About: This color-rich printable news release was formatted as a short newsletter to send out digitally to subscribers of the Michigan-based nonprofit Kids First Initiative, as well as to print for physical distribution in order to bring awareness to their new superhero for STEAM education: STEAM Man (available on the organization’s home site 2/26/24). An official news release was provided for email distribution. A quick rendering of their hero was taken from a developing comic and converted to a black/white fillable format for use as a coloring sheet. Additional guidelines for this procedure were provided to the nonprofit to save future costs for similar work by allowing for in-house production, along with templates for future press releases to minor and major news outlets. This project collaboration saved the nonprofit an estimated $1600 in labor and materials.

Target Audience: Email Newsletter: parents, young adults, guardians of kids aged K-8, STEM educators, and supporters of nonprofits. Press Release: media outlet managers, local and regional educational news subscription providers, copy managers for MI digital/print news

Importance: To transfer the available story, program materials, and Kids First Initiative mission statement into an official Press Release and Press Kit for immediate dispersal to news outlets and optional promotional incorporations.

Graphics: To showcase skills of image isolation, conversion to black/white fillable cells, knowledge of printable file types vs digital and adherence to color theory and construction. The digital versions were saved in RGB, while printable files were switched to CMYK. The image of the superhero character was isolated from a comic, with the background removed. Document colors were taken directly from the image’s HEX codes. The black/white fillable version was created with a reverse-color converter to allow for it to be used as a coloring sheet (per client’s request).

Authoring Tools: Constructed using Canva Pro, Adobe Fresco, and Microsoft Word. Trello and reMarkable were used for tracked editing and iterative design. Google share files were used for housing, while Catchafire ‘s platform was contracted for delivery and transference.

See the full impact story here.