doin' good in the world

I absolutely love what I do for a living. I suppose I'm lucky that way. I feel even luckier when I can do what I love and know that I make a difference in the world, even if it's just a small difference.

That's why I'm always thrilled when it's time to design the next issue of the Oregon Humane Society magazine (read more here). Officially a newsletter, this publication is distributed to roughly 27,000 readers and is filled with interesting news and heartbreaking stories that often have a happy ending thanks to OHS.

A sample of the fall issue I designed recently hit my mailbox and I was reminded again of all the great work OHS does around the state. The rescue that hits closest to home is, of course, the one where OHS drove all the way out to Harney County to pick up our little Tucker (a golden retriever mix) along with 125+ other dogs that had been grossly neglected by the owner.

I'm currently working on new illustrations for this year's holiday gift (shh... can't say any more!) and have decided that I will donate a portion of the sale of one particular illustration to the Oregon Humane Society:

Yes, this little cutie pie will do his part to give back to the Oregon Humane Society: $5 of every 8x10 and $7 of every 11x14 matted print will be donated to OHS (who, btw, doesn't receive any federal or state dollars but is supported 100% through private donations).

Want to help, too? You can buy the print here or just email me (alex [at] defteling [dot] com).

corporate communications

Corporate communications don't have to be bland and boring. They're another opportunity to connect with your customers and reinforce your brand.

Case in point: Peterson Sullivan in Seattle recently merged with another accounting firm and wanted to announce this fact to their existing and potential clients. Instead of sending out a standard postcard or invoice stuffer, we took a different route:

This fun yet informative direct mail piece tells the story beautifully. Yes, they merged and here's what it means to you, their customer.

Closely on its heels followed an invitation to an open house – a great way for clients to meet the new partners and staff, as well as a nice way to thank them for past business.

Because the event will be very wine-focused (various tasting stations with food pairings set up throughout the office), we incorporated vineyard elements throughout (the corks on the back become a fun background once inserted into the translucent envelope for mailing) while staying true to the look and feel established in the first mailer.

Next time your organization needs to communicate a message that falls outside the standard realm of advertising, consider a creative twist to make your message memorable.

holiday cards

Every fall I look forward to designing my very favorite project of the year: Defteling Design's client holiday gift! I've already started busily sketching new ideas, and it made me think back with pride and pleasure to last year's project, a weekly day planner (click here for more info).

That, in turn, reminded me that I created a fun illustration for the month of December. Wheels started churning in my head and I decided to reuse that image to create a holiday card.

It's available for purchase here but if you want a more customized look for your business or personal use, feel free to give me a jingle!

creativity...

I was surfing tonight (Etsy, Facebook, Blogger) and I came across this video promoting a new book by Steven Johnson. It's simply ingenious, not only in the actual message but also (or more so) in its execution!



(pardon the fact that the video goes off to the right – no idea how to fix that! If anyone knows, please enlighten me ;)

before + after: one-sheet templates

Businesses often have marketing collateral that they need to update on a regular basis. For such occasions, it's handy to have an in-house person who can make the edits. It's even better when you're working with a nicely designed template that reinforces your brand and makes a positive impression!

Peterson Sullivan, an accounting firm in Seattle, WA came to me asking for help with their one-sheets. They had a design in place but they wanted a more visually appealing design.



This project is a great example of how a few simple changes can really freshen up a design. I mainly used a variation of type treatments (all caps, letter spacing, color), color blocks and dotted lines to give the layout more appeal and visually reinforce the hierarchy of information.



Since Peterson Sullivan uses three main categories of one-sheets, I designed a template that follows the same basic design but switches out the colors to help differentiate them.

Now they'll be able to create updated one-sheet in-house any time the need arises.

new look for defteling

As you may have noticed, I've updated my logo and website for defteling design. It was just in time, too, since I was down to just 12 business cards!

Last week, I picked up my new cards from Brown Printing and I'm thrilled with the way they turned out!


My double-sided business card is slightly narrower than usual and has rounded corners at the bottom (ties in with my website). I decided to gang up a flat note card at the same time.

I love the versatility of this card: I can stick a stamp in the upper left and pop it in the mail as a postcard. I can add some formality by enclosing it inside a chartreuse A2 envelope. I can even punch a hole or cut a couple slits and use it as a gift tag!

Next up I might design some note books, which were always a great hit in the past. Stay tuned!

wedding update

After driving over 2400 miles in six days, I'm happy to report that my sister's wedding went off without a glitch!


The bride was absolutely gorgeous, as was the venue, a beautiful beach house in Laguna. The favors were a big hit and the table settings turned out perfect (I snatched up all the vintage milk glass vases at various Portland Goodwill stores).


All this gorgeous photography was done by Baron Spafford out of Santa Barbara. Great job, Baron!

wedding style

I'm about to take off for a week of R&R during which Hubby and I will drive down to LA to attend my baby sister's wedding. This has been a true family affair with all members pitching in to make her special day picture perfect.

Naturally, the task of designing her invites and other paper products fell upon me, and I happily obliged. While I don't have any photos of her invite, it was similar in concept to the one I designed a few years ago for the Style Lounge at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival (click here to see samples).

I will try and snag a few shots while in SoCal but what I CAN share today is the place card which doubles as the party favor. Continuing the CD theme (the invite was mailed inside a metal CD tin), the favor is a CD containing a series of songs that are meaningful to the special couple. I used some of my left-over Cecily Ink gift wrap to imprint the song titles and background story and imprinted oval stickers with all the guests' names.







Very much a DIY project (all printed on my little desktop inkjet) but still filled with design inspiration. See you all when I get back!

Launching my blog!

It's been quite a while since I've last posted on my other blog but going on hiatus achieved exactly what I was hoping for: a renewed focus and energy to share useful information, funny tidbits, and creative insights.

Stay tuned for future posts covering everything from the logo design process and doing press checks to finding the perfect font and creating a memorable color palette.

See you back here soon!