SO SAVVY

When I first started working for the City of Redmond, one of my first projects was to design their quarterly magazine called FOCUS - which was delivered to all Redmond residents and businesses. I designed both the Winter 2008 and the Spring 2009 magazines.

The Winter and Spring covers of the issues I designed

A spread from inside the printed magazine.

For the Summer 2009 issue, the City communications department (which I am a part of) decided to go digital with the magazine, changing the name to e-focus. This was a big step for the City, but it also allowed our creative department to show off what we could do as a team.

This past spring (on the one-year anniversary of e-focus) we submitted the online magazine into a communications competition --- and we won! The website, efocusonredmond.com, recently won a national Savvy award for being Best in Class for government digital news magazines. The Savvies are awarded by the City and County Communications and Marketing Association (3CMA) out of Washington, DC, an organization that has recognized excellence in government communications for over 20 years.

The judges stated that the digital magazine's approach of combining together a variety of communications tools, such as video, print and web technology was innovative and informative. They also appreciated how the magazine saved the jurisdiction money while creating a better product.

The digital "cover" of e-focus.

Inside e-focus

The digital magazine is developed using in-house staff (a team of 5, including me) and has no mailing costs. While the city continues to send a printed newsletter to Redmond households and businesses, it's a smaller version (now only 8 pages instead of 32 pages), which saves the City approximately $20,000 a year in printing and mailing costs.

The latest issue in now live and includes an introduction to Redmond's new Police Chief; several articles on how to help the salmon in local creeks and information on a newly approved traffic safety camera program. I hope you'll check out our award-winning online magazine!

Do you prefer online or printed magazines? What are the pros and cons of going digital with information versus having in-your-hand printed information?