Interview with Ada Oliver, May 13, 2022

Partial Transcript: It's Friday the 13th, May in 2022, and I'm Kopana Terry.

Segment Synopsis: Oliver describes her childhood; she was born in Scottsville, moved away for a few years and now runs a local boutique design agency. She describes her graduated from Georgetown College in the middle of the recession, and how she worked front-desk jobs for a few years before moving into graphic design and eventually founding her own business. Oliver says she founded the business in Scottsville because the local community was so supportive and unusually close-knit.

Keywords: Branding consultants; Graphic design & illustration; Oliver Creative

Subjects: Georgetown College (Georgetown, Ky.); Recessions; Scottsville (Ky.); Small businesses; Small towns

Partial Transcript: How did you come to be involved with the Halcomb house?

Segment Synopsis: Oliver describes how Scottsville mayor David Burch gave Oliver a key to look at the house last spring. She talks about how seeing it for the first time was like opening a time capsule, as if the Halcombs had only just left minutes before and how it felt like the house was talking to her, conveying stories about family happiness, a local medical legacy and authentic life.

Keywords: Branding; David Burch

Subjects: Advertising; Country life; Doctors; Family medicine; Historic buildings--Conservation and restoration.; Historic buildings.; Historic house museums.; Historic preservation; History; Homes; Houses; Time capsules

Partial Transcript: When did you finally get to meet and get to know Joe and Julie?

Segment Synopsis: Oliver talks about her first meeting with Joe Halcomb on Zoom, where she told him how the Halcomb house was so special to her because her family had to move several times when she was growing up. Oliver says her house today is filled with family heirlooms that tell a story. She says these sorts of objects are important to her design aesthetic, and that the Halcomb house's integrity felt sacred because the family heirlooms had not been divided up.

Keywords: Coronavirus; Covid-19; F. Joseph "Joe Halcomb, III; Julie Halcomb Koch; Julie Koch; Zoom

Subjects: COVID-19 (Disease); Country life; Design; Family inheritance; Heirlooms; Historic buildings--Conservation and restoration.; Historic buildings.; Historic house museums.; Historic preservation

Partial Transcript: How much did that play a part in your design?

Segment Synopsis: Oliver describes the design strategy, which combined the 1800s cabin's architectural aesthetic with the Halcombs' love of Midcentury interiors. She says Dr. Halcomb's medical bag inspired branding ideas for the house. Oliver talks about finding a jar of matchbooks, which sparked memories of Oliver's own grandmother's penchant for collecting postcards, and how she used those matchbooks as inspiration for the typeface and graphics.

Keywords: Branding; Graphic design & illustration; Matchbooks; Medical bags; Medical care--Kentucky; Midcentury modern; Physicians--Kentucky

Subjects: Collections; Country life; Design; Doctors; Family medicine; Historic buildings--Conservation and restoration; Historic buildings.; Historic house museums; Historic preservation

Partial Transcript: Help me with the timeline a little bit.

Segment Synopsis: Oliver says she became involved in the project in the spring of 2021 after the National Register nomination had been completed. She talks about how the collaboration on design took place mainly with Joe Halcomb over telephone and e-mail, sharing stories and photographs. Oliver says she had her own key to visit the house any time she wanted. Oliver describes an incident where she wanted to use Dr. Halcomb's signature in the branding, and found herself digging through junk drawers in the house looking for the stamp he'd used to sign things.

Keywords: Dr. Francis Joseph "F.J." Halcomb, Jr.; F. Joseph "Joe" Halcomb, III; Graphic design & illustration; Medical care--Kentucky; Physicians--Kentucky

Subjects: Country life; Design; Historic buildings--Conservation and restoration.; Historic buildings.; Historic house museums.; Historic preservation; Homes; Houses; Legacies; National Register of Historic Places; Photographs; Telecommunications

Partial Transcript: So you said you're from Scottsville; were you ever treated by Dr. Halcomb?

Segment Synopsis: Oliver says she was too young to be treated by Dr. Halcomb, but she had driven by his house her whole life and never been inside until the design project. She mentions that she did go to White Plains Baptist Church with Dr. Halcomb, but didn't have a personal connection to him. Oliver describes his relationship to other members of her family; he treated her extended family and friends, and they've told her so many stories about how caring and charismatic he was. Oliver describes how she learned learned more about Mariola's incredible impact on women and children in the community by talking with the community.

Keywords: Dr. Francis Joseph "F.J." Halcomb, Jr.; Mariola Shrewsbury Halcomb; Medical care--Kentucky; Physicians--Kentucky; Rural health--Kentucky; White Plains Baptist Church

Subjects: Churches; Community; Country life; Family medicine; Flowers; Gardening; Scottsville (Ky.); Small towns

Partial Transcript: Well, let's talk about the website a little bit more.

Segment Synopsis: Oliver describes how bridging the gap between graphic and web design in her company is made easier because she's married to a web designer, but also because recent advancements have made it possible to create websites using a design interface without needing to know programming. Oliver says her platform of choice is called "Webflow."

Keywords: Branding; Graphic design & illustration; Oliver Creative; Web development services; Webflow

Subjects: Advertising; Homes; Houses; Programming (Computers)

Partial Transcript: Yeah, do you do any hand-drawing any more or do you do it all on computer now?

Segment Synopsis: Oliver says her design process always begins with sketching because it's quicker than using software. She mentions that the branding was a six-month process in collaboration with the Halcomb family, because they had the time to let ideas marinate. Oliver mentions that the entire process was completed within a year, from branding to developing the website and content.

Keywords: Branding; F. Joseph "Joe" Halcomb, III; Graphic design & illustration; Julie Halcomb Koch; Julie Koch

Subjects: Design; Social media; Web development services

Partial Transcript: Yeah, so talk to me about the social media campaign.

Segment Synopsis: Oliver talks about designing the Halcomb House's social media campaign using materials from Michael Cooksey's local Facebook group for people who grew up in Scottsville, which has an extensive collection of local photographs and stories that Oliver was able to draw from. She says that Cooksey's Facebook group brought the community together to talk about past memories, and those conversations help the Halcomb house's social media presence as well. Oliver says that graphic design has always been an evolving industry, and learning to incorporate social media has just been one part of a much larger process.

Keywords: Facebook groups; Graphic design & illustration; Michael Cooksey

Subjects: Archives; Facebook (Electronic resource); Memories; Photographs; Scottsville (Ky.); Social media

Partial Transcript: Is there anything that--about the house, about Joe and Julie, about the family--that we haven't touched on, about them or about how your role with them evolved and changed, and going forward?

Segment Synopsis: Oliver talks about the unexpected turns in her graphic design career, including the branding of houses.

Keywords: Airbnbs; Branding; Graphic design & illustration

Subjects: Country life; Education; Historic buildings.; Historic house museums.; Historic preservation; Homes; Houses; Tourism