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!

diecut business cards

Business cards are often used to make a first impression. You meet someone, you exchange cards, and you may slip the card straight into your jacket pocket for later. If the design is striking and catches your eye, you may spend a few extra seconds with the card – and at that moment, your mind is forming an opinion about that person, their business.

Clients often want to fill that very small rectangle with as much information as possible but I recently finished a card design where we actually took away content and space, literally cutting out roughly a quarter of the card.

And the result is striking!

This card is for a new cooperative gallery and because each participating artist has his or her own visual style, we kept the design very simple: black ink on white paper with a splash of chartreuse.

In addition, we created a visual tool that artists often use in their work: a cropping mechanism, a way to see what a painting might look like framed in "artist black."

By diecutting this frame, we allow the recipient to actually change their perspective on the world around them, to look at things in a new way through this card. And how often does a humble little business card get to do that?

russell + hazel goodness

I generally am not envious of the various annual conferences my hubby has to attend every year. So when his travels took him to Minneapolis last week, I thought "better him than me!" But when he returned filled with excitement about an über-cool store he and some colleagues visited after the daily workshops had wrapped up, I must admit I felt a tinge of jealousy.

You see, he didn't just visit any old store, he visited the mecca of well-designed desk accessories: Russell + Hazel. You may have seen their binders, planners, note book and pads on the shelves of big retailers like The Container Store. I first encountered R+H online about four years ago and I was so impressed, I promptly ordered some supplies that I use to this day.

"So," I asked full of anticipation, "what was it like? How were things displayed? Did they have an oh-so-cool studio? Show me, show me!"

Well, hubby didn't think to snap any pix but he did bring me back a stash of goodies that more than makes up for the lack of store visuals.

I'm now the proud new owner of a spiral bound note book, presentation folder, note pad and two small daily planner pads.

Everything is so well-designed, all the details well thought out, right down to the cool little envelope that holds the receipt!

And I'm inspired by their innovative tabloid-sized product catalog! Rather than follow traditional catalog design, R+H broke all the stereotypes: theirs is oversized, folded as opposed to stapled, multiple signatures (4-pagers), and printed on uncoated paper that still reproduces rich color and fine detail.


These are so beautiful that I'm seriously considering hanging them on my office wall!