The Dominican Convent School (DCS) is a fascinating and uplifting place of learning. Even a cursory look at its beautiful 2012 magazine, produced by Flow, will tell you that.
DCS is one of Johannesburg’s very best schools – but unlike most of the others, it’s not a silver-spoon institution on the leafy side of town. While some of its pupils certainly do come from well-heeled homes, they’re firmly in the minority; and fully 10% of the learners are orphaned or vulnerable children.
Despite these great social disparities, students are offered an equal educational playing field at DCS. And the success of this approach shows in their achievements academically, on the sports field, in the arts, in their undeniable love for the school – and also in supporting those less fortunate in the communities around them.
To grow such fine young leaders of tomorrow is no easy (or inexpensive) task, and DCS – like many others – relies heavily on benefactors to help it do so. That it has captured the hearts, and garnered the ongoing support, of high-profile donors is testament to the kind of institution it is.
At Flow, we’ve produced DCS’s annual magazine for more than half a decade now, and in that time we’ve derived immense pleasure from watching the school reach ever-greater heights.
It’s an enormous job, compiling and designing a publication to reflect a whole year’s worth of achievements and memories for a school such as DCS. Articles need to be written, notable addresses of the year need to be sourced, and pictures found for each and every entry. Each and every learner’s name must be correct, sports scores must be accurate, and achievements must be fully recorded.
And once this is done, the publication must be swiftly laid out, edited and re-edited, proofed and proofed again, so that it can be signed off, printed and dispatched to hundreds of recipients before year-end. And printers are pernickety at this time of year, so there’s no wiggle room around deadlines …
For DCS marketing and communications manager Renata Lucas, who this year had responsibility for the magazine for the first time, it has been “an exciting journey, a learning curve”.
“It’s been a journey full of hard work, fun, support and guidance,” she says of her five months of asking, begging and cajoling content out of teachers, learners, coaches, mentors and others.
Flow designer George Xafis’s deadline was somewhat tighter: he had two weeks in which to come up with a hefty 136 pages of design work, including the cover. And if you think he had a template from which he could simply cut and paste content, think again.
“Each page was a unique design. What made it work was the constant meetings with the client and how we discussed each detail. This process, in turn, drew quick and easy conclusions.
“It was a great challenge for me, and thank you to the team (internal and DCS) for helping me where it was needed,” says the ever-modest George, who burned some serious midnight oil to ensure that the designs were completed and sent to the printers in good time.
Renata says the final product reflects life at DCS in 2012, including academic achievement, sport, arts and culture, intellectual development and faith, an important facet of a DCS education.
What she’s particularly impressed with is how George successfully incorporated a circular design element throughout the magazine, symbolic of the circle of life. “Each child’s life is a circle of development, and George captured that,” she comments.
Flow MD Tiffany Turkington-Palmer says it has always been great to work on the DCS magazine – and 2012 is no exception.
“Once again, this year it was a pleasure to work with our longstanding partner, the Dominican Convent School, on the production of their 2012 magazine. We are continually amazed at the wonderful initiatives that the school has, as well as the high standard of their students and their output,” she says.