Here, we look at a day in the life of a b2b art director just before a quarterly issue goes to print. The Spring 2008 green issue of Compass was just put together thanks, in part, to Story Worldwide art director Dan Durller, 26, who has worked on Compass, the quarterly publication for UPS business customers, since its inception in January 2005. Back then he was a retoucher, worked his way up to art director and, finally, senior art director.
Durller also oversees production for all images on Compass’ Web site (Compass.ups.com), updated monthly, among other projects. He worked on the two newsletters that eventually merged to become Compass—Preferred Report and International Update—and was on the team working on that merger. Today, Compass keeps business owners abreast of UPS’ shipping product information and business insights on topics including exporting.
(See related story in the April 28 issue of min’s b2b.) 9:15 a.m.: Durller rides his bicycle six miles to work in the morning in an effort to reduce his carbon footprint.
9:45 a.m.: Once there, he first gets his creative juices flowing by checking out the street art blog Woostercollective.com. “Street art is the freshest, rawest art out there,” says the Fashion Institute of Technology graduate.
10:00 a.m.: Getting down to business, Durller works closely with UPS publications manager John Sequerth and Cadmus Communications, which prints the book. “There’s tons of back and forth between UPS editorial, Story editorial and UPS legal.
Every single word is mulled over,” he says. Not surprising for a company with such deep pockets. Durller finds UPS’s integrity inspiring. “It’s interesting to work with that level of perfection—the design has to be there, as well,” he says.
11:00 a.m.: At the inception of each issue, one of the seven UPS-approved color palettes is chosen. For example, Spring’s green issue was in the green palette. Durller ensures that those colors are honored for continuity throughout the issue.
12:00 p.m.: He then organizes and oversees photo shoots around the globe, either in person or via phone with photo editor Dan Golden. Each photograph in Compass must contain at least one of the following three elements: 1) a sense of movement; 2) selective focus; and 3) blur motion. The idea is, again, continuity and keeping with the UPS theme of going places. Every UPS publication must follow the same brand guidelines. The shoots feature UPS customers that are big shippers, or shipping in efficient and interesting ways. The green issue of Compass features Minnesota-based Quality Bicycle Parts, which employs innovative ecofriendly business practices.
1:00 p.m.: After all the artwork is submitted, Durller submits branded select sheets to UPS for review where the best shots are chosen and retouching needs are addressed.
2:00 p.m.: He oversees all retouching and then coordinates the nine issue versions, which are tailored to each of UPS’s subscribers. For example, SeatsAndChairs.com, a retail company that refurbishes theater seats, is featured in the Retail version, and that version in combination with a high volume shipper, grants them “preferred” status, thus the Retail/Preferred version is delivered.
3:00 p.m.: While all this is going on, Durller is coordinating the images and copy to ensure that the layouts are perfect. He makes any changes requested by both UPS and the featured customer. “It’s all about refining, refining, refining until it is flawless,” he says.
5:00 p.m.: Before Compass goes to press, Durller handmakes comps of the issue. This meticulous process involves cutting and pasting together mockups of an issue, then scoring it to create a facsimile as close to the real thing as possible. Edits from UPS can be close to the wire, accordingto Durller, and Story uses UPS to ship the comps, which has a 7:30 p.m. cut-off for dropping off packages.
“A lot of the time with late edits you have one shot to make it perfect with the 7:30 p.m. deadline breathing down your neck,” he says.
7:15 p.m.: Durller runs the comps to the UPS shipping center. Durller has come up with a technique to avoid sloppy comps, in which he cuts first to the outer printer crop mark, then glues, then makes the final to-size cut.
