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!

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!

gala program

To follow up on last week's post about the gala invitation for the University of Oregon,  I thought that today I'd share the program book I designed for the event.

I updated last year's square format with this year's color palette, damask pattern and logo border. The metallic paper worked especially well with the dark pattern, giving it extra depth and lustre.

The inside front cover was a flood of chartreuse green while the first page featured a black pattern band behind the logo – I love the overall effect and contrast it created.

The interior pages were reformatted to reflect this year's modern typography and color while the grey stripes from the save-the-date made an appearance as a header at the top and bottom of each page.

The end result: an elegant program book that effectively reflected the prestigious nature of the event while not breaking the bank in terms of design or printing costs.

gala invitation

Last year, I was asked to design the invitation and collateral materials for a gala hosted by the University of Oregon to honor local leaders (read more here and here) and everyone was thrilled with the results. So thrilled, in fact, that they asked me to incorporate elements from last year into this year's design. And I was more than happy to oblige!

 

Starting with the save-the-date postcard, I changed the format and updated the color palette and typography. While green is definitely a UO color, using a lime/chartreuse version of it instantly sets a more modern tone.

I also used a tone-on-tone damask pattern for texture and elegance and added a curved border to enclose the event logo, which they chose to reuse from last year's design.

The invitation itself was presented inside a custom die cut folder of metallic silver cover stock that had a sticker with the logo and damask pattern applied to the front.

Once opened, the folder revealed a die cut invitation that matched the shape of the logo's border. It was glued in place above the pocket, which contained an informational card with bios of both recipients as well as the reply card and envelope.

While the package as a whole was quite stately and elegant, the use of a sans serif font (Helvetica Neue Thin) and color (PMS 583) gave the invitation a distinctly modern vibe.

My favorite part? The little round sticker used to seal the folder! Such a simple little thing, but it's what gave this suite the final finishing touch.

letters of appeal – part 3

A couple months ago, I shared with you two of the letters of appeal I designed for the University of Oregon 2011-2012 fiscal year (view them here and here) so today I thought I'd share the third.

This particular letter was sent out late spring and a continuation of the visual theme I developed in the preceding fall and year-end mailers.


While using the same angled band of bright yellow color from the fall mailer, this time I also added a stripe pattern and used it along the edge of the page to give it a bit of spring flair.


I incorporated photos from last summer's shoot (with David Loveall) into a side bar on the front of the letter. On the back, I echoed the horizontal tagline treatment by using panoramic shots, creating a pleasing contrast to the front.

The first of this fiscal year's mailers has already been sent to the printer and development of the subsequent mailers is in full swing. Stay tuned for updates on those later this year.

one more for my shelf

Last week I practically tripped over a super heavy box delivered to my door step. After hauling it inside and wondering what I might have purchased online that slipped my mind, I discovered it was a winner's trophy from the Summit Awards for the design of my day planner!

This is the fourth year that my collaboration with printer and paper companies has resulted in winning a design award, and every year I've been honored and thrilled to receive this symbol of recognition.

This time the award was for the 2012 day planner I designed. Instead of creating a series of illustrations in my usual style, I decided to use my photography and enhance it with thematic doodles, if you will.  

 

The French fold cover was printed on kraft-colored stock with a double hit of white ink while the rest of the pages were bright white paper. The monthly tabs provided functionality as well as a punch of color.

The planner was well received among my clients last December, and I personally love using it every day! Believe it or not, it's already time to start working on the next one...

Collaborators:
Brown Printing • Neenah Paper • WCP Solutions

accordion-fold brochure

One of my clients recently asked me to design a leave-behind brochure to showcase some of their products. They specifically requested an accordion fold, which is in essence a long zig-zag fold – the perfect fold for this particular project.

I worked with Brown Printing to determine the overall size and number of panels. We wanted to show as many different office chairs as possible without going too small, so we settled on a 16-panel brochure that folded up to a little 3.5" square.

Each panel showed a single chair, along with the product name and specific item number, which referenced a short price list on the back panel.

This tiny brochure has made a huge impact – the client has already had to order a reprint twice! Their sales reps simply love having a small leave-behind that gives a quick overview of what the company is all about: office chairs.

online printing – business cards

These days there are lots of options when it comes to printing. My favorite source remains using a reputable local print shop (nothing beats being able to walk in to view proofs, attend press checks or simply talk through your project with the folks who'll be running the presses).

But sometimes the best solution may be to use an online resource. I've discovered that the old adage "you get what you pay for" holds true here as much as anywhere. I won't call out the companies that I would strongly advise against (email me if you really must know) but I have no qualms about singing the praises of one particular shop: Moo.

Just take a look at these delicious cards I recently designed:

The colors printed exactly as desired, the paper is thick with a nice mat finish, and the overall quality reinforces the professional image my client wanted to capture.

They even offer tiny mini cards (which make great little product tags) and often have a discount code for free shipping or even free cards (the current code is "MINI20" for 20% off your order of minis).


PS: The size of Moo's business cards is slightly different from the standard size so make sure you use their downloadable templates or online design program. Or call me!

welcome, OHSU

I have some exciting news to share: after going through a lengthy RFP and vetting process, Defteling Design is now an official approved vendor for Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU)!

Throughout the last few years, I had already done some pro-bono design work for Todd's department (the OHSU Library) and by coincidence, the Library turned out to be my first official OHSU client, too!

One of Todd's co-workers was in charge of an on-campus conference and needed help with the program book, which was used to provide information on 175+ poster presentations, 140 oral presentations and three keynote speakers.

She had already designed the square Research Week logo, a play on the periodic table. I simply expanded on that.

 

For the cover, I created  an abstracted "empty" periodic table that I overlaid as a subtle pattern over a Kraft paper texture. I also introduced a thick black bar with a pointed right edge and used that throughout the program to highlight important content.

Because of the relatively small quantity, this program would be printed digitally, which meant I could use that same Kraft paper texture as a design element on all the interior pages. I proposed the wire-o binding to give the piece a bit of a note book feel (we even added a dozen or so empty pages for notes).

 

To give this book a bit more physical heft, I wanted a really thick paper for the covers. Because a digital press has fairly limited choices when it comes to cover weight stock, I opted for a French fold: printing each cover and inside cover as one wide sheet, then folding them in half. Voilà: extra-thick covers!

I'm very excited to see what my next OHSU project will be!

letters of appeal – part 2

As promised in my last post, today I'm sharing another letter of appeal for the University of Oregon's Annual Giving Program.

 

This mailer uses the same tagline and color palette established in the first mailer but expands on the use of photography, showing students engaged in various activities across campus.

 

The photo shoot for these mailers is always a lot of fun and usually encompasses one or two full days of shooting. It takes a lot of organization to scout locations, create a shot list, and manage a group of a dozen or more students (our models). But all that work pays off in the end when I get the hard drive filled with exactly the shots I need to make the designs really come to life.

 

letters of appeal – part 1

As I'm getting started on designing new letters of appeal for the upcoming school year, I realize that I haven't shown any of last year's letters that I designed for the University of Oregon's Annual Giving Program, one of my long-standing clients.

Well, let me fix that right now!

Since 2003, I have helped UO Annual Giving design anywhere from one to four direct mail packages that ask a variety of targeted demographics to help support students in their academic pursuits. Usually there is one central message around which I will then design all of that year's letters so that there's a cohesive look that is reinforced with each mailing.

Last Fall, we kicked off the academic year with this:

The converted #10 envelope introduces the "Every gift. Every dream. Every year." tagline with a specific typographic treatment that was used on all subsequent mailers, too.

To brighten up the standard UO color palette of green and yellow, I chose a fresh lime green that was used to emphasize the word "every" in the background of the tagline.

I also used a yellow line that angled into and out of the letter at the top and bottom, creating a bit of a 3D effect to entice the reader to turn the page.

On the back, the tagline is front and center, sandwiched between large photos of students enjoying campus life.

Working on these letters of appeal is always a fun challenge. The core message does not change so each year I have to find new ways to communicate the same basic idea: give now to help students achieve their academic dreams.

Stay tuned for my next post, where I'll share the second mailer in this series.