The Adult Protective Services Technical Assistance Center (APS TARC) is a federal health and human services project supported by WRMA, a TriMetrix subsidiary. My team of designers and a copy editor supports the project with branding and production.
APS TARC wanted to modernize its branding. The team had worked hard to establish trust across the country with APS agencies and professionals. The rebrand needed to elevate the current brand, rather than replace it.
Check out the link below for my team’s case study on TriMetrix’s website. (Note: I led the redesign of the TriMetrix website.)
Manage and Motivate Designers: My favorite, quirky design professor hated gradients so much that she was infamous for her quote, “Gradients give me a rash.” I held on to that perspective for a long time. My whole creative team knew how much I hated gradients.
The new designer I hired hadn’t received the memo. On his first solo design project, he used a gradient. It was a subtle blue to purple as part of the rebranding for APS TARC.
It was beautiful. I told him so on our next full team call, owning up to everyone that he had convinced me to change my mind. I live by the philosophy of freely giving praise in public and addressing performance issues in private.
Manage and Motivate Designers: On later projects outside of this brand, the designer slipped, submitting work that was well below the capability I had seen in him. I called him for a 1:1 conversation and told him so. I expected better quality from him because he had shown he was capable of producing it. We talked about what he could change to get his focus and flow back.
He took ownership of the challenge. His work not only surpassed his previous high quality, but he has since become an important project manager for our team. Because of the constructive and supportive meetings I continue to maintain with him, he has developed new skills and has built the confidence to apply his own innovative ideas that have elevated our branding and social media presence.
