Sherri Morrison Creative Design

Project

Printed Annual Report for the Naples Children & Education Foundation

Awards: Gold ADDY Award at adFed Suncoast's AAF awards in sales and marketing; Gold ADDY at the AAF 4th District ADDY Awards

Project objective: Established in 2001, the Naples Children & Education Foundation works to improve the physical, emotional and educational lives of underprivileged and at-risk children in Collier County. For its 2016 annual report, it wanted to show the impact the foundation has had on Collier County over the last 15 years.

“It's a serious subject, but they wanted it to look fun and engaging, be educational and informative, but still be focused on the kids,” says Morrison. She achieved that by using bright, cheerful colors, playful fonts and a mix of illustrations and images of children “that pull you in and make you want to read more,” she says.

Challenges overcome: “We needed to showcase all that data from a 15-year span in an informative and engaging way to ensure that the audience would be interested in the full story,” says Morrison. The report had to illustrate a measurable impact and address that large amount of data in just 24 pages. The bright colors and eye-catching photos of kids (some of whom were local children) helped capture readers' attention and highlight the diversity of both the children served by the foundation and the scope of its work.

Project

Invitation/Announcement Campaign for the Naples Winter Wine Festival

Awards: Silver ADDY Award in sales and marketing at adFed Suncoast's AAF Awards; Gold at the AAF 4th District ADDY Awards

Project objective: An annual fundraiser for the Naples Children & Education Foundation, the Naples Winter Wine Festival is ranked among the top 10 arts and entertainment events for wealthy Americans by the Luxury Institute. Working with the theme of “Bright Sunshiny Day,” the materials for the 2017 festival were designed to create excitement for and interest in the event.

“The festival chairs wanted the materials to communicate the theme and have a sense of fun while also projecting sophistication, elegance and exclusivity,” says Morrison. “They had to appeal to an informed, sophisticated and affluent target market that's local, national and international.” Another must: including the festival's motto “It's all for the kids.”

Challenges overcome: This was Morrison's sixth year working on the large-scale project that lasts essentially a whole year. “Each year the event has to feel new and exciting,” she says. “Every year it's a different theme, feel, chairs, look. So having to create something new every year is a challenge, but it's also very exciting. I love digging into this kind of thing.”

The sheer volume and size of the materials is also challenging. Among the pieces Morrison created (in partnership with copywriter Susan Freeman of Wordscapes) is a 40-page invitation and 250-page auction catalog. “It's a lot of long nights and weekends in September and October to get it all created, printed, produced, and mailed,” she says. “It's a lot of work, but it's rewarding work.”

What the awards mean to her: Morrison says she's always focused on meeting her clients' needs and never sets out to specifically design an ADDY Award-winning piece. “But it kind of affirms what I do in this business,” she says. “It feels good to be recognized by your peers for your work.”

And Morrison has found that her clients get just as excited about the awards as she does.

Next big project: Morrison and her sometimes working partner, Susan Freeman, have already begun to create materials for the 2018 Naples Winter Wine Festival. “We've got the theme and logo and we're starting to work on the invitation now,” she says. The pair is also working on the ads, program book and other materials for the 2018 Imagine Solutions conference in Naples. And Morrison just recently signed on to create a new brand for a development in Atlanta.