DFS “Comic Book” Brochure
Case Study
CLIENT
DFS
CONTRIBUTIONS
Concept Creation
Print Design
Copy Writing
Image Sourcing & Editing
Final Production Files
SOFTWARE
Photoshop
Illustrator
InDesign
CHALLENGE
When working as an in-house designer, it can sometimes be a challenge to keep things fresh and fun. Often, we fall into a “same-old, same-old” mindset, reusing the same corporate-approved template for marketing pieces. Of course, this is often what is required and is part of the role we agreed to take on. But sometimes, that corporate client also likes to have fun.
When this direct mail brochure project landed on my desk for DFS (a commercial print vendor owned by Deluxe), I had a pretty standard corporate brochure in mind, perhaps using some bold, colorful abstract graphics and gradients. But then I thought of my Creative Director’s favorite quote, “Creativity is intelligence having fun”, and I decided to do just that.
SOLUTION
During my brainstorming process, I did a keyword search for “bold color”, and several comic book style stock illustrations came up in the results. This inspired my brain to have some fun, and I thought “what if we made this whole thing look like a comic book, right down to the dimensions and clear plastic sleeve?”.
After ensuring we had the stock illustrations available to fill a four-page brochure, I took it to the copywriter I was collaborating with, and she loved the idea! We tweaked her original copy to be more super-hero in tone and theme, and I even added few lines myself. Knowing that this was an unconventional idea, we also prepared two additional brochure concepts that were more traditional in tone.
RESULTS
As it turned out, DFS was the exact right brand in Deluxe’s business portfolio to bring this idea to, as they’ve had a history of embracing unconventional design solutions. They loved the comic book concept - and so did the dealers they worked with! But most importantly it was a financial success, bringing in revenue of $39,000, equaling 3.5 times the ad spend.
