SMPS Markendium

The Challenge

The Markendium is the Body of Knowledge for the Society for Marketing Professional Services—the definitive reference for marketing professionals across the AEC industry. Six books, developed by a committee of authors and contributors, covering the domains of practice that SMPS certification is built on.

A resource that important deserves a design that matches its authority. The series needed more than a facelift: refreshed content from SMPS’s committee, a cohesive visual system across all six volumes, and a modern publishing pipeline to get the books into members’ hands.

The Approach

We reimagined the SMPS Markendium book series from the ground up. Rather than treating the six books as separate design problems, we built one system: a redesigned identity, a new color palette that distinguishes each volume while holding the series together, and member photography that puts real SMPS professionals on the page instead of stock imagery.

SMPS worked with a committee of authors and contributors to update the contents of the six-book series. Our job was to make sure the design kept pace with the content—readable, navigable, and consistent from book one through book six.

The Work

• Cover designs—new covers across all six volumes, featuring the refreshed Markendium identity, a new color palette, and member photography.
• Interior layout—a full redesign of the interior page layouts, updated to match the new covers.
• Icon system—we updated the design and icons throughout the series to align with the book redesign, so the visual language carries through every chapter.
• Digital publishing—we helped SMPS publish the new six-book series as print-on-demand through Amazon, replacing traditional print runs with a model that keeps the books available on demand.

The Results

The Markendium series is available now—six redesigned volumes with refreshed content, a unified identity, and a print-on-demand pipeline through Amazon that removes inventory risk and keeps the Body of Knowledge accessible to every SMPS member and certification candidate.

For SMPS, the redesign does more than modernize a bookshelf. The Markendium is the backbone of professional development and certification for AEC marketers, and it now looks the part: a series members are proud to keep on their desks, with a visual system SMPS can extend as the content continues to evolve. Because the design is systematic—shared palette logic, shared icon language, shared layouts—future editions can be updated without starting over.

At a glance

• Six-book series redesigned end to end—covers, interiors, icons, and identity
• Published as print-on-demand through Amazon
• TODO: Josh to supply sales or member-adoption figures if available