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Better together – getting involved with Collaboration Station and producing a book

3 smiling women sat at a white table. The middle woman is holding a book.

It’s a cliché but I believe we do business with people we know and like. As a small business I focus on building relationships with others that have complimentary skills and I enjoy working with. But I never imagined I’d be co-authoring “The perfect recipe for creating awesome web content” book this year!

I’ve worked with Angela Bensemann from Halo Communications for over a decade and have been involved in several projects that also included website strategist Iona Elwood-Smith from Grow My Business. So, when Ange and Iona asked if I’d like to contribute to a project they were working on I was keen (even before I heard the details). What started out as just designing a cover for a book they were creating turned into something much more.

2 women sat at a white table lworking together

During the web projects Ange and Iona worked on together, they noticed that people find providing content a real sticking point during the website building process for their businesses. By pooling their respective expertise they could create a valuable “how to” guide ideal for small businesses and start-ups.

They had the writing, strategic and technical aspects covered, and some branding information would be good… as would a nicely designed book cover. Cue Pogo Design.

As the book developed we decided there might be more joint projects on the horizon as we often worked together anyway and that Collaboration Station would be a good home for our collaboration. As with any good team, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Or as Iona says “How cool is collaboration? Someone else does the bits I don’t like!”  We know it’s more fun working together, throwing around ideas and coming up with something new.

“How cool is collaboration? Someone else does the bits I don’t like!”

So, I’ve brought my graphic design and brand expertise to the party. It’s also been a chance for me to get creative and experiment with collage illustrations, art direct an enjoyable photo shoot and develop social media marketing resources. As well as building on my experience of document design and learning some of the conventions of book design. I share some tips I picked up in this blog.

Open laptop showing a home page on the screen

You can pre-order our book and check us out at www.collaborationstation.co.nz or follow our journey on Facebookand Instagram . Who knows what we’ll come up with next?

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Building a sense of community

Jane smiling standing at a gate with a hand painted sign that says Pukerua Bay Community Garden and Food Forest

As the Covid-19 virus re-emerges in our communities and we are back into the restrictions of Level 2 and 2.5, our need for inter-connectedness is highlighted. I believe strongly in building relationships between people and strengthening communities, this is really important both professionally and in life in general.

3 RSA posters against a plain grey wall
Image: Three promotional poster designs for my local RSA club.

In practice in my professional life this means I have regular clients, some of who I’ve worked with for over a decade. I also enjoy strong collaborative relationships with other complementary businesses (communication professionals, website strategists, photographers etc). And I appreciate the ongoing support and friendships of networking groups like Chrysalis for Women.

Three tea towels hanging on a clothes line. Each with a typographic design.

Image: Fundraising tea towel design for my local school. 

As a creative, my support often looks like a poster here, a sign there and a tea towel design that pops up everywhere. My volunteer work often has the added bonus of being fun creatively or is a project that’s a bit different and offers an opportunity to learn new skills or information. A win/win!

Brazilian Drum on a yellow background with the words Wellington Batucada Gala Event.

Image: Invite design for Brazillian drumming group, Wellington Batucada. 

Sometimes my interest is more about creating a special community space – my ‘Book shed in the Bay’ free book exchange has proved very popular.

Small wooden book shed attached to a fence

Image: One of the growing number of local free book exchanges.

And if you are stopping to browse for a book and you want to stop and flick through it, or just enjoy the sunshine, it’s nice to have a place to sit and contemplate.

White painted bench seat in a grassed area. The words "No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted".

So, in the face of uncertainty let’s spread a little kindness where we can.