Having completed the manuscript for a corporate history, Liberty Mutual sought to present it in a way that would reflect the company's pride in its heritage and welcome readers into this world. They turned to Vern Associates to edit, design, and produce Safer, More Secure Lives.

Concept

To transform a detailed account of the company's history into a user-friendly volume, we devised a flexible template that allowed interspersing images wherever they were needed. Since the text was a chronological consideration of the material, each chapter-opener has a complement of spot illustrations that capture the events and ways of life typical of the period being covered.

Content

Vern Associates' picture editor worked in close collaboration with Liberty Mutual to gather more than 150 pictures from the archives. Careful searches of on-line archives resulted in a broad variety of documentary images and ephemera for the chapter openers. In editing the manuscript, great care was paid to ensuring that the text would be enjoyed by its readers.

Design & Production

As befits a company of Liberty Mutual's stature, the design of Safer, More Secure Lives is strong and classic. Color and duotone photographs enliven the text. Dozens of contemporary spot photographs bring the introduction to life and provide the prototype for the chapter-opener grids with historical images. To convey a feeling that is at once up to date and classic, a special vellum dust jacket lifts to reveal the company logo embossed on the case cover.

The Result

A substantial, engaging book that recounts nearly one hundred years of history for one of the preeminent insurance organizations in America.