Smart Growth America
Report Design Proposal
Frances Eugenia Design
Civic Communications & Publication Design
Frances Eugenia Design works where communications, public responsibility, and design meet.
This page collects selected work relevant to Smart Growth America’s report design RFP, including publication design, civic communications, editorial systems, public-facing visual work, and materials designed for real audiences under real institutional conditions.
Smart Growth America’s reports are public-facing tools. They need to carry research, policy, charts, maps, case studies, and recommendations without losing the reader or flattening the work.
That is the kind of design I do.
Why this work fits
I help public agencies, nonprofits, cultural organizations, and civic teams turn complicated information into materials people can read, use, share, and trust.
That work often starts before the page is designed. It means understanding what the material is about, who needs to use it, where the reader may get lost, and how the design can carry the information without burying it.
For Smart Growth America, the design system needs to support research, policy, charts, maps, recommendations, case studies, photography, and multiple audiences. The reports need to feel serious without becoming dense. They need to be readable without being oversimplified. They need to hold together as a series while still allowing each report to have its own subject and emphasis.
Relevant experience
My background includes municipal communications, publication design, editorial direction, campaign materials, public-facing visual systems, and practical tools for teams working inside real timelines.
Relevant work includes publication systems, magazine layouts, reports, public guides, newsletters, civic communication, public event materials, exhibit design, and institutional messaging.
I have worked across public agencies, cultural organizations, civic projects, media, retail, real estate, and community-facing work. The throughline is structure: making public-facing material easier to understand and maintain, and ensuring it is strong enough to support the work behind it.
Selected Work
A curated set of work that reflects how I build communications systems, translate complex information, and use design to make public-facing work more usable.
These samples show the kind of judgment this role requires: structure, editorial direction, public trust, visual organization, and the ability to make institutional information easier to understand without making it less serious.
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FOCUS Magazine is a municipal publication project that required editorial pacing, public information design, department coordination, and page layouts capable of carrying multiple types of city content in a single readable format.
This work is relevant to Smart Growth America because it shows publication design for a public audience, with information moving across departments, subject areas, and reader needs.
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This work focused on the systems behind public communication: roles, standards, workflows, templates, approval paths, and the practical structure needed to keep public-facing work from becoming scattered or improvised.
This is relevant to a multi-report project because a strong report series also needs a working system. The first report should not be treated as a one-off. It should create a structure that makes the second and third reports easier to produce.
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City News and issue messaging work required public updates, newsletter structure, time-sensitive language, and materials that could move across departments, leadership, and resident audiences.
This work is relevant because Smart Growth America’s reports must also reach diverse audiences. They need to serve researchers, practitioners, advocates, policymakers, funders, media, and the public without losing the substance of the work.
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The ADU Design Showcase connected housing, planning, public education, exhibit materials, and resident-facing information.
This work is relevant because it sits close to Smart Growth America’s subject matter: housing, land use, public understanding, and the way design can help people encounter policy-related information in a more usable form.
Approach to the report series
For the first report, I would develop a visual and editorial system that can carry the full series.
That system would include page structure, typography, section openers, chart and figure treatment, callouts, captions, image use, spacing, and export standards.
Once that system is approved, the second and third reports can move more efficiently while still allowing each report to have its own emphasis.
The process would include:
Review of draft text, brand materials, prior reports, charts, maps, photography, and accessibility needs
Initial design direction and sample layout within 2–3 weeks
Full report layout with visual hierarchy, chart refinement, and publication pacing
Up to 2–3 rounds of revisions per report
Final publication-ready PDF, packaged Adobe InDesign files, high-resolution graphics, requested web-ready assets, and accessible PDF with alt text
Pricing
Total bundled cost for all three reports: $18,500
Report 1, including template and visual system development: $8,500
Report 2, using established report system: $5,000
Report 3, using established report system: $5,000
Additional work outside the agreed scope: $115/hour with prior approval.
Pricing is based on the scope described in the RFP: up to three reports over six months, approximately 20–40 pages each, with completed draft text, data, initial charts or figures, photography, maps, and brand guidance provided by Smart Growth America.
The bundled fee includes design system development, report layout, chart and figure refinement, incorporation of maps, photos, and visual elements, up to 2–3 rounds of revisions per report, final publication-ready PDFs, packaged Adobe InDesign files, high-resolution graphics, requested web-ready assets, and accessible PDFs with alt text.
About MeI am a communications director, public information leader, and designer focused on public-facing work that must hold up under real-world conditions.
My work spans editorial direction, publication design, message structure, visual systems, and practical workflows that help organizations get information out without sacrificing responsibility, accuracy, or coherence.
I have worked across municipal government, public-facing institutions, media, cultural organizations, real estate, retail, and independent consulting. I am especially interested in work where communication is not decorative: civic information, public trust, access to information, infrastructure, community impact, crisis response, and the systems people rely on as things change.
For this project, I bring design judgment, public communication experience, and a working understanding of how reports need to function after publication: as evidence, reference, outreach, and a usable public record.