For designer Melissa Boehler, using BonusIdeas means first time’s the charm for creating a cover that works. “I just kind of scan through to see which one catches my eye first,” she says. Boehler believes that if it’s good enough to get her attention right away, readers will connect with it too. And for a designer who does one or two sections every month, a continuous batch of new ideas is very important. “It’s good if you’re in a jam,” she says. “I look on the Internet and in the book and it gives you a base to start off with.” Busy as she is, Boehler manages to create colorful covers that readers enjoy, the sales staff appreciates and that we admire.

We publish Bridal sections the first week of every month. Some months the cover is bought by a business and we use photos or artwork of their choice. If it isn't bought, then we design our own cover.

We publish Bridal sections the first week of every month. Some months the cover is bought by a business and we use photos or artwork of their choice. If it isn't bought, then we design our own cover.

I thought this cover concept would give us a great opportunity to display pictures from last year's fair and to gain people's attention. This is a tab we put out every year prior to our Dodge County Fair. It features advertisers that will be at the fair or support it.

This section was full of recipes from our readers and artwork from area elementary school children showing what they were thankful for. I knew I wanted to display some sort of cooking or baking picture on the cover and this layout idea made that possible. It almost looks good enough to eat.

This special section is full of advertisers that can help you improve your home. It also contains a lot of useful information and tips. I wanted to get people's interest by using the pictures on the front cover, maybe give them an idea that they could use in their own home. But I also wanted to give it a look of Fall so I used the colorful fall leaves photo in the middle.

Every summer Beaver Dam has a festival on the lake called Lake Days. This section informs people of events that will be taking place at the festival. It also gives businesses that might benefit from the festival a chance to advertise their products and invite people to come and visit their establishments. The layout idea gave me a great opportunity to showcase pictures from the year before and also highlight the entertainment that would be there this year.