Client: Ever-Bloom Nursery
Design: Peter D'Aprix
Photography: Peter D'Aprix

My photographic client Ever-Bloom Nursery were not happy with the graphic designer they had used, so asked me if I would be interested in designing their next 30"x40" flower poster. Naturally I was delighted to do so.

Their poster requirements were stringent: since the posters ended up on the walls of flower shops and wedding suppliers, the colors had to be as fade proof as possible and also had to be as accurate as possible since wedding planners tend to pick the theme color from the flowers available and match gowns and other colors to the flower shade and color. This is remarkably difficult to do given the problems film has with organic or man made colors. Even when the color is right on film, the color separator must go through the retouching process to match the film. Then the printer on press must do the same.

Secondly, rather than leave the back of the poster blank, we decided to make it a capability brochure showing that Ever-Bloom Nursery had the capabilities and facility to provide a large volume of product. This was important because most buyers were accustomed to sending directly to Holland for volume purchases.

We decided to break the capability feature into several parts; 1. The Dutch ancestry both behind the development of the business and the ongoing family business connection with the old country, 2. Focus on their propagation and quality control, 3. Methods of growing, computer control, feeding and irrigation techniques and 4. Careful packing and shipping.

The poster itself was designed with both color grouping and also an awareness that the printing press only had color controls in lines from top to bottom, so similar colors were grouped so that the pressman could tweak the colors in line without affecting flowers with other color needs. The point is that we try to anticipate all aspects of production and use prior to actually visually designing the piece.