May I present to you…

Everyone loves football, well not everyone, I’m not a fan, I only watch it when England plays the finals. But did you know that handball is quite a big sport as well? I never knew this, even living in a town where the local club is number 2 in the country. Guess a little marketing is needed in that regard (that’s a whole other conversation).

I came in contact with the handball club HV KRAS/Volendam when a sponsor asked me to help design the magazine. Each year the club creates a magazine to promote the men’s team which is then presented at the first match of the season. The first year they sent me the content and I designed the magazine. Before I knew it, I got sucked into the club and became their marketing manager for 2 years.

So how does a magazine like this come about?

Well, each year the marketing and communication team comes up with a theme to use for the coming magazine. We gather the topics we want to present in the magazine and connect writers to players to create an article. Each year we highlight a department within the club like commentators or referees. Once all the content is created, I get to work. I create an overview of all the content. Are we missing anything, how many pages do we have, etc? And then the design process starts.

How do you start the design?

When I design a magazine, I start with the grid. What is the page going to look like, add the elements, check if it all works and fits and then start pouring in the content. The sponsor adverts are then added to the pages and once the first draft is complete, I send it off to a few stakeholders who check if everything is correct. Then I make all the changes, the second draft is checked again and then it’s ready for print.

For the design, I have a free range which is nice. No corporate identity guidelines to follow, just the colours orange and black which are important to use. The font can change each year as long as it’s legible. Each year I’ve been more creative in the cover design and then use that design for the inside as well as the season tickets. This way you create harmony within all the materials which is then carried out throughout that season, leaving next season free for a new design.

Did you help with the planning?

Yes, I did. The first year we realised that the marketing manager at the time was struggling to get all the content together so the second year I took this task upon myself. I became the project manager so that the marketing manager could focus on writing the articles himself. I love project management and find it a nice challenge to work with dedicated people to get everything arranged. Yes, I needed to be firm and hunt people down but, in the end, we got there. I organised the photoshoot with all the teams, was the intermediary with the printer and all the stakeholders and arranged the entire project. That’s when I’m in my element and I just thrive on these types of projects. Stressful? Well at times it was as we try and do this during the summer holidays when a lot of people, who are important to the cause, are not available due to holidays. Not great but each year we managed to get it done in time. It’s teamwork with good organisational planning that makes it work in the end.