what's for dinner?

It's barely starting to feel like fall but I've been thinking about Thanksgiving dinner for months! Not because I'm an avid cook (far from it!) but because I've been working on the holiday line-up for Harry's Fresh Foods.

Harry's needed a brochure that presented their food service holiday line-up in one easy-to-read brochure that's packed with information and appetite appeal as well as order form.

So I designed the brochure to look like a restaurant menu, complete with linen fabric texture and Harry's signature illustration used as a subtle background throughout.

 

As the main font, I chose Carolyna Pro Black, which has the elegance of a script mixed with the ligatures and flourishes of custom calligraphy.

I blended the plate shots with the background in Photoshop, creating soft vignettes that added to the festive holiday feel.

 

And just to show you what a departure this holiday menu is from the standard product sheets I designed for Harry's, here's a quick comparison:

 

I'd say let the holidays begin!

cheers to beer

My day-to-day work for Harry's Fresh Foods usually involves designing or updating print collateral for use by their sales force but a few weeks ago, they asked me to help them with a special events project. Fun!

You may remember seeing the logo I designed for their 2012 Ski Summit here so now I get to share some of the ways it was implemented.

The main use was on beer steins that were sent to prospective attendees of the event. The logo had to be converted to strictly black and white so it could be engraved onto the glass.

I then used it on the actual invitation, which took the form of a full-color, 4-panel brochure detailing the itinerary of the 2-day event (which included a pub crawl, since no visit to Portland is complete without at least one pint of local micro brew!).

I'm quite pleased with the result – hopefully, the invited guests are, too!

logo love

One of the best ways to make a good first impression is to have a strong, memorable logo mark. Your company's logo, after all, serves as the face of your company when you can't be there in person.
Over the last 10 years, I've been entrusted to design or refresh many of my clients' corporate identity and it's always such a rewarding process to see a logo come to life, actively making concept sketches turn into computerized icons that blossom into full-fledged logo marks complete with typography and color.

I thought I'd share a few of the logos I've been fortunate to work on recently.

Ekko Workshop is a brand new division of Ekko Mobiles, which designs the most amazing large-scale mobile installations. Wanting to take their concepts to the wholesale market with desktop-sized models, Ekko asked me to create a mark that stayed true to their down-to-earth, "workshop" roots, so I chose strong, modern typography and developed a simple icon that feels somewhat industrial.

Powell Boulevard Veterinary Clinic has been my fur family's trusted vet since we first moved to Portland 10 years ago. So when they asked me to design a logo for their brand new Eastside Pet Rehabilitation Center, I jumped at the chance. They had done their research and already knew they wanted a very illustrative logo that incorporated iconic East Portland/outdoor imagery, a slightly retro/travel poster look, and oh, yes, a dog! Because of budget constraints, I used a combination of stock art (trees) and custom illustration (dog and Mt. Hood) with early 20th century inspired typography.

The 2012 Ski Summit is an in-house marketing event hosted by Harry's Fresh Foods that targets restaurant managers from high-end ski resorts across the country. Thinking back to my childhood experiences skiing (which weren't all that great despite taking place in the Swiss Alps), I decided to mimic those ski patches all my class mates were so eager to sew onto their parkas. Retro-inspired graphics and a sporty shield combined to create a memorable logo for this fun event.

 

When Cox Marketing asked me to help out with a logo project for her client, I was more than happy to jump in. Sologic was the new name of a company specializing in root cause analysis so I started with concepts for the iconography that would reflect their specific process. The end result is a series over overlapping fields that are grounded by a solid base. I combined modern typography that communicates their technological expertise with a simple yet fresh color palette, and the result is an intriguing mark that makes a lasting impression.

If you're an avid reader of my blog, then you already know that the University of Oregon's Annual Giving Program has been one of my clients for over decade. Every year I design their letters of appeal, and in the last few years we've tried to develop a visual theme that ties together all the different mailings they send out during the academic year. This year, the tagline stayed the same as last year, but I gave it a fresh new look by using a slightly futuristic type face and a twist on the traditional sunflower yellow and kelly green UO colors. The first two mailers recently went to print so stay tuned on examples of how this emblem "in action."

For more examples of logo design, please visit my portfolio or get in touch – I'm always happy to show you my work in person!

picnic time

Whether at home or at work, it feels great to know you're appreciated, doesn't it? It feels even better when they throw you a big party!

That's where the company picnic comes in: many organizations use the relaxed atmosphere of a casual summer get together to thank their employees for all their hard work.

Harry's Fresh Foods took it a step further by holding their picnic at Oaks Bottom, a local carnival-style amusement park that reminds you of the good old days.

So yes, when Harry's asked me to design the invitation postcard using the "got soup? got fun!" tagline, I could taken inspiration from the carnival location using color fanfare, stars & stripes and even clowns. 

Instead I chose to keep it simple and understated, only hinting at nostalgia through use of typography. Because as we all know, sometimes less is more!