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! :)

1024 x 768

1600 x 1200

1900 x 1200