(Admin code added by Palmer - L46969700)
Files for this project can be found here...
http://www.designoutpost.com/forums/...&threadid=5129
About me: I am a landscaper in the Dallas/Ft Worth area. I am changing my focus from residential to commercial. Right now, 100% of my clients are residential. I'd like to be able to call on large commercial customers, such as apartment complexes, but I think I need a crutch to make these sales calls. I need some professional looking collateral. I've been in the business for a short period, only 19 months, but I have learned a lot. I have a BS in Landscape Contracting from Oklahoma State University, which should help me get in some doors that might otherwise be closed.
I have used Design Outpost twice in the past and have been very impressed with the final product. I've told numerous folks about this sight and hopefully word is slowly spreading for you guys. Let's keep the quality going on this one.
The Deadline: The deadline is Sunday September 5th at 8:00pm CST.
The official contest winner will be chosen on Sunday, September 5th at 9:00pm CST for the best overall presentation folder and brochure design.
The Collateral: I will need you to design a very professional looking presentation folder and two one sided, full color 8.5" X 11" brochures. These materials should convey to the client that we are a professional company fully capable of keeping their landscape looking it's best all year round.
Acceptible file formats:
Adobe Acrobat Document (*.pdf) (recommended)
Adobe Illustrator Artwork 8.01- (*.ai) (recommended)
Adobe Photoshop Image (*.psd) (recommended)
Bitmap Image (*.bmp)
GIF Image (*.gif)
JPEG Image (*.jpg,*.jpeg)
PCX Image Document (*.pcx)
PICT Image (*.pic)
PNG Image (*.png)
PostScript File (*.ps)
Scalable Vector Graphics (*.svg,*.svgz)
TARGA Image (*.tga,*.vda)
Windows Enhanced Metafile (*.emf)
Windows Metafile (*.wmf)
Photos: I am not a good photographer, so if you know how to zoom in on one portion of a photo, feel free. I have taken several photos of our work this season, however, all photos are of residential landscape settings. This is because 100% of my existing clients are residential. The photos and logo are available as directed by Palmer above. However, since I'll be calling on commercial clients, if you think it makes more sense to include photos of commercial settings and you have those available, feel free to play around. I saw another thing like this for another landscaper in this forum that included pictures of slightly over cast skies and sky scrapers. I thought it looked professional. Use your imagination. I'm not sure it is completely honest to present photos of landscapes as my own when in fact I never did any of the work. But you decide what makes the most sense and what you think will sell the best. My preference is to use photos of my own work, but I've got an open mind on this.
Presentation Folder Dimensions should be 20.87" X 16.68". Only the front cover will have a full color design. The back side of the folder and everything else will be plain white.
The presentation folder needs to include the logo and I'd like to include some photos of our work too. Perhaps a collage (sp?) of some sort would work. I would like to place some emphasis on our ability to grow and maintain flowering plants on the front cover. The images are available as indicated by Palmer below.
Flowering Annual Brochure This image should be 11.1" X 8.63". Only the front side will be full color. The back side will be plain white.
The brochure is needed to help sell our seasonal color maintenance program. It's up to you to decide how best to do that.
Here's the deal. Most landscaping companies know how to mow grass, but very few have the skills and "know-how" to maintain flowering annuals such that they look really good. Most landscaping companies just stick the flowers in the ground and that's it. What I do is very different. We maintain the flowers the way they need to be maintained. This is
very labor intensive and the maintenance plan typically costs 4X the price of the flower install over the course of a year. Because so many decision makers make their decisions based on price, this is tough to sell.
Here are the pictures and a description of each. You will need to figure out how best to convey to the customer, with words and pictures, that our maintenance plan works will work to keep their seasonal color displays looking good.
Begonias gone wrong is a picture of what begonias can look like without the maintenance plan.
Begonias with and without the fertility plan The begonias on the left were deprived of our nutrient feeding plan. The begonias on the right were liquid fed every other week.
Healthy Vinca 1.001 is just a picture of healthy Vinca.
Healthy Vinca 1.002 is another picture of the way Vinca is supposed to look.
Is it slugs is a picture of slug damage on begonias. The solution for this is to apply slug bait to the bedding area once every 30 days.
Petunias 1.0002 is a picture of some petunias we planted for a customer this spring. If you can somehow zoom in on the petunias and make all the ugly surroundings go away, this photo might be useful.
Vinca 1.01, 1.02 & 1.03 are just some other pictures of healthy Vinca.
Sick VInca 1.001 is a picture of Vinca under attack by a fungus known as Phytophthorum Aerial Blight. The solution is to apply a soil drench fungicide once every thirty days.
Pansies 1.01, Pansies 1.03, Pansies 1.031, Pansies 1.032, Pansies 1.033, Seasonal Color 1.001, and Seaonal Color 1.004 is probably a "must include" series of photographs. The first one is a photo of pansies that were deprived of any maintenance. We started the maintenance plan and each picture shows the weekly progress, week by week.
Full Landscape Maintenance Brochure This image should be 11.1" X 8.63". Only the front side will be full color. The back side will be plain white.
This brochure is designed to help sell our general, full service products that are outside of the usual purchase. It is also intended to help convince customers to buy the fertilizer & weed control plan for the lawn. Typically, most commercial customers just have the landscape company do the lawn mowing, the lawn fertilizer & weed control plan, the bed de-weeding plan and the shrub trimming plan.
We would really like to upsell them on the following products:
mulching the beds twice a year
grub treatments
fire ant prevention treatments. We would really like to upsell tree pruning/thinning
monthly property inspection for pest damage
Here are the pictures you may want to use to help upsell the products:
Peterson's Lawn 1.002 is a good example of what a lawn is able to look like with weekly mowing and our fertilization/weed control.
Peterson's Lawn 1.001 is another good example.
Dallis Grass Lawn 1.04 is a good example of what a lawn will eventually look like without a good weed control and fertilization plan.
Bed Mulch After 1.003 is a good picture of our mulch. We use only premium shredded cypress mulch, which have found holds its color better than any other organic mulch.
Fire Ant Mound 1.001 is a good example of how unsightly a fire ant mound can be.
Fire Ant Stings and Fire And Stings 1.002 are both good examples of what fire ants can do to people.
Shadow Ridge Imroper Pruning 1.01 is an example of an improper tree prune. Because this prune was made mid-branch, this wound may never heal because of the way tree bark heals. If the wound doesn't heal, boring insects will eventually penetrate the tree and kill it.
Example of how tree bark heals is a good picture of how tree bark heals in from the sides.
Pruned Live Oak is a good example of well pruned tree.
Shadow Ridge Live Oak is a good example of a tree badly in need of pruning/thinning.
Scale Damage - Gold Spot Euonymous is a good example of what can happen if someone with a trained eye isn't monitoring the property's plants for damaging pests. Had this scale been identified earlier, the damage could have been minimized.
Well, that's it for now. Palmer will be posting the pictures and logo in a link below.
Thanks
DFW
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