Hereford Ornithological Club
Established in 1950, the Herefordshire Ornithological Club is a charity who cares for the well-being of birds and the conservation of threatened species or habitats. Their aim has always been the study of local birdlife and it manages ‘The Birds of Herefordshire Conservation Fund’ which finances bird conservation in the county and also supports young ornithologists who join the club.
The client’s request was to design a trifold leaflet that reached out to possible new members, along with an application form to fill out. They had already decided on the information and imagery they desired to be displayed in the membership leaflet, but left the visual style and overall layout of the membership leaflet up to me, so this project provided me with quite a lot of creative freedom.
I designed the leaflet so that it acted as an information guide for new audiences, to give them a feel of what the club is like and what being a member would entail; I did this by listing what they offer, what their aims are and what you benefit from if you fill out the form to become an official member. One of the benefits of joining is receiving a yearly Annual Report, which the club requested me to make a main feature of the leaflet. Using the six provided preview pages from their upcoming 2022 report, I spaced them evenly across the bottom half of the three inner pages and positioned the Annual Report paragraph on the left, as you would naturally start reading on the left page and slowly transition over to the right.
The logo’s teal elements caught my eye as soon as I saw it for the first time, however the colour is not utilised much across the club’s branding or website, so I wanted to use it within the design of the leaflet to create a consistent style by colouring small features of the leaflet teal, such as bullet points and borders. The club requested me to include multiple photographs of birds that are very important in the county, including the Yellowhammer which is their core emblem, so my biggest challenge was finding a creative solution to fit all these photographs into the membership leaflet alongside all the information, Annual Report preview pages and illustrations without looking cluttered and visually overwhelming.
“We have thoroughly enjoyed our project partnership with Kate and the recent designing of a new membership leaflet for our charity. The branding and blend of natural photographs and illustrations, along with the idea inspiration and need for technical accuracy, has shown Kate to be a very talented designer! The leaflet will hopefully bring many new members into the club and Kate’s modern approach to design concept is exactly how we wanted to represent our charity.” ~ Nick Smith | HOC Vice Chairman