Facing Cancer Together: Bouda Life Coaching

Facing Cancer Together is a five-step program that helps answer the questions of people diagnosed with cancer and those who support them. It was created by David W. Bouda, M.D., an oncologist, and his wife, JoAnn Bouda, a professionally certified life coach.

The Boudas had been teaching the class for more than 20 years when they contacted Catena Creations in February 2009. They wanted to rewrite and edit their guide book to make it more user friendly and appealing.  They also wanted to create marketing materials to complement the book and publicize the class.

Guide book makeover

Catena Creations started the project by creating a graphic design and typographical style to be followed consistently throughout the book. The design included a modern font, a color palette based on their logo for Bouda Life Coaching, and a symbol chosen to represent the program and provide an easy-to-recognize identity.

Once the design template was finalized, we turned our attention to rewriting and editing the text. This presented several challenges.

The original book was based on transcripts of lectures that David had presented at medical conferences. Some of the language was not easily understood by most patients and caregivers. The only illustrations were medical charts and slides.

The Boudas and Catena Creations teamed up to tackle the project, chapter by chapter. We reviewed the current text and rewrote it to make it easier to understand, while maintaining the accuracy needed for a medical publication. We also rearranged sections where needed.

Then we created graphics, such as the Five Steps symbol used throughout the book,  and added illustrations, such as the Turkey from Toledo. We also simplified the medical slides to make them easier to read and understand.

Sabrina Says

One of the graphical highlights of the book is the “Sabrina Says” images that summarize the key points of a section or chapter. These feature the Boudas’ dog, Sabrina, as a companion on the journey.

Catena Creations did a photo shoot with Sabrina in a variety of costumes and settings. David Bouda determined the list of photographs. First on the list was, “a photo of Sabrina sitting in the waiting room waiting for her appointment, and knitting while she’s waiting.”

To finish the book, Catena Creations assembled all the handouts the Boudas used with the class into a “Survival Kit” package. These handouts also were edited and rewritten, then enhanced with illustrations and graphics.

The final touch on the package was the creation of business cards and notepads with the FCT symbol, as well as a flyer for David to use in packages for patients.  Catena Creations also wrote the text and supplied graphics for the Facing Cancer Together Web site.

Sign animations

In addition to the work on Facing Cancer Together, Catena Creations also produced marketing materials for Bouda Life Coaching. We created Flash animations to advertise the business on the animated sign at Rockbrook Village, supervised production of a TV commercial, and wrote text updates for the Bouda Life Coaching Web site.

Future work includes creating a logo for the Boudas’ newest business venture, Your Weight Loss For Life.