Designer: Sueann Hoppock

Communications assistant and writer Carla Potts of the nonprofit Massachusetts Municipal Wholesale Electric Co. (MMWEC) contacted DG to help with the redesign of the company’s informative newsletter. It’s sent to member utilities, legislative staff, and the media, and therefore must maintain the high standards of the company’s image, yet remain budget-friendly.

“I want the redesign to have a light, fresh feel, but with an industrial overtone,” says Potts. “It needs more white space and a new masthead. We report a lot of complicated, technical information, but it doesn’t mean our publication has to look as technical as the information. Our masthead is drab and boring—people won’t read the newsletter if it looks uninviting.”

DG designer Sueann Hoppock agrees. “To give this newsletter some punch, I started with a redesign of the nameplate, making the subhead Public Power News the new title, and adding graphics to the top and bottom of the pages.” She chose Newport Classic SG for the title and Futura Condensed for the copy.

“The blue they used in the original was a nice, safe color,” explains Hoppock, “but I wanted to lighten it up with something fresher and more vibrant. I chose the bright green because it met these criteria and contrasted well with black, giving this newsletter some added pop without being too over the top. And though this is just a two-color design, I was able to add the illusion of more color by using varying shades of green and printing it on ivorycolored paper.”

Hoppock recommends that MMWEC invest in a preprinted template or shell to cut on costs. When the time comes to print the newsletter, they can run it through the press or an office printer. With the shell preprinted in green and black, MMWEC can use black ink in the second run for all the copy and any additional graphics.