Client: Footnoting History
Brief: Assist in logo redesign for a popular history podcast. Their logo was created years ago before they became popular and was in need of an update. With over a million podcast downloads, the company needed a new look that reflected their prestige in the industry.
Challenge: Creating a new logo that maintained the original logo's aesthetic. Footnoting History's logo is primarily seen in a iTunes podcast listing, and listeners associated the lime green color of the old logo with the company. Obviously, the lime green had to go. I can think of no color that represents a historical aesthetic less.
The new logo had to be bold and easily distinguishable, as it is so often seen as a tiny rectangle.
Solution: A quill is used to reference writing and footnotes from centuries ago. It was decided that the green had to stay in some capacity, so I lobbied for at least a more muted, elegant sage green. The new logo has flexibility where the old one didn't - it can be used in merchandise, banners, apps, posters, etc.
Merchandise photos property of www.teepublic.com/t-shirts/footnoting-history
Web screenshot property of www.footnotinghistory.com
Identity and Collateral Branding
Client: Vincent Lighting Solutions
Brief (Ongoing): Assist a leading national lighting company with a collateral refresh. This includes corporate items, like a pocket folder and “Who’s Who” brochure, as well as product collateral, such as specific brochures for their 20+ industries.
The company desired an original and sharp look to stand out from the dime-a-dozen competition of wedding and concert lighting. VLS has many distinguished clients, including some of the most well known architectural landmarks in the tri-state area, like the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Carnegie Mellon University and the Terminal Tower. The best way to showcase these relationships and the expertise level that VLS resides on? Photography.
I wanted to bring the striking photos VLS had in their catalog to the forefront in both the folder design and the product brochures. The work they do would speak for itself against a stark charcoal or white background. I also mimicked the triangle logo shape throughout to reinforce the brand. A UV coat was laid over the triangle photos for extra impact.
I also wanted to weave the warm/cool yellow and cyan throughout the brochures. As you see, two color palettes of ten were created to distinguish the industry collateral, like Facade, Church, and Wedding lighting.
Client: CU Service Network
Brief (ongoing): Create concept and illustrations for product ads and a series of educational events that focus on specific services. This was part of a larger branding & thought leadership effort to promote the company’s new services and expand the brand nationally.
Illustrations and type are hand-drawn, then scanned and colored.
Client: Wild Bird Rescue & Rehab of Denver
Brief: Create a logo and branding that would serve the non-profit organization in raising funds to build a much needed bird rehab center, as well as raise awareness of the initiative throughout the city.
Challenge: Creating a logo and brand that represented both the unique needs of the non-profit as well as the region that would fund the project. Because so many birds are tied to cultural symbolism, choosing an icon such as a duck could be perceived as a hunting company, a dove as a religious organization, and a hummingbird as a wedding/honeymoon company. I needed to choose a neutral species that still represented the regional wildlife.
I also didn't want to create a logo that was negative - like an injured bird to represent the rehab center. I wanted a bird in flight: healthy, free, and wild.
Solution: I decided on a silhouette of a Great Blue Heron: mysterious, elegant, and ecologically significant to the area. The circle element could be seen as a sun or moon, and the negative space added interest. Focus was placed on "REHAB." The public needed to be aware first and foremost what the goal of this non-profit was - saving birds.
Client: CU Service Network
Brief: In 2018, credit union B2B CU Service Network requested a series of promo print ads in the leading industry publication Credit Union Magazine. The goal was to increase brand awareness nationally, since the company had just expanded to a national presence. My personal goal was to create a piece that would look entirely different from the rest of the ads in the magazine, which were stock-photo heavy and filled with colorful gradients.
Challenge: Creating ads that supported brand awareness but also linked back to something tangible and recognizable in the industry, i.e. the traditional credit union tagline of “people helping people.” I wanted to refrain from using any stock photography and create something hand-drawn, but not give impression of juvenile.
Solution: I embraced the old-timey cartoon style of Max Fleischer and created an entirely new credit union persona that CU Service Network could use as a mascot of sorts. Spinning the 80-year-old CUNA credit union “umbrella man” character (bottom), I wanted to reference such a well-known character to balance the company’s new presence in the marketplace. The ad illustrates my burly, credit union mascot holding credit union employees on his shoulders, and in turn, they hold up the customers on their own. And the tagline? “We are the people who help the people help the people”: a reference back to how credit unions are the “people helping people,” and CU Service Network is the company who helps credit unions stay strong.
This ad’s tagline went on to be the informal tagline of the company.
The second ad, run two months after the first, shows my credit union character supporting a call to action – for the viewer to take a survey about the industry. It also references the previous ad.
Client: CU Service Network
Brief: Create a brand identity and collateral for the educational arm of the organization, which will serve three purposes: (1) thought leadership, (2) corporate brand awareness in a new market and (3) ultimately lead generation. A complimentary resource hub unique to the credit union industry, the University contains six separate schools based on content type to attract a variety of learners. Driving visitors to the University would be a top priority at trade shows, and intimate, service-specific seminars would be held throughout the year.
Solution: The University was ideal candidate for a fun, rich brand filled with movement and illustration. I selected a traditional collegiate crest for the logo, which universally depicts education. Bright colors and a cursive font add informality.
The trade show collateral was equally bright and bold, and hand-drawn illustrations ensured the collateral was totally unique.
Client: Kathy Darwin Strategic Planning
Brief: Create new brand for Kathy Darwin, a business strategist and coach who specializes in non-profits and credit unions. Her brand was extremely outdated and her website was unfinished. Kathy is pursuing a stronger presence nationally and needed a brand that reflected the “fire” she sparks in organizations.
I created her logo, identity branding, marketing collateral and assisted with her new site (in partnership with Archipelago Web).
Client: CU Service Network
Brief: Rebrand all print, digital, social media and trade show channels for CU Service Network (CUSN), a B2B company that provides services to credit unions nationally.
Challenge: Brand identity was not maintained over 20+ years of growth, and branding between channels was not cohesive. Furthermore, because CUSN resells products and services from other companies, branding would often carry over from the “parent” companies, further convoluting the brand. Prospects were often confused as to who CUSN was.
Solution: Diligently streamline all channels into one cohesive brand, including parent company products. Focus on contemporary colors, shapes and fonts, as well as visually simplifying products through icons so prospects can quickly understand what CUSN sells.
Mockups complements of Simon Von Allmen and PSD Covers
Client: CU Service Network
Brief: Create theme, advertising and materials for company’s largest annual event. Top speakers from across the country present on educational topics pertaining to the industry, with a different theme each year. The audience consists of Senior-Level professionals.
2018: A Mid Century Mod, Jetsons take on “The Future is Now” theme. I was inspired by the clean, Utopian illustrations of the 50s and 60s.
2017: A colorful play on the “back to school” theme (as the event was held at University of Denver) would be appropriate but not too stuffy
The original illustrations make the event look different from others in the industry, and also align with the aesthetic of the company’s other educational events (see here). Illustrations were hand drawn and scanned into Adobe Illustrator. Adobe After Effects was used for the promo video.
Client: Three Avocados Coffee Company
Brief: Create a design for the Three Avocados anniversary t-shirt
Challenge: Three Avocados isn’t just any old coffee company. They are a non-profit, providing charity for clean water and education initiatives in developing countries. This aspect of the company provided a unique challenge in creating a design that would represent both the product and the philanthropic story behind the product.
Solution: Using a 60s aesthetic, the words of two main charitable causes were used to create the shape of a coffee bean. This merged the story and the product together in a compelling way.
A collection of paintings, illustrations and concept art. Over the past 8 years, I have worked as a comic book inker/colorist, concept artist for mobile gaming, book illustrator and furniture designer.
