Client: Aviano Air Base–31st Force Support Squadron Marketing Department

Aviano Air Base, nestled at the foot of the Italian Dolomites, is home to roughly 3,000 American troops and civilian personnel. My family and I were stationed in Aviano from 2018-2021, when I worked for the 31st Force Support Squadron’s (31FSS) Marketing Department. A portion of FSS’ mission is to provide American troops who are stationed overseas a taste of American community via on-base restaurants, child care and youth programs, libraries, community centers and programming, concerts, special events, fitness centers, etc. 

Each month the marketing department designed and published a printed community guide of events, specials, and information. During my time at 31FSS Marketing, I was responsible for the updated identity for the publication, as the name changed from “The Snapshot” to a more Italian specific “The Grapevine”. I worked with a team of designers to develop the logo, tagline, and key elements for the monthly magazine. The changes were so well received by the community that leadership allowed us to produce several “themed” issues, honestly, a designer’s dream. Together with the team, I produced a unique publication each month, gathering information from 18 unique facilities, designing layouts, managing photoshoots, and working with an off-base Italian printer.

Note: as I speak only a tiny bit of conversational Italian, communicating with the printer was interesting. But with Google Translate and a lot of pointing at things, we always figured it out.