Problem:

PeDRA (Pediatric Dermatology Research Alliance) needed a printed, lay-flat program book for their national conference. Required elements included PeDRA branding, conference schedule, speaker bios, scientific poster summaries, and sponsor recognition; showcase diversity within the medical community and among their patients.

MY ROLE:
Concepting, ideation, design layout, photography, photo editing, project management, final production.

COLLABORATIONS:
Communication with event manager, PeDRA Executive Director and Outreach Manager; scientific feedback from medical and research board members; print vendors.

CHALLENGES:
Working collaboratively in Eastern/Pacific time zones. Convincing my client to be concise with text; more edits were required than we anticipated.

DELIVERABLES:
Printed, wire-bound books shipped on time; helped with distribution of the books at the conference. Created several digital PDFs for web use and last-minute content updates.

RESULTS:
The books were well-received by my client, medical professionals and research attendees; pharmaceutical and other nonprofit sponsors were pleased with their recognition pages.

WHAT I LEARNED:
Black and white photos work beautifully to unify different photography styles and qualities, but my client is a dermatology organization—skin is everything. If I were to redo it, I would keep the photos in full color and find another way to create cohesion in the design.