Designer: Mary Brophy
Contrary to popular belief, a brochure
can hit it big with a black-and-white
layout. Don’t bet it all on red just yet,
says DG designer Mary Brophy. “Color
is very attractive when used effectively,
and I was torn between going four color, two color,
or black and white,” she notes of her redesign of the
New Jersey Casino Control Commission’s brochure
on licenses for employees.
The brochure is primarily targeted to current
and hopeful casino industry employees. Publications
coordinator for the commission Lisa Spengler feels
the brochure is adequate and the employee license
checklist is useful, but that it can be improved. She
says the best format “would be attractive, easy to follow,
and continue to inform the casino employees of
the Commission regulations and procedures.”
Brophy chose to use black and white in her
redesign because “I wanted a somewhat fun but
sophisticated look to the piece,” she says. She converted
low-cost, royalty-free images to grayscale,
adjusting the contrast for added pop. “Using black and white printing and putting the money towards
stock photos can pay off in the end,” Brophy suggests.
She likes the current checklist, but made it
more accessible and available to the user by creating
a perforated edge so it can be easily torn out and
kept on hand.
For the cover, Brophy used a square motif and
carried it throughout the brochure for cohesion. The
squares provide visual interest and can also be used
to call out important information. Brophy selected a
sans serif, modern font, Frutiger, for the copy. “The
basic organization is there, but rather than a single,
large capital letter [as in the original design], I chose
to create titles that will be practical when the piece is
used for quick reference,” says Brophy.
With fascinating imagery, a unified design, and
a take-home checklist, Brophy’s bet pays off.
