Here at The Henry Ford we have amazing designers who create graphics and layouts for all of our print materials. If you have ever picked up a copy of “In Living History” or a museum or village map, then you have seen their hard work and creativity first hand!

Annually we enter materials our designers create into the American Association of Museums design competition to have them recognized nationally. One THF designer stood out in the competition!

Melissa D’agnillo won first place for her design of the 2011 Member Calendar and received an honorable mention for the THF 2010 annual report.

THF focuses on using different designers every year to have a fresh approach on all of the materials they design annually. Melissa said in order to develop creative designs, she loves to search design blogs on the Internet to see new ideas and create her own vision from there.

With the rigid format of a calendar though, how can a designer make it creative and interesting? Melissa said the most important design factor for a calendar is photo choice. With all of the artifacts and interesting sights here at The Henry Ford, it must have been a daunting task! After photos of museum pieces and scenes from the village were chosen, the rest of the calendar fell into place through incorporating color themes and type.

The calendar looks great and congratulations Melissa! Thank you for your hard work and creativity!