Site Bulletins: Supplementary Graphics Systems
A two-sided instruction sheet from the Park Service's Division of Publications, printed by the GPO in 1982, that teaches park staff to make their own handouts without a budget for professional work.
What it is
A two-sided instruction sheet from the Park Service's Division of Publications, printed by the GPO in 1982, that teaches park staff to make their own handouts without a budget for professional work. The system was developed by consulting designer Massimo Vignelli in a pilot with Harpers Ferry Center and Gateway National Recreation Area, as a low-cost companion to the Unigrid park folders. It offers two formats on the same 8 1/2 by 14 inch sheet: vertical flyers on a three-column grid, and horizontal booklets of 8 to 32 pages. Every piece carries a pre-printed black band 100 points deep with the park name in 60-point Helvetica Medium. Text is typed on an Elite or Pica typewriter and run off on an office copier. It also sets rules for titles, divider bars, white space and pictures, a method from concept and dummy to reproduction and distribution, and a version for signs.
Why read it now
This sheet answers a problem every multi-branch brand has: how staff with no designer produce material that still looks like the brand. Vignelli's answer is to fix the few things that carry identity, the black band, one title face and one grid, and leave the content free: 'Our commitment is to solve like problems in like ways.' That holds. Research on distinctive brand assets finds that recognition comes from repeating the same cues, and a template that removes layout decisions is how you get repetition from people who are not designers. Several craft rules still apply: roughly a third each for text, pictures and white space; one strong picture rather than many small ones; short, specific titles; write for 'a neighbor or an aunt'. The sheet is also frank about the cost of cheapness, admitting that copier output 'conveys a lack of concern'. Dated: typewriters, transfer letters, rubber cement and paste-up, and Helvetica, which has no Arabic. Use: give each branch a locked Canva or Figma template with your band, one headline size and a three-column grid, and review the first ten pieces it makes.
Passages worth keeping
Our commitment is to solve like problems in like ways.
المشكلات المتشابهة تُحل بالطريقة نفسها كل مرة، فلا يُعاد تصميم كل نشرة من الصفر.
As a rule of thumb, keep text, illustrations, and white spaces about evenly divided, a third for each.
قاعدة عملية للتخطيط: ثلث الصفحة للنص، وثلثها للصور، وثلثها فراغ.
Almost always, one dramatic illustration is better than a lot of little ones.
صورة واحدة قوية تؤثر أكثر من صور صغيرة كثيرة تزدحم بها الصفحة.
Write the text with someone specific in mind, say a neighbor or an aunt.
اكتب كأنك تخاطب شخصًا تعرفه، مثل جار أو قريبة، لا جمهورًا مجردًا.
Reproduction by office copier, while fast, and inexpensive, has the disadvantage of a somewhat cheap look that conveys a lack of concern.
النسخ الرخيص سريع، لكن مظهره يوحي للقارئ بأن الجهة لا تهتم به، فللتوفير ثمن في الانطباع.
What it teaches best
Read the original npshistory.com
If this library is useful, leave an email
We send new patterns, ads, and notes when we add them. Name and phone are optional.
You are on the list
We will write when we add more library material.