A project for the City of Fairview. My goal was to design a master plan document that would stand the test of time since it will be used 2010 through 2015. The concept was to present the city with a document that felt professional and contemporary, while communicating a sense of warmth, since the contents hold information about Fairview Woods’ parks. I appreciate the publication’s clean and simplistic design pronounced with strong typography.

View the entire publication (minus city documents) click here to go to ISSUU.

The 2010 Skamania County Visitors Guide marks my fifth year of working on this publication with Judy Bair of Wind River Publishing. I gave the guide a fresh updated look this year that’s clean and contemporary, with a touch of elegance.

This 48-page publication informs visitors and locals of events, resources, recreational opportunities, sights to see, places to go, lodging and more. It includes a Skamania County hiking guide with directions to eleven hikes that publisher, Judy Bair, personally recommends.

This year the guide is better than ever, but that doesn’t mean there haven’t already been discussions about new improvements for 2011.

[Click either this link or the 2010 Skamania County Visitors Guide in the first paragraph to see the entire publication via ISSUU]

2010 Fairview on the Green event poster for the City of Fairview.

I wanted this poster to pop out, feel like a warm summer day and a family event. The radial bands emulate rays of the sun and the swirling design adds texture and movement. All the colors are warm tones. The illustration of two birds holding a banner offers a sense of playfulness. This is the first year the event’s name has been changed to Fairview on the Green (prior it was Chili on the Green). The task was to communicate equal importance of the new event name and the chili cookoff.

Such a fun project to do for the Skamania County Chamber of Commerce in Stevenson, Washington! Casey and Angie, at the chamber, are a joy to work with and the imagery was a delight to immerse myself in. Having lived in the Gorge for about five years, I always enjoy revisiting the area. (Back then, I had a petsittting business and worked part time at a small local paper and the Columbia Gorge Magazine during its first year.) The Gorge holds a special place in my heart, and for any of you who have been there, I’m sure you can understand why. The area offers an abundance of outdoor activities and the scenery is breathtaking. No kidding!

Okay. Back to the project:) This is a double gate-fold brochure with a pocket to hold informational inserts. The printing was done at Print It in Hood River, and I’ve got to say that the weight, feel and visual quality of the paper used for this project is exceptional!

Design for a new product line. Services include business logo, labels, two types of packaging, insert and business cards, bookmark and stationary. We’re currently working on an informational mailing/order packet, with plans to consult on web design in the near future.

I’ve been silently asking for clients that I enjoy working with, and the owner of Wear Your Affirmations has fit that request wonderfully. While product lines available at Wear Your Affirmations continues to grow, the business began with the idea of offering written affirmations placed on cotton labels. These soft tags can be tucked inside a pocket, pinned or stitched inside clothing, or set in various places within your home or vehicle. The wearer of these affirmative labels is privately reminded and aware that they are wearing them all day, without anyone else needing to know. The labels are not only a great and affordable gift to give to yourself, but to others as well.

Please visit the current site at www.wearyouraffirmations.com for more information about the products that are being offered.

[ freelance client ]

This actual piece is 35 inches long, eight inches in height, and is a seven-fold accordion brochure. This is another typographical project using only glyphs and the typeface(s) chosen – with a limit of two. I discovered how much I love Archer and how unique the font family is compared to most typefaces. The typeface really takes on varying personalities and appearances: from caps to lowercase, light to medium, and regular to italic. It’s such a lovely sweet typeface. I always knew I held an affinity for typography, it’s subtle yet empowering beauty, but my typography class at PSU really allowed typography to get under my skin. And now I feel I am enchanted by its spell. Yum!

[ project : psu ]

Selecting a letter from the alphabet, and using the information on that letter from calligrapher Lloyd Reynold’s book, My Dear Runemeister: A Voyage Through the Alphabet, students were given another typographical project. Design could only be achieved through the use of glyphs and letters from our chosen font families, which students picked from a provided list.

The yellow pattern behind the majuscule letter ‘B’ consists of interlocking upright and up-side-down commas. The pattern on the back of the Runemeister series card was composed of the miniscule letter ‘b’ through interlinking and overlapping. The project provided an opportunity to explore playing with colors that I don’t generally use, such as yellow and magenta. I also made sure to use unfamiliar font families to expand my typographical awareness. That’s the cool thing about school: it gives students a chance to play and explore design!

[ project : psu ]

When asked to choose someone to do a biozine project on, my mind shouted Rex Ray! The project gave me a reason to purchase his book, Rex Ray: Art + Design. This was a book that Chris Maier, an instructor and department head of MHCC’s graphic design program, turned me onto a couple years ago. I fell in love with his work immediately.

Students didn’t need to write their own copy or create any of their own images for this project. It was mostly an exercise in layout and design. I kept my design really simple, it’s only in place as a container to hold Rex Ray’s beautiful work. I used copy and images from the book, which would normally be unacceptable, except that it was a student project. I’m posting it here, not to show that I’d done anything fantastic design-wise, but to honor Mr. Ray and hopefully get more people interested in his work.

[ project : psu ]

Have you ever had less than one week to come up with an illustrated narrative? If you’re a designer, you probably have! This was definitely a quick turnaround project. Short term projects require instantaneous decision-making and provide proof that we can trust going with some of our initial ideas. They provide an opportunity for us to express our natural style and approach towards design solutions.

As the title reflects, this little guy is about to take his first flight. With the courage to face his own trepidation, he enjoys a soaring fun-filled day and returns safely for a well deserved nap!  [ project : psu ]

Time to design three tees with a theme for Threadless. Wanting to surround myself with delicate and positive imagery, I was immediately drawn to yoga wear. This project showed me how much I’d like to design yoga and children’s clothing: zen mama, zen baby, yum! Zen, zen, zen!

Lotus collection:

Top design: balance : Stylized design of overhead view of ivy that grows spiraling amongst lotus blossoms in ponds of water. The blue dots represent floating seeds that have fallen from lotus pods.

Middle design: breathe : Typographical design which reminds us to breathe, and is thusly named as such. It is accompanied by a couple pink lotus petals.

Bottom design: flow : Intention was to capture the feeling of yoga with the windblown flow of lotus blossoms. Every time I look at these, I relax.

Thanks to the model shown in above images. Image of model was purchased through dreamstime.com and then wrapped with my t-shirt design.

[ project : psu ]