Category: Project Management

On February 14, 2017 | By Maryellen Lazzaro | Clients, Design, Editorial, Extended Care, Hot Off the Press, Partners, Project Management, Websites

Hot Off the Press: New Website for The Silvercrest Center

Goodbye, old website. You were created by a developer, and you were 40+ pages of a muddled mess that lacked a clear message and unifying look.

Hello, new website! You are fresh, clean and modern, like the printed materials Lazzaro Designs produced in 2016. You set Silvercrest apart from its post-acute care competition.

Here’s how we did it.

Our first step was to prepare the site map. With our editorial collaborators, we gathered the many pages and reorganized and consolidated the content into major categories and sub-categories, resulting in an easily managed 12 pages. The organization was outlined by a site map that indicated which page would link to what other page.

Then we made decisions about various considerations that would continue to improve the user’s experience. For example, we determined that the header would be “sticky,” meaning it doesn’t move while the user is scrolling on a desktop, laptop or tablet. In this way, the two key phone numbers placed in the header are accessible at all times.

All these essential steps were done before a word was written or Maryellen designed a page. Once we got the green light from the client on the site map, Lazzaro Designs got to work on that.

Voice: Copy was written to complement the print materials already produced and to immediately provide the user with an approachable vehicle to learn about the facility and its mission, as well as to access its breadth of services. The writer determined what would be the main headers (H1s) and the subheads (H2s) to break up the blocks of copy. In some cases, the writer created “accordion-style” content, pages of mini sections that just show the subheads and click open to reveal the rest of the narrative if the user so desires. This way the user doesn’t have to plow through a long scroll to get to only what she is interested in. The writer also edited various blog entries that were written by key staff members and put in place blog categories and tags to further improve the user’s experience.

Vision: Unlike printed material, designing a website means to think in modular sections that will resize and reposition for the user’s device. For Silvercrest, the first step Maryellen did was select a one-deck logo treatment. This let the name read cleanly regardless of the user’s device. She made many more decisions, as well, from web fonts to color palette, however, only two page formats needed to be designed—the homepage and an interior page. Maryellen then created the art for the supporting ‘learn more’ buttons, and limited the amount of photos used throughout the site’s main pages. Iconic images were culled from Silvercrest’s archives, supplemented with a few stock images. A few new photos were taken to round out the assets featured on the site.

Getting it done: Once Silvercrest approved each page’s layout, including the copy, images and how the site would function with links, Lazzaro Designs researched web developers who could translate our work. Silvercrest chose Chroma Sites from our recommendations. Maryellen oversaw the work prepared by Chroma Sites and served as a liaison between The Silvercrest Center and the developer. The entire process, starting with the development of the site map to going live, took under five months.

Check out the print materials Lazzaro Designs produced thus far for Silvercrest, all which beautifully complement the website: Family brochures. Clinician brochures. Patient handbook. Transit ads. Q&A trifolds.

> If you need help creating or updating your website, give Lazzaro Designs a call or shoot us an email.

On December 13, 2016 | By Maryellen Lazzaro | Clients, Design, Editorial, Hospitals, Hot Off the Press, Newsletters, Project Management

Hot Off the Press: Brooklyn Hospital Community Newsletter

fl_kbh_newsltr-fall-2016Lazzaro Designs is pleased to announce that the fall issue of Keeping Brooklyn Healthy, The Brooklyn Hospital Center’s biannual community newsletter, has been published.

Voice: In this issue, Maryellen worked with the writer to create the headlines and format for what will be an ongoing series on upcoming calendar dates, community engagement efforts, and photo collages of recent events. As before, other articles highlighted news and services, such as a significant clinical appointment, the opening of an ambulatory care center, a hospitalist program, and a wound care and hyperbaric program.

Vision: Building on the design created for the inaugural issue, Maryellen continued to employ similar criteria for colors, photos and page layouts to create a visually arresting and informative issue that remains consistent with the client’s larger marketing efforts.

Getting it Done: Maryellen facilitated communication with the client, the writer and the printer.

> If you need help creating a newsletter that speaks to your community, give Lazzaro Designs a call or shoot us an email.

On December 6, 2016 | By Maryellen Lazzaro | Brochures, Clients, Design, Editorial, Extended Care, Hot Off the Press, Project Management

Hot Off the Press: Family Brochures

fl_silvercrest-patient-brochuresFollowing a set of trifolds aimed at clinicians, The Silvercrest Center next asked Lazzaro Designs to create a set of brochures targeted toward patients and families. The goal of the 5.5 x 8.5, 8-page brochures was to market Silvercrest’s outstanding inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation to the actual end users.

Voice: Maryellen worked with a writer who wrote warm, approachable and comprehensive overviews of the breadth of Silvercrest’s services and the depth of its excellence, broken up with lots of subheads and easy-to-access blocks of copy.

Vision: Employing the familiar red of the Silvercrest logo and people-centric portrait shots and silhouettes, Maryellen used similar themes to unite the two brochures while conveying the key messages. In addition, the think bubbles complement the talk bubble featured in the patient handbook.

Getting it Done: As always, Lazzaro Designs facilitated a smooth process for the project, serving as a liaison between the client and printer.

The Silvercrest Center is happy with the results. The brochures serve to answer many families’ questions and distinguish its services.

> If you need help creating brochures, give Lazzaro Designs a call or shoot us an email.

On September 6, 2016 | By Maryellen Lazzaro | Clients, Design, Editorial, Extended Care, Handbooks, Hot Off the Press, Project Management

Hot Off the Press: New Patient Handbook

In 2007, Lazzaro Designs created for The Silvercrest Center an original, 6 x 9″, 20+-page handbook with essential information for patients and families, such as about the care team, telephone and television services, visitors, and meals, among many other topics. Silvercrest needed to editorially update the handbook and wanted a way to tweak copy themselves as the need arises.

Voice: The original editorial voice continued to work well and was little changed beyond content updates and some fresh reorganization of topics. The title was rewritten to better reflect new branding messages.

Vision: For the cover, Maryellen picked up the theme of the new logo color (the NewYork-Presbyterian red; Silvercrest is affiliated with the medical network) and opted for a clean, modern design that fits in well with the body of new work we are doing for Silvercrest. The format lends itself well to both print and digital, too. The 24 all text, interior pages were prepared in MS Word, which makes it easy for Silvercrest staff to edit with the regular changes that happen within the facility. However, since MS Word is not a layout program and the handbook measures 9.5 x 11.25″ in order to house loose correspondence in the handbook’s interior pockets, providing Silvercrest’s printer with a MS Word 8.5 x 11″ document was not an option. As such, Maryellen created an .eps file of each handbook page. She then re-created the handbook in a layout program based on a 9.5 x 11.25″ page size and placed each .eps page into the layout in order to provide the printer with a suitable file.

Getting it Done: Maryellen facilitated a smooth process for the project, from approvals to working with the printer. In addition, Maryellen provided the master MS Word file to Silvercrest staff for their future updates along with instructions on what to provide their printer. Likewise, she provided Silvercrest’s printer with the current handbook’s layout file and support .eps files along with instructions on what they need to do when they receive updates to the handbook from Silvercrest.

> If you need help creating a manual or handbook, give Lazzaro Designs a call or shoot us an email.