GUIDE TO WORKING WITH THE OFFICE OF MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS

It takes time

If you're wondering how long it takes to move a project from concept to finished product, use this handy rule of thumb: It not only takes longer than you imagine, but longer than anyone can imagine. This is not a flippant remark; it is a fundamental truth. Writing, proofing, editing, proofing, designing, proofing, photographing, proofing, prepress production, proofing, checking bluelines, and proofing is a meticulous but necessary process no matter how many times you've undertaken it.

We will be glad to work with you on writing your text, or we can take your rough draft and edit it into appropriate style. We edit according to The Chicago Manual of Style: Fourteenth Edition, published by the University of Chicago Press, with a few board-of-trustees-mandated quirks, such as capitalizing "the" in the name of our institution (except when "University of Alabama" is used as an adjective, as in "the University of Alabama campus"). For more information about UA style guidelines, visit our online UA Editorial Style Manual.

Advance planning is crucial to having your publication or Web graphics ready when needed. Based on our experience with most departments' approval processes and including time at the printer, the average minimum lengths of time needed to produce various kinds of publications from the day we receive your approved text are listed below. In this context, "approved" means that whoever in your area or department makes the final judgment has agreed that the text is fine and will not undergo significant subsequent changes. Substantial copy changes made after production begins can add considerably to your cost and to the time needed for production and printing.

• Advertisements—2 weeks
• Tabloids—7 weeks
• Full-color booklets or brochures—13 weeks
• Full-color posters—10 weeks
• Spot-color booklets or brochures—10 weeks
• Spot-color posters—6 weeks
• Annual reports—16 weeks
• Web graphics—2-9 weeks