Designing Health & Wellness Communications for Northborough Free Library
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Northborough Free Library
Northborough, MA -
Public Library · Public Health · Municipal / Community
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Creative Direction · Publication Design · Art Direction · Print Design
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Digital Health & Wellness Plan · Poster Series
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Northborough Free Library is more than a place for books. Like many public libraries, it serves as a trusted source of information, connection, programming, and community support. When the library developed its first comprehensive Health & Wellness Plan, Studio Eighty Seven was brought in to turn a dense, research-driven document into an accessible visual resource that felt unmistakably connected to the library and the community it serves.
Building on the visual identity and Be Well Northborough materials we had previously created, we developed the plan’s visual direction, information hierarchy, imagery, and companion posters, helping position health and wellness as a natural extension of the library’s role in the community.
The Challenge
Making health and wellness feel at home in a library.
Libraries are naturally associated with books, literacy, research, and learning. Health and wellness can feel like a less obvious fit.
The Northborough Free Library Health & Wellness Plan brought together research, community input, health priorities, strategic goals, and recommendations for the library's future role in community wellbeing. Studio Eighty Seven received the completed content as a Word document with a simple creative direction: build on the Be Well Northborough materials we had previously designed.
The challenge was twofold: make a substantial amount of information approachable and easy to navigate, while creating a visual language that connected health and wellness to the familiar, trusted environment of a public library.
The AppROACH
Finding the visual connection.
Rather than relying on traditional healthcare imagery, we looked for ways to show health and wellness through the lens of the library itself.
Photography was sourced specifically to connect concepts such as movement, mental wellbeing, social connection, learning, and access to information with recognizable library and community environments. A clear typographic hierarchy, generous pacing, and repeatable visual elements helped break the plan into manageable sections and give readers multiple ways into the information.
The visual direction also built on Studio Eighty Seven's previous work for Northborough Free Library and Be Well Northborough, creating continuity across the library's broader community-health communications.
COVER DESIGN OF THE Health and wellness PLAN DIGITAL Publication for Northborough Free Library.
Building on the library identity and Be Well Northborough materials I had previously designed, I was given a Word document and the direction to carry that visual approach forward. I developed the plan’s visual concept, information hierarchy, and imagery strategy, sourcing photography that placed health and wellness within a library setting. I designed the final digital publication and a companion series of posters to extend the information into the physical library.
Health and wellness DIGITAL Publication design for Northborough Free Library showing the BE INFORMED strategic priority.
Health and wellness Poster design for Northborough Free Library showing the BE Active strategic priority.
The Solution
One plan. A broader understanding of what a library can be.
The finished digital publication organizes the library's research and recommendations into a clear visual narrative, balancing strategic information with imagery that reinforces the human impact behind the plan.
A companion poster series extended the visual system beyond the publication and into the physical library, giving key health and wellness messages a visible presence within the community space itself.
Together, the materials helped communicate a larger idea: supporting community wellbeing isn't separate from the work of a modern public library. It's part of how libraries connect people with information, resources, one another, and their community.
Health and wellness DIGITAL Publication design for Northborough Free Library showing the BE ACTIVE strategic priority, THE PDF’s Cover, and the Be connected priority.
The Outcome
National recognition for community-centered communication.
The Northborough Free Library Health & Wellness Plan was selected as a 2026 American Library Association PR Xchange Award winner in the Advocacy/Fundraising/Annual Reports & Strategic Plans category.
More importantly, the plan gave the library a clear, accessible tool for communicating its evolving role in community health and wellness and provided a visual foundation for bringing that work into the library itself.
Complex information doesn't have to feel complicated.
Studio Eighty Seven helps libraries, nonprofits, public health organizations, and community-focused teams turn important ideas into communications people can understand and use.
