CASE STUDY / RESEARCH REPORT DESIGN
Seeing Myself: A Report That Makes Student Voices the Loudest Element
TEACH PLUS • RESEARCH REPORT • PRINT + DIGITALTeach Plus needed a report amplifying students’ perspectives on diversifying the teacher workforce, designed in three to four weeks, with no budget for an independent photo shoot.
THE PROBLEM
Within days, I presented two concepts; the chosen direction built the whole system around a divided-circle motif of a student and teacher mirroring one another, sourced imagery that broke from stock-photography clichés, and set the student quotes in high-contrast brand colors so their voices lead every page.
THE APPROACH
THE OUTCOME
Delivered early, giving the team extra runway for their outreach plan, in a client relationship now in its sixth year.
The chosen cover. A divided circle pairs each student with a teacher who mirrors them. Built entirely within the Teach Plus brand palette.
3–4 Weeks
CONCEPT TO DELIVERED FILES
2 Concepts
PRESENTED WITHIN DAYS OF KICKOFF
Early
DELIVERY, ADDING OUTREACH RUNWAY
6th Year
OF ONGOING CLIENT REPORT WORK
Scope also included: All social media graphics for the report launch, plus a PowerPoint presentation and a one-page brief for the media toolkit
The opening spread. Slanted background, slanted columns, and one climber's red-orange pack setting the palette: the mountain analogy carried into the typography itself.
Eos isn't a boutique print run. Each issue mails to roughly 60,000 scientists, researchers, and policymakers as a core AGU member benefit, eleven times a year. At that scale there are no reprints and no second chances: the cover had to be right before press, and the layered type treatment had to hold up everywhere the issue would live, from a mailbox across the room to a thumbnail on screen.
How I Work With Research Teams
Most engagements begin with a manuscript, Word files, Excel charts, reviewer comments, and all. I build the page architecture around your content’s structure, redraw figures from your data or from exported charts as publication-quality graphics in your brand, and manage edit rounds against a tracked-changes PDF so feedback from multiple reviewers lands cleanly, including late-stage substantive revisions. Copy is verified against the final approved manuscript before anything releases. On the production side, I prepare press-ready files, coordinate directly with your printer, or source one suited to the job’s specs, and manage proofs and press checks through delivery. Fixed launch dates are treated as fixed.
“Reaching out to Karen for help designing my “Her Helm” fine art portrait book was one of the best things I could have done for my book. Her creative genius saw into my thoughts and then came up with something that perfectly reflects how I want people to feel when holding this book. From the beginning, she was supportive and professional, and had brilliant methods to get me to describe my goals so that she could do her magic. It was an iterative process to create the final design, which was absolutely stunning. The cost of hiring an experienced designer was more than worth it. The entire book, inside and out, looks amazing due to her skills and I’m grateful for everything she has done to elevate my book.”
Planning a report like this?
Thirty minutes, no obligations. We'll talk about scope, timeline, and what your content needs to land.
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Portrait Photography coffee table book design
BOOK COVER DESIGN
BOOK INTERIOR LAYOUT
PREPRESS
CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT
CREATIVE DIRECTION
PRINT PRODUCTIONAgainst the ticking clock of extremely tight timelines, this project ignited a brilliant collaboration where hard work and creative thinking blazed the trail to delivering a luxury book just in time for the gallery show's grand opening.
The client had done a great deal of legwork in getting her first photography coffee table book ready for production, including an initial interior design – by teaching herself how to use InDesign! But she soon realized that she really needed to engage a professional graphic designer. Even with her go-getter disposition, she realized that only a high level of design expertise and experience would make her book as beautiful as she envisioned (a conclusion this photographer also came to). I was brought onto this project after it was already in progress, so I had to get up to speed quickly and provide cover and interior concepts, coordinate specialized printing, and get all of it done in time for her gallery show.
I was so impressed with her take-the-bull-by-the-horns approach, and our mutual love of photography was instantly bonding. I also loved the subject of her book: Her Helm showcases 51 female boat captains of Chesapeake Bay with photos and stories. Clearly, this project checked a lot of boxes for me, and I was delighted to take it on, tight deadlines and all!
The client brought a ton to the table—her incredible photos, ideas on layout and colors, and much more—but she was also very collaborative and open to the ideas and concepts I presented. We worked through the tools of my process—like the workbook and mood board below—where we distilled these down to exactly the minimalist, uplifting, feminine strength that the book portrays.
Delving into a Discovery Session Workbook (above) to refine goals and aesthetics, this snapshot showcases the strategic journey undertaken. From the gleaned insights, a curated series of concept mood boards (bellow) emerge, acting as visual compasses that propel the design process forward, providing invaluable clarity and alignment with the envisioned aesthetic goals.
The cover is intentionally without any photos so that it’s clean and eye-catching yet somewhat mysterious – noticeable even from a distance. It’s exquisite deep blue linen featuring a debossed “porthole” with a paper inset, which is stamped with two foils: one for the title and another for the subtitle and author’s name. The title foil is feminine but bold and deep magenta; the subtitle and author’s name are in a luxurious matte black foil. The book’s spine and back cover are foil-stamped in sleek silver.
When you open the book, you are greeted with a lively mosaic of Her Helm's women captains, which leads beautifully to the full-color portraiture interior pages; my goal was to have the design elevate the captains and their stories rather than eclipse them, so I went with a clean, modern approach. The photos take up the entire page opposite the corresponding story, which uses the cover title's font and magenta color for the subject's name. The folio (number at the bottom of each page) carries this clean, modern style with subtlety and matching color.
My in-depth experience in print design and production was important in bringing this in on time and on budget. The very elements that make this book so elegant – debossing, foil stamps, linen cover – also limit the number of printers capable of this level of detail and quality. Fortunately, I had several contacts to reach out to and, after a LOT of back-and-forth, was able to find the ideal vendor.
One detail about self-publishing that is widely unknown is that the actual page number will likely be different from the author’s manuscript due to printers’ equipment and processes. For the printer that produced Her Helm, there were a couple of pages that needed to be filled so I created a magenta-on-white illustration and a map of Chesapeake Bay.
Working with this client was an absolute delight, and designing books is one of my favorite types of projects. The cherry on top: she surprised me with a shout-out in her book!
To purchase her book, Visit: https://www.herhelm.com/book-2023.
Please look out for my next blog on the cover design process for Her Helm!