Three intern musketeers, Kaylee Ruiz (Illustration), Tae Anne Fennell (Graphic Design), and Brandon Marcia (Copywriter) designed this guide. Pitching, stitching, ideating, caffeinating and taking actionable steps to breathe life into a print advertising piece. It is among our finest client projects designed at one of New York’s best independently owned creative studios.
SARANKCO’s Neighborhood Guide celebrates the evolution of change in NoMad’s (North of Madison Square Park) landscape since the studio's early days on Broadway. The double gate fold brochure is friendly with fun illustrations of pigeons on citibikes, two intern rats enjoying lunch, and iconic attractions like the Flatiron Building for studio guests to go visit.
Given the project shifts and the guide being visual-focused, copy placement proved to be challenging. The design team and I thought it best to share fun facts about the neighborhood instead using a specific character limit.
Left fun fact: Is this homebase? There’s heated debate over whether baseball originated in Madison Square Park or in Cooperstown, New York. Maybe it should be settled over a ball game?
Right fun fact: The Tiffany’s timepiece is actually a street ad. In the 1800s street clocks were built in front of stores to draw your attention, and they would even move when businesses moved.
The guide shuffled through many directional shifts. Including the title, “A Walk in the Neighborhood” turning into “Our Favorite Places” to be more studio-centric.
When writing the introduction copy, I pitched to grab the reader’s attention with a storytelling approach, detailing why the brochure exists. Engaging the reader in a way that transforms what would otherwise be another couple blocks of Manhattan into a vibrant home, rich in creativity and community. Then finalizing the introduction with a sense of pride and a warm welcome into the world of NoMad, courtesy of SARANKCO.