Helpshift E-book

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In collaboration with a copywriter at Helpshift, I was responsible for the graphic design of an e-book that was going to be used as a free giveaway in an email drip marketing campaign.

DURATION: 3 WEEKs

SKILLS: content design / graphic design / illustration / SKETCH APP / pages / Adobe acrobat / copy editing

Read about my process below.

Starting Point: Draft 1

This was the e-book draft that the copywriter handed off to me. It was just a plain Word doc. I was told it was my job to make it “pretty.”

Style Guide

I quickly created a style guide: set the layout, developed a typographic hierarchy, selected the color scheme, etc. I forwarded it back to the copywriter for approval.

Design

Then I applied the styling to the plain Word doc. I recreated the charts and graphs to fit the style guide, and plunked those in. And ta-dah! We had an e-book!

Restarting: Draft 2

When the copywriter and I presented the e-book to the marketing director (i.e. our boss) for approval, he gave us this feedback:

“This e-book needs to be more engaging!”

— Boss Man

So it was back to the start...

This time around, the copywriter and I worked more collaboratively. Together, we dissected the e-book into chapters, sections, and pages. The copywriter revised the draft. I helped edit by suggesting which sections of the copy should be shortened, cut, and expanded. Then we identified sections that could use accompanying graphics (e.g. illustrations, charts, graphs, block quotes, etc.).

Quick Mockups + Office Survey

I mocked up a few different designs, styles, and layouts for the e-book. Then I surveyed people in the office and used their “engaged” feedback to solidify a direction for the e-book design.

Style Guide 2

I created another style guide.

Mocked-up Outline

I applied the styling to the Word doc, and inserted some sample graphics. The mocked-up outline was passed back and forth between the copywriter and I for a few more edits and feedback sessions.

Graphic Elements

I finished creating the accompanying graphics.

Finished E-Book!

Finally, we put it all together, added hyperlinks, and made final edits. We finished the e-book and got it approved!

Thank you for viewing!

I also hand-coded an accompanying landing page and some drip emails, plus designed a couple Google Display ads, for this e-book campaign.