My New Site!

Happy 2011! One of my goals for last year was to (finally) redesign my web site and get a lot of my more recent work up. Now it's up, so please check it out and subscribe to the RSS feed on my blog through my new site. I won't be updating my Blogspot blog anymore now that I have the new site to show my work.

I've also uploaded my Etsy shop with my modern homesteading cards if you would like a set.

Cheers! :)

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

I hope you all are having a peaceful holiday today with family and friends. Another year has flown by and 2011 is right around the corner! It's hard to believe this was the fourth year of being my own boss and running my own business. I've met some really great people and gotten to work on some fun projects over this past year. Last summer I met Willi Galloway from one of my favorite gardening/food blogs DigginFood. She asked me I was interested in partnering with her on a project we could both share on our blogs—desktop wallpapers with a calendar for each month of 2011. I happily agreed and starting thinking about themes, imagery and eventually landed on the idea of modern homesteading. It works with the things she blogs about plus I thought chickens and goats would be fun to draw.

So here is my gift to you, my loyal blog readers (hi Dad) and anyone looking to brighten their desktop with some colorful images. January starts off with little birds at the feeder which I enjoy seeing in my own backyard every day. There are three sizes to choose from—just select which one fits your monitor and click on the link to automatically download the file.

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I decided to take the images I created for the desktop wallpaper and create a set of 12 notecards with envelopes and stickers. I'm really happy with how they turned out! If you would like to purchase a set which comes in a cute cotton drawstring bag, please visit my Etsy shop.

2011 Sneak Peek

I've been working really hard on my 2011 mailer which is something I send out to my clients as a thank you and also to folks I would love to partner with in the coming year. This mailer is a little bit different than the calendars I've done over the past two years. Here's a sneak peek of one of the images that hopefully will boost your holiday spirit. I love making wreaths and decorations with things found in my yard—it's so much cheaper and just as pretty than store bought. Happy holidays!

Branding for Tilia Natural Health

Wow, I've been away from my blog for sometime now! The end of the summer and fall is always a busy time for me as my clients try to wrap projects up before the end of the year. I've been working on the fall magazine and annual report for the Museum of Science in Boston, some fun projects for LaLicious including package design for a new scent, redesigned the newsletter for The Meridian School and many other miscellaneous things. I've been working hard on my 2011 mailer which will be a little different than the past couple of years—more details to come!

Besides all of that, one big project I'm really happy to share is the identity and branding I developed for Tilia Natural Health, a new naturopathic clinic in Seattle that opened it's doors in October. In the information gathering phase, I put together some image boards (see previous entry) which helped drive the look and feel of the branding. Some of the key words the brand needed to convey were: caring, professional, sustainable, creative, modern, bold, confident, friendly, attentive and approachable.

Tilia is a type of tree whose flowers and leaves are used medicinally—if you visit the office you will be welcomed with a hot cup of Tilia tea. I knew that the plant should be heavily featured in the branding while keeping it fresh and modern. I drew all of the pieces of the plant by hand and used them create the pattern which is used on the back of the business card, letterhead footer, notecard and postcards.

The application of the Tilia brand was applied to the new space (which was a complete remodel) by the talented Laura Zeck of Zinc Interior Concepts. She did a great job taking the brand elements and translating it to a warm, welcoming and modern space that totally matched my vision.

August Update

Where did July go? I can't believe I haven't updated my blog since June—I blame it on the fact that we get about three months of beautiful, sunny weather here in Seattle so when I'm not working I'm outside in my garden soaking it all in. I've been working on the branding for a Seattle based naturopathic physician. I always start with a brainstorming session and create an image board—I'm old school like that, but it's a great way to learn what appeals to my client visually, which in turn streamlines the design process. More to come as the project progreses!

Seattle Animal Shelter Awareness Campaign

Last fall I was asked to be on the team to create an Awareness Campaign for the Seattle Animal Shelter. In addition to the dedicated folks and volunteers for the shelter, I've worked with Cindy Chischilly of White Canyon Design and Emily Rieman of Best Friend Photography—two huge animal lovers themselves. We designed a series of six ads which run on Seattle bus tails and interiors to educate the public on important issues: animal cruelty, spay/neuter, adoption, licensing, finding your lost pet and public safety. Currently the fourth ad, Find Me (pictured above), can be seen running on the busses so keep your eyes open. The final two are currently underworks and will launch later in the year.

The animals featured in the ads were all photographed specifically for the ads and their inspiring stories can be found on the shelter's website.

Georgetown Garden Walk: Sunday July 11th!

I've had the pleasure of designing the materials for the annual Georgetown Garden Walk for the past four years. In 2007 we had the plucky strutting chicken who reappeared on a cozy nest of flowers for 2008. Last year it was a collaboration with my husband who had designed the Garden Walk materials for several years prior to me. For this year's concept I was thinking about everything that is going on below ground to make a successful garden. Who doesn't like worms? Those hard-working little compost makers, chugging along, eating up waste and churning out pure garden gold.

So mark your calendars for this awesome, free event and plan on checking out the 15th Annual Georgetown Garden Walk! For more information, contact Jon Dove at 206.763.9895. Free maps of the garden locations are available the day of the walk at the Bank of America parking lot, 1112 S. Bailey St.

A June Desktop Background for You

Between travel and work, May somehow disappeared on me. I've been busy catching up on projects, tending to my garden (slug patrol) and hoping that summer sticks around once and for all here in Seattle. I'll soon post some recent design projects I've been working on, but in the meantime here is a new desktop background for you. It's from my 2010 calendar and was one of my favorites.

Same directions as the last one—there are three sizes to choose from, just select which one fits your monitor and click on the link to automatically download the file. I hope you enjoy it! :)

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A Fresh Desktop Background

I've been thinking about making some desktop backgrounds for you to download and brighten your workspace. I thought about taking the designs from my 2010 calendar, but I figure some of you already have that so why not do something new? Continuing with my experiments with painting with walnut ink and my love of poppies (remember these?) I drew these the other day. Then I took them into Photoshop where I made them white, added some textures, color and text. I'm kind of in love with green right now—the bright, slightly chartreuse kind that is popping up all over my garden.

There are three sizes to choose from, just select which one fits your monitor and click on the link to automatically download the file. I hope you enjoy it.

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Securing a School's Legacy

Earlier this year I designed this piece for Bertschi School's capital campaign, 'Believe in Bertschi'. It consists of a brochure which opens up to reveal information about the campaign and a pocket which holds information sheets on the new science building and the endowment. It matches the look and feel of other pieces I've designed for the school which align with the Bertschi brand.

Gardenwalk Follow Up

It's been awhile since I've updated my blog—I've just been too busy enjoying this beautiful summer we're having here in Seattle. I think it's the nicest one we've had in a long time. Last weekend was the 14th annual Georgetown Gardenwalk and of course that was the first day in a while that it decided to rain. Luckily the sprinkles were light and the cool air made the day enjoyable for strolling. A little rain doesn't deter Seattleites, after all. My sweetie and collaborator in the poster snapped a few pics of the poster in the neighborhood windows—it's always fun to see them up!

Museum of Science Magazine, Spring

I recently wrapped up a big project with Plural—the spring issue for the Museum of Science in Boston. This is the second time we've done the design for the magazine, the first time being their fall issue. Once again it's chocked full of impressive and engaging stories about what's going on at the Museum. The design follows the look and feel of the previous issue so that the Museum's brand is consistent to its audience. The 32 page, plus cover magazine was printed with post-consumer recycled paper.

As always, you can click on the images for a closer look.

Georgetown Garden Walk: Sunday July 12th

Friends and fans of the Georgetown Garden Walk have been chomping at the bit to see this year's poster so without any further ado, here it is! This is the first year that the poster will be screenprinted in a limited edition of 200, making them a nice keepsake for the event. The files went off to the printer this week and hopefully will start popping up around the neighborhood in the next few weeks, so keep your eyes peeled and mark your calendars for Sunday, July 12th 10 to 5.

As I mentioned earlier in my blog, this year it was a collaborative effort between Jay and me which was a lot of fun. We brainstormed on the concept and wondered just what flowers would look like if they were Georgetown hipsters—voila! 

For more information about the Garden Walk contact Jon Dove at 206.763.9595. Free maps of the garden locations are available on the day of the walk at the Bank of America parking lot, 1112 S. Bailey Street.

Georgetown Garden Walk Sneak Peek

I've been busy working on big project—a 36 page magazine for the Museum of Science in Boston—which just went off to the printer. I love that stage of a project. Now I just sit tight and wait for proofs from the printer before it hits the press and ink meets paper.

In the meantime my sweetie and I have been cooking up the design for Georgetown Garden Walk materials. This is the 6th year that one of us has done it: he did it three times, I did it twice and this year it's a collaborative effort. And if I do say so myself this is the best one yet! We've retired the chicken and gone in a fun new direction. So mark your calendars for Sunday July 12th and hope for sunny skies!

Here's a tiny sneak peek to tide you over...

Bertschi School: Teaching Sustainability

My client Bertschi School in Capitol Hill has an on-going commitment to sustainability and uses a global approach to education. Recent additions to the campus include an impressive LEED certified building, water cisterns, solar panels, a green roof and more. Last year I designed an interpretive signage system to highlight these features, as well as inform students, parents and visitors. The signage functions in tandem with an interactive kiosk which gives additional information the viewer.

I created a system of 14 signs that cohesively fit with the style of the existing campus signage. Each of the signs represents one of the 5 main categories—sustainable sites, water efficiency, solar energy, air quality, materials—and has a corresponding illustration at the top of the panels.

We created the signs to be: intriguing, engaging, fun, informative and to have a 5-8 year lifespan. They also needed to have the ability to display the students' artwork year round. The signs are made from steel and allow the metal's natural finish and oxidation to show through, then were protected with a clear coat finish.

Launching DZO Strategists

I recently created this system of business papers for DZO Strategists. Their objectives were to convey a solid, confident, smart and solution-driven brand. I designed the DZO identity last fall so it was great to take it to another level and apply it to their printed materials. I selected Neenah Classic Crest in Avalanche White which is another of my favorite enviro-friendly stocks. When choosing the perfect red for their identity, we felt limited by what Pantone had to offer so a custom red ink was mixed to exactly match what my own printer had produced.

Fun + Friends + Fitness = Boardwalk 5K!

Here's a project fresh off the presses announcing a fun upcoming event for Treeswing. It's for their 4th annual 5K Run/Walk on April 26th which helps fund physical education programs in the Seattle Public Schools. I wanted it to be attention-getting and lively so I made the text bold used the bright colors of the Treeswing palette. If you and your family would like to participate, go here to sign up!

Summer sign-up

Although it's February and rainy, summer will truly be here in a few short months. So that means Bertschi School needed a Summer Program schedule created to get students signed up for all of their fun, creative classes—knitting, robotics, inline skating, pirates! Seriously folks, kids today have way more options to keep busy during the summer months than I did—not that I'm knocking my mad macaroni necklace skills. 

I designed this schedule to print in two inks to keep costs down, but mixed and matched the inks in varying percentages to create a finished piece that doesn't have the boring duotone feel. In keeping with the school's commitment to environmental responsibility, it was printed on an FSC stock with 100% post consumer waste and soy based inks.

As always, you can click on the image for a closer look.

Something sweet

In honor of the upcoming holiday, here are some cute Valentine cards I made last year and sold on Etsy. The fabrics are some of the vintage handkerchiefs that I've collected over the years.

Hello '09

This is what I've been cooking up for the new year—a promotional calendar with colorful gardening themed illustrations. I had 50 sets digitally printed on Neenah Classic Crest recycled bright white, one of my favorite enviro-friendly stocks. I've got one sitting on my desk and it's a nice little reminder that spring & summer are just around the corner.