ACRT Services
Utilties
2023
Increasing sales by re-designing a technical manual
TL:DR
I designed a ~300 page manual and derivative handbook with over 100 proprietary technical illustrations, expanding company branding. I developed the project timeline, led multiple review sessions with arborist training SMEs to ensure technical accuracy, and ran tests with print vendors.
Sales definitely went up and we'd paid for the development and publishing of the intitial 500 manuals with the revenue from the first week of sales. It's still one of the things I'm most proud of completing at ACRT or anywhere, and I loved working with you on it!
Anissa Grider
Operations Manager of Arborist Training
Challenges
The flagship product of the nation’s leading arborist training school needed a re-design to increase class sign-ups, align with the branding of the parent company, and reflect new arborist training methods.
01
Instructors believed it lacked clarity
Arborist training instructors believed it lacked clarity for class use.
02
Marketers believed it lacked polish
Marketing team believed it lacked the polish that made sales easy. Yet, the new company brand had never been applied at such scale in print.
03
No budget for necessary visuals
There was no budget for further photography yet there was a need for more instructional visuals.
Team
Marketing Director
Graphic Designer (me)
Training Division Director
(3) Training Practitioners & SMEs
Copywriter
Solutions
01
I led design feedback sessions with the instructors
Continuous iterative sessions with the end users of the manual ensured its utility.
02
I designed a manual-specific visual guide
Expansion of the brand had intensive research and justification.
03
I designed 100+ technical illustrations
I created a library of vector illustrations for other manuals and class presentations.
Expanding Branding Within Print Mediums
The manual had not had a visual or branding update in 10 years and the company’s new branding had never been applied at such a scale in print. I gathered print and digital materials and resources that utilized the new branding to identify key motifs and repeated visual vernacular. from my findings, I developed sample pages of the manual that utilized brand motifs and expanded on them to meet the levels of visual and typographic hierarchy that the technical manual required. I proposed this application and expansion of the brand to the Marketing Director, Operations Manager, and company leadership. Upon approval, I created a manual specific brand guide to reference throughout my development.
Designing 150+ Technical Illustrations
The company had no budget for further photoshoots for the manual, yet the arborist training SMEs wanted more visuals of specific concepts. I led detailed collaborative sessions with the arborist trainers to review their iPhone photos of concepts, clarifying the key elements. From my detailed notes, I developed a color library and experimented with different illustrative styles, balancing speed and detail. I created a library of hundreds of vector illustrations and again led collaborative sessions to refine them with the trainers who would use them.
Impacts
During the time I’ve supervised Rachel, I’ve found her to be a highly creative, hard-working, and innovative problem solver with a strong design aesthetic and a focus on quality. She excelled at taking complex, technical information and distilling it down into easy-to-understand infographics and visuals. She was also able to successfully manage large projects, like revising our 290-page Line Clearance Manual, independently and with minimal supervision.
David Latta
Marketing & Communciations Director at ACRT Services
Personal Reflections & Gut Research
I wanted to sit in on arborist training classes to see how students and instructors used the new manual, identifying opportunities for improvement or expansion of the illustrations library. I was laid off due to industry wide budget cuts before this could happen.
This project proved my ability to manage complex inter-departmental projects and my ability to understand and evolve branding across mediums. I was able to further exhibit this in projects for KIKO Auctions which eventually led to evolving 80 years of brand perception across print & digital for a new division.
