Food Outreach Cookbook

As I've been working as a Development Consultant with the Food Outreach team, I have had opportunities to grow my design, print, and social media skills. This growth is seen in the two ends I have covered during my time so far. The first end is involved in social media, with my responsibilities including interviews with volunteers, documentation of volunteering sessions, and designing for holidays, events, and promotional purposes. The second covers the making of The Food Outreach Cookbook. Working on this document gave me further experience in editorial design, layout, and print preparation. My involvement with both sides has allowed me to use what I have learned at my current full-time position and gave me the chance to strengthen my skills for future use.

Creating the cookbook started with mapping the layouts of each type of page and sketching possible themes for each. I aimed to narrow down a cohesive theme among what was sketched to see what design combinations could work together. Once I pared-down the options with the Food Outreach team, I drafted up some final concepts and moved on to the dietary icons and categorizing for each section.

The final designs for the Food Outreach Cookbook were made with Figma, Illustrator, and InDesign, using these concepts and notes as reference. Since Figma is a collaborative design tool, the Food Outreach team could see any updates and review them. The ability to work together online streamlined the process and allowed us to make changes efficiently. The cookbook's layout and design went through multiple iterations for team and personal review, which allowed me to work on and add in sketches of the meals I would make in ProCreate.

The team and I would often touch base with the team at Glance Creative to determine print details (such as paper stock and binding) and print layout so information was not cut off. This communication would be critical near the end as it would ensure its appearance would be as close to its intended format as possible.

Once the cookbook was sent to print, I made this online flip book version available for public access and for Food Outreach to share with others. I wanted this online version to capture the feel of the physical copy through the program's interactive features, like page turning, linked images, and media formatting. The physical cookbook and its details were approved by the Food Outreach team and finalized by Glance Creative. These print versions were handed out to clients along with an assortment of spices with an intent for them to find recipes they could make with the groceries they received.

Working on this project was significant for me. It furthered my print and editorial design knowledge while also giving me the chance to apply what I have been learning at my full-time position. Seeing all portions of the cookbook come together and knowing that it would be used to benefit the needs of Food Outreach's group of clients made this a rewarding experience.

Please check out the full cookbook at: https://heyzine.com/flip-book/6a6767ef78.html on HeyZine FlipBooks.