: worked with faculty adviser to redesign and re-launch after a year+ hiatus; generated ideas for articles; edited all submissions; was liaison to staff, faculty, student organizations, and administration; wrote editorial, articles, a regular column on language, a guest column on job hunting and keeping; designed my own articles and those of others; tried to make sure all deadlines were met; made agendas and took minutes for each weekly meeting, as well as sending a email with those meeting minutes to all volunteers; began finding advertisers. Our first issue, and eight page black and white photocopy, we had to beg the use of classroom computers from a class’ teacher, and had approximately 5 student volunteers; for my last issue, 32 pages with color covers and center spread, we had our own office and equipment, and more than 25 student and staff volunteers.

Pre-Production: 30%  Production: 50%  Post-Production: 20%

ACTIONS
Editing
- Edit all submissions from students and faculty, all copywriting, headlines, etc.
- Solicit article and issue topics and themes
- Ultimate and final approval of submissions based on their printability

Writing
- Regular [per issue] column on language
- Regular column on different types and styles of design, architecture, art, etc.
- Per issue editorial, horoscopes for approximately six issues
- Regular writer of cover story and the selection of its topic
- Copywriting for cover, table of contents, reviews, headlines, and anything else that was needed

Design
- One half of the team that came up with the new design concept and its implementation
- Specifically came up with style elements such as the writer “photos”, title of reviews department, concept for the poll department, etc.
- Design all of my own articles and columns
- Design of student and faculty submitted articles, co-designer of the calendar pages
- Was the staff photographer whenever necessary

Administrative
- Liaison to administration, staff, faculty, students and student organizations; also gathered news and calendar events from these bodies
- Organization of weekly meetings, taker of minutes from those meetings, email sent to participants and administration
- Coordinate with the administration the getting of supplies, equipment and monies through regular status reporting

PROJECT
Re-conceptualization and Redesign: Starting from scratch with everything except the name [apparently, the name had been chosen in a recent contest, so we were given no choice but to use it] meant that we had our work cut out for us. Myself and the faculty advisor came up with the foundation of what we wanted to create: a consistent style with unique elements, in which the editorial style/voice are distinct; raise it up to the caliber we would expect of a design school; get a diverse group of student/faculty contributors from different majors/disciplines, each of whom have different perspectives, interests and abilities; and to infuse everything [design, editorial, writing, layout] with a self-indulgent sense of humor [except when inappropriate].

2/00—11/01    Manager, Information Services    BUSINESS MARKETING ASSOCIATION

Overview  The BMA, a more than 80-year-old professional association [older even than the AMA], has the distinction of being the only professional association which focuses entirely on B2B manufacturing, sales, marketing, and communications across both vertical and horizontal industry sectors. Membership consists of 40% industrial corporations, 30% marketing/advertising/PR agencies and 20% suppliers, from more than 12 countries on 4 continents, who operate in a more than $100 billion worldwide B2B market place. The BMA is dedicated to providing up-to-date information and opportunities for the continued education of its members, by providing access to news, technology, research, awards, networking, and more.

My role  Project Management: new business strategies, design for print and web, publishing in print and on the web, management of affiliate programs and other member services, creation and execution of major updates for BMA marketing, technology and Internet infrastructure.

Editorial: 40%  Design: 45%  Customer Service: 15%  Administrative: 45%

ACTIONS
Print and Email Newsletters
PRINT NEWSLETTER THE BUSINESS-2-BUSINESS MARKETER  [published 10 times per year (monthly except for July/August and November/December)]
- Layout of 20+ issues, some writing, any necessary copywriting
- Edited over 180 articles and features, sought submissions and requested articles on specific issues
- Submitted files to printer, review blue line, make corrections, and had final approval
EMAIL NEWSLETTER B2B DIRECT  [published 2 times per month (semi-monthly)]
- Layout and editing of 20+ newsletters, writing and copywriting as necessary
- Edited over 100 articles, industry news items, member-related news items, etc., for use on web
- Created original framed design, did all HTML coding [by hand], created graphics, aided in design of several revised templates

Web Site  [www.marketing.org (HTML, ASP, and JAVA)]
- Managed content and integrity of the site, made all updates, changes and redesigns
- History of BMA and links to membership information
- White Papers [25 online] strategy to analysis, CRM to Global Advertising
- Converted 10+ PowerPoint Presentations from the 2001 Conference for the web
- Created and updated sections with book offers, breaking news, any new features
- Translated all original site pages [through the conversion software] into the new system site pages

Member Benefits, Resources and Services
OVERVIEW
- Sourcing partner companies, gaining discounted goods and services for members, arranging events [for single or multiple chapters]
- Initiating partnerships with FindSVP, 365Media, LexisNexis, ECOMPANY magazine, Mucho.com, FreeAgent.com, and many others
- Sought companies to provide better content for our print and electronic resources and publications, find sponsors for conference
PRINT
- Included information about new benefits, associations, services in the news section of THE BUSINESS-2-BUSINESS MARKETER
- Each [prospective] new member received a packet including a brochure [I designed] detailing all benefits, discounts, chapter advantages, etc.
- Also made member information made available in letter and brochure form, available upon request
WEBSITE
- Right Partners [some of Our Partner Companies]
- Right Programs [seminars, conferences, certification, chapter programming]
- What’s In It for Me? [tangible benefits of membership, links to chapters, discounted and free goods and services, etc.]

Brochures and Fliers
- Designing, layout and editing of both print and online Membership and Resource Directories
- Fliers for book offers with membership, study offers at the annual conference
- BMA Bonus brochure [outlines all membership benefits], redesign of BMA brochure for membership inquiries
- Created all notices, attendee notebooks, and schedules for annual conference
- Design of 2000 and 2001 print and online CBC certification program brochures

Pro-Comm Awards [annual B-to-B awards with 30+ categories (advertising campaigns, trade show booths, annual reports, etc.)]
- Award of Excellence, Best of Division, Best of Show, Agency of Year
- Design and layout of 2000 and 2001 packets containing category descriptions, entry rules and regulations, and entry form
- Proofing award statues, getting them to winners, orders for additional awards
- Event Cast of 2000, 2001 Winner Announcement Entry Information Categories

Annual Conference
- Aid in selecting and contacting speakers, obtaining pertinent information on them, helping with their bios, arranging compensation when necessary
- Coordinating local area events, hotel Info, registration, conference site branding and marketing materials, creating conference programs

Chapter Support
- Arranged networking events, seminars, and education opportunities, found professional speakers, coordinated between chapters
- Updated all information resources: brochures, newsletters, and books on Web site

PROJECT
Job Titles Study: Compared the job titles of our members from 1997 to those I gathered in 2000 [using similar questionnaires] to see how our members and the industries we served have changed. I standardized and analyzed both lists to see which industries we should be targeting in order to build future membership. The study was presented to our Board and it was then used for strategy development and marketing.

To download a PDF version of my short or long resume, use the links at the top of this page.