Monday Fun: Graphic Design Emergency.

Graphic design is a profession filled with deadlines. Many of them arrive too quickly, no matter how much time we as designers are given on a project. But I've always said, "there's no such thing as a graphic design emergency." And in my decade plus of experience, I've never seen a reason or project that warranted "emergency" status. As a service to my fellow professionals, I finally decided to make this reminder poster  for those times of frantic client calls so that you can make sure your frantic client gets the help they need!

If you like it, you can pick up one at my Zazzle shop.

Deamed it, did it...

A personal piece reminding me to dream big and then to go out an make those dreams happen...enjoy!

Something Wonderful...

I saw the phrase "Something wonderful is about to happen." on a bumper sticker and decided to tweak it a bit and make my own inspirational image...enjoy!

Designer Math

I was flipping through my Pantone book the other day when I had this epiphany: designers don't "do" regular math, but they do have to do a different kind of math. Working with color is very challenging and getting consistent color whether it is in print or on the web is one of the most demanding parts of my job as a designer. Sometimes I get it right, sometimes I don't. Thankfully, there are tools that make it easier, but let's face it: there will always be that rogue printer or monitor out there that, no matter how much you try, it won't show you the right color.

So I thought it would be fun to do some posters showing the visual math that designers perform every day...enjoy!

Refreshing My Website!

The last time I redesign my website was 2008, and I had been meaning to update the design since about 2010, but client projects and a very full schedule have kept it on my to-do list until this year. While not a complete redesign of the site structure, I have changed a lot.

My new title is Instigator of Awesome! to demonstrate that not only do I do graphic design, but design consulting and art direction. It also conveys a sense of my personality better. I switched from the formal Futura to a casual script typeface, JB Bruno, for a more approachable feel. I ditched the heavy dark blue background for white to brighten up the whole site.

I moved my social media and website icons up to the top of the page so that folks could choose to view my portfolio or view my other website info first. I enlisted the help of my friend Annie, owner of the awesome stationery store, The Envelope, to clean up my bio and make it friendlier.

I also tweaked my self portrait illustration: softened a few lines here and there and made my smile a bit happier. I removed the geometric art deco background and replaced it with a watercolored textured background for a more hand-crafted feeling.

While I had intended to make additional pages and a place to sell my prints on this version of my site, I decided to leave it as is for now. This refresh was very refreshing and maybe on version 2012.2 I will incorporate some of my more grand ideas...

American Air Care

HVAC professional and my friend over at American Air Care didn't have a website. He'd tried working with designers in the past, but things just never seemed to work out. So late last year, he approached me to design his website. He didn't have much in the way of requirements: something that would feature his services and products along with contact information.

After researching the local competition and talking more with the owner, we decided that a one-page website would be the best bang for his buck. It would make it very easy for his customers to view their options and contact him without any of the unnecessary bells and whistles that added complexity and distraction like the local competitor websites.

The project moved slowly, but steadily until we had some issues with domain registration, which involved a name change for his business, but we were able to finally launch the site in June.

The client loves the finished site!

WithOut electricity

Yesterday, we had 80+ mile per hour winds blow through our area and knocked out power to about 90,000 people. While my work lost power, I was fortunate to have power at my house. As I was talking with a neighbor about the situation he mentioned the abbreviation "woe" that he saw on a store that had no power. I realized the double meaning of this and thought it would make a great image if done properly since in this day an age, we are so tied to our electronic devices that when the power is out, not only are we With Out Electricity, we are woeful about the lack of access, games, and other entertainment these devices provide.

I was trying to figure out the simplest metaphor for having no power and as I woke up this morning, it hit me: a power button gone dark. The trouble is I couldn't make the background light either, otherwise it would ruin the mood. So it took a bit of tweaking to get the levels of dark just right on the text. Then I had to figure out just the right kind of dark for the background. I wanted to convey a sense of the power going out, so I added a gradient to the background where the black surrounds the text and goes a bit lighter near the top and bottom to convey a bit more texture and motion to the piece.

Free Fonts

I was talking to a friend the other about design related things. Somehow the conversation turned to type and I remarked to her that "free fonts are like a $20 hooker. You never know what you're going to get." She laughed and said, "that would be a great t-shirt." So I made it into a t-shirt and a poster for your enjoyment!


Like this? You can buy it as a poster and/or a t-shirt at my Zazzle shop.

Designers do it in Helvetica.

Designers fell in love with Helvetica when it was first introduced, and that love has not subsided over the years. A clean and elegant font, it works well under a variety of conditions. It only seemed natural to pay tribute to one of the all-time favorite fonts in the world with a tongue-in-cheek verison of a the classic style Helvetica poster.


Like this? You can buy the poster and/or t-shirt at my Zazzle shop.


*Helvetica is a registered trademark of notype Imaging. Used with permission. Helvetica is available for purchase at fonts.com: www.fonts.com/font/linotype/helvetica