LIFEMARK
HEALTH GROUP
Mediums: InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator, Acrobat
Styles & Techniques: Publication/Print Design, Responsive Web Design, Interactive PDFs
Throughout my one-year contract, I routinely created quality, on-brand print and web designs with Adobe Creative Suite software as directed by the Creative Lead. I ensured that consistency was apparent in all campaigns and promotional material. Remaining mindful of clients' production schedules and due dates, I regularly executed changes upon request, as well as managed both the English and French versions of material (when applicable). I remained knowledgeable and adhered to Lifemark’s brand standards while quality-checking my work to ensure that the material was produced correctly.
Additional responsibilities included creating graphics and slides for company presentations, as well as organizing and maintaining the company Share Drive.
SHORTCUTS
BROCHURES
Icons
The icons below were created for the two latest Community Advantage brochures; my job was to locate and/or illustrate icons that were simple to understand, as well as more appropriate for the directions accompanying them in the brochures.
Final Brochure
The brochure shared below highlights the dangers of falling and utilizes the new icons to provide readers with clear visual and textual information on how they can stay safe and alert in their homes. The information includes tips on avoiding common obstacles such as floor rugs and pets, which can increase the risk of trips and falls.
Annual Conference 2023: Digital Brochure (Interactive)
This digital brochure was created for Lifemark's 2023 Fall Conference, planned for distribution via email to all attendees. The layout incorporates interactive elements, including buttons and links that allow readers to register virtually for the conference and access additional information.
Assembled in Adobe Acrobat, user-friendliness was heavily incorporated into this brochure's design, ensuring recipients' ability to easily locate and engage with all its features. For example, the Register button is large, prominent and brightly-coloured; its highly contrasting colour scheme makes it easily noticeable to the reader.
It is also important to note that this brochure was based on the pre-established layout of the 2022 publication. Thus, the development stage involved minor yet important changes throughout. These involved straightening up and spacing out headings and text boxes, as well as adjusting the size and position of the presenters' photographs. I aimed for these photos to be prominent yet subtle enough in size to not completely overshadow the brochure's text.
I also made sure to bold the headings wherever necessary to distinguish and segregate different sections of information.
POSTERS
Core Services Posters
The posters for Lifemark's Core Services had a pre-existing layout, but some quick edits were required to make the overall layout neater. Similar to the brochure mentioned earlier, adjustments were made to the spacing and position of the headings and text boxes where needed. Often, the headings were too close to the text below, so they were adjusted accordingly.
Choosing a header photograph was a major aspect of creating each poster. A brightly coloured photograph with enough whitespace to accommodate the header title was preferred. However, the photographs that received final approval were often brightly coloured but contained very little whitespace, requiring improvisation. A white feathered gradient was used to fade out parts of the photograph where necessary whilst seamlessly blending in with the rest of the photograph.
The position of the header photograph was also crucial to creating a visually pleasing design. The right adjustments were made to the position of the photograph's main subject, whether it be an object or person, behind the header title. For instance, the Orthotics' header photograph has a bright white sneaker as its main subject, so I was able to place it squarely in the middle to be the first aspect noticed by the viewer. In contrast, the Vestibular poster has a smiling cyclist as its header photo's main subject, which would contrast badly with the header title if placed in the middle. Therefore, the cyclist was slightly enlarged and placed on the far right of the poster. Its repositioning provided adequate white space whilst maintaining the cyclist's ability to stand out. This is especially important as the chosen photograph, which was one of several sent over for approval throughout the Vestibular poster's month-long development process, reflects Lifemark's aim to showcase the positive effects of treatment on patients in all promotional material.
Conference Poster: Aquatic Centre Physiotherapy
Although this poster had a pre-approved photograph and was largely based on Lifemark's standard poster template, much of it required working from scratch. This poster was meant to advertise one of Lifemark's clinic acquisitions in its upcoming conference and specifically needed to integrate Aquatic Centre Physiotherapy's brand colours. Following multiple drafts, for the background of the middle portion, I decided to use the darker shade of blue found in the darker tints of the signature swoosh used in the clinic's business cards. Although not asked to at first, I ultimately decided to use this swoosh in the poster's final draft in an attempt to maintain brand consistency. The swoosh also provided a certain energy to the poster that was appropriate for its call-to-action purpose. The development of this poster also involved the location of appropriate icons, as well as the creation of QR codes in Adobe InDesign.
FLYERS
Core Services Flyers
Similar to the posters, the majority of Lifemark's flyers possess pre-established templates that are more or less consistent in format. Also similar to the construction of the posters, the majority of creativity comes from playing with the often pre-approved photographs, adding white feathered gradients where necessary, toying with the opacity of both the gradient and photograph, as well as enlarging the photograph to create more whitespace or even extending the background of the image in Photoshop.
Photoshop's Extend Background feature was especially helpful in cases such as the 'Check your risk of falling' poster above, which was assigned a photograph that was too small for the full header space and had an extremely dark background. At first, I used a white gradient to obscure this, giving the photograph a 'fade-out' effect, which also allowed for adequate white space. However, feedback included that this was too harsh of a contrast. Therefore, I ultimately chose to extend its background, which allowed for the photograph to be able to fill the full header space and thus allow for a far less jarring contrast when using the white gradient.
An additional task when assembling this poster was locating appropriate icons, one of which I needed to create myself as none in my stock image search results visually conveyed the accompanying statement. This statement was "I need to push with my hands to stand up from a chair." My higher-up for the assignment specifically wanted a figure pushing away from the chair with their arms. The figure I illustrated gripped the banister as they attempted to stand up, making it most clear to the viewer as to what was happening.
Enhanced Services and Coverage Flyer
This two-page flyer was created entirely from scratch and required the brand colours of both Lifemark and acquisition clinic Pro Physio & Sport Medicine Centre. This time, I was allowed to select the photographs to be used throughout and organize the information as I saw fit. The chosen photographs possessed adequate whitespace and an overall colour scheme that aligned with Pro Physio's standard grey. They were also relevant to the flyer's advertised services, which included physiotherapy and psychological services.
Also, instead of cramming all the provided information onto one page, I utilized the two-page limit and presented the enhancement summary in a well-organized table on the second page.
Multiservice Flyers
As with most of the established templates, with every publication, simple adjustments to the spacing and positioning of certain text and images were made for a neater layout overall. As shown in the Lifemark Sport Medicine flyer above, changes to the colour scheme were sometimes required to remain consistent with the branding of the program or acquisition clinic. Searches for appropriate photographs for programs that had not been included before were also needed at times, such as Kinesiology in the Lifemark Sport Medicine flyer.
INTERACTIVE PDFS
I was tasked with creating an interactive flyer for one of our acquisitions, PCVRS. This project was a significant point in my growth as a designer. It was my job to create an entirely new template, albeit with some pre-approved aspects such as the Rehabilitation Journey diagram and the PCVRS footer banner. The banner helped me finalize the red and grey colour scheme to be used throughout the flyer. In terms of my design, however, I largely based the flyer's final layout on the request to organize the information with less text and more colourful icons and images. Using less text would also help remain within the two-page limit. In terms of interactiveness, elements included clickable links and social media icons that would be highlighted as they were hovered over and clicked on.
NEWSLETTERS
The following publications serve as examples of monthly newsletters sent to clinics to promote their latest set of therapists. The construction of these newsletters mostly involved improving the formatting, which included enhancing the hierarchy of the text by bolding and varying the sizes of certain headings. Additionally, necessary spacing was added between elements; vertical decorative lines were added to distinguish each therapist's photograph and description, thereby improving the formal appearance of the newsletters.
Furthermore, there were creative ways of eliminating excess negative space, which was common in cases where the clinic had an odd number of therapists or there was not enough content to fill up the whole page. For instance, in the Max Bell Arena newsletter below, I decided to use a quality photo of the Max Bell Centre for a banner that would finish off the last page and fill in the negative space.
Max Bell Arena: Meet Our Therapists
Portland Street: Meet Our Therapists
Anniversary Newsletter: Debbie MacKinnon
Accompanying LinkedIn Post
Debbie MacKinnon's 15th Employee Anniversary newsletter required the construction of a new template. To maintain consistency, I took inspiration from Lifemark's existing promotional materials, as well as similar anniversary and dedication publications that I have seen in the past. A special mention goes to my use of a serif font for the newsletter's title, which helped set it apart from the rest of the (sans-serif) text and enhanced the formal atmosphere needed for this type of newsletter.
ADS & SOCIAL CONTENT
LinkedIn Adverts
The LinkedIn advert on the left had an established template but required a new photograph that would apply to the clinic location being advertised. I ideally needed to find a photograph that was taken in Orleans, ON. During my initial search, I mostly came upon dreary town square photos. So, I decided to look up natural landmarks instead, which led me to Orleans' Princess Louise Falls. The falls offered a variety of vivid, lush photographs that would support the "big possibilities" message of the advert. The photo that I chose was at an angle that I thought framed the advert's text effectively.
On the Bay Seasonal Advert
Glebe Physiotherapy Seasonal Advert
Both On The Bay and Glebe Physiotherapy used pre-established templates for their ads, but my expertise was required to find the best photographs. Since both sets of ads were updated seasonally, I had to source photographs that displayed the changing seasons. In addition to this, I made sure to find photographs that had photo subjects in positions that would complement the entire layout, and supported the sunny and positive ambience that was the aim of all Lifemark's ads and promotions.
POSTCARDS
The creation of the first two postcards was a significant undertaking. It required the development of new templates, along with major photo edits to ensure adequate brightness and white space for each postcard's header title. The use of white feathered gradients and adjustments to the opacity of each photograph resulted in subtle yet effective changes, ultimately leading to a well-balanced overall appearance.
EMAIL BANNERS
I was assigned to create the email banner for the announcement of Lifemark's 2023 Halloween Costume Contest. Since I had no previous banners to use as a reference, I did my best to integrate Lifemark's standard colours into a thematically appropriate design. I used Lifemark's navy blue to fill in the spooky night sky and its white colour for the text and looming full moon. I subtly included Lifemark's red in the colour of the skull's witch hat. I aimed for a consistent 'pop-up' look in the banner's graphics. To make sure the atmosphere was also fun and light-hearted, I used bright colours and created a fun scenario of Halloween creatures dressing up and interacting with silly costume props.
HIRING MAPS
The hiring map below was created for Lifemark's table at the 84th Annual Canadian Psychological Associate (CPA) Conference. These maps, to be handed out at the event, would inform takers of Lifemark clinics across Canada that were hiring as of June 3rd, 2023. Aspects considered throughout the development of this map included the integration of Lifemark's brand colours, as well as standard map elements such as symbols and a legend that would be easy to follow.
EVACUATION PLANS
I was in charge of developing emergency evacuation plans for several Lifemark and acquisition clinics located throughout Canada. To ensure the accuracy of each plan, I referred to the original/rough floor plans and maintained consistency by using uniform icons and symbols across all the plans. My favourite part of creating these plans was adding small yet significant details such as furniture icons whenever possible.
