Tags created for ads or changes requiring special attention
Ad Guide Cheat Sheet (image below on left)
Our company provided uniform ad templates for each ad size that we offered. I had an artist who had difficulty determining which guides to snap ads to or when creating the proper ad size. After multiple verbal explanations without improvements, I created a sheet for them to reference. After the form was introduced, ad sizes were correctly created and ads were properly snapped to the grid template.
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Clipper Cash Template (2 images below on right)
We ran a special section in our magazines, where select businesses would all offer the same coupon offers. These ads were more cost effective in price, so often times, these advertisers would vary from the advertisers running ads in our magazines. We often ended up without logos for advertisers or not having enough advertisers allocated for the page. To eliminate multiple challenges with these pages, I made a simple form for ASCs to fill out for the art staff. Once these forms were enforced, the pages became less of a struggle to create and missing logos or advertisers were reduced drastically.
ASC Checkout Slips (2 images below on left)
There are 2 versions. Left is the initial version and version on the right was refined with suggestions from managers and ASCs after use.
These slips were created to have a uniform checkout procedure when ASCs left for the evening on print/deadline nights. Once all their ads were approved, they could leave for the evening. Often times, pick up ads were easy ads were forgotten or outstanding ads were not approved in the system. To eliminate these instances and others, this form became a requirement before leaving for the evening. Each ASC would review the checklist items and communicate any unapproved ads still outstanding. The addition of these forms greatly decreased surprise instances on late print nights.
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Index of Advertiser Inserts (2 images below on right)
This is an instructional tag I created for artists. Creating an index of advertisers contains a lot of places to gather information from, as well as many small things to remember. We had indexes on our team, but not enough of them often enough for artists to remember how to create them correctly. These tasks would be given to more seasoned artists, but we had many instances where they were already tied up with higher priority items.
I created this tag with the intention of listing the proper method of creating an index from start to finish. I included detailed instructions along with screenshots for visual aids. The front of the card features all the instructions, while the back shows examples of the different indexes we create.
I tested the tags with some of my artists who never created an index before and it was very successful. Most of them had minimal mistakes and said the tag was easy to follow and made the process much easier and less intimidating to create. This tag was later mass produced and used throughout the other 7 teams in our company.
