White Blank Page

 

The original For Our City wall before I began the new display project . . .

 

There have been many fun design projects in the works over the past few months, and while most are wrapping up, one of my proudest is done and ready to show here on the blog! This particular project was unveiled in a strategic series of weeks as part of a Capital Campaign message series at my church, called FOR OUR CITY.

One of the things I love most about Eikon Church is that we are truly dedicated to being a church that is FOR our City—well, Hays County to be exact. We do our best to reach out to people in our community to serve them in love—not expecting anything in return—simply because we truly love where we live. We partner with our community through partnerships with the Hays-Caldwell Women’s Center, CASA Kids program, IDEA Kyle Charter School, Center Street Trick-Or-Treat, San Marcos/Kyle/Buda Fields of Faith, Day With God Prison Program, City of Kyle’s Pie In The Sky, and many more. There are so many more ways we would love to partner with our local community, but in order to do what we are dreaming of doing, we needed a way to:

1. Promote visibility of our passionate priority.

2. Provide people with easy ways to invest in the Capital Campaign that will help us make those dreams become a reality.

 

Months ago, as I sat with our Creative Team and brainstormed ideas of how to creatively display those elements, I took on a design project that would reach beyond the screen and create physical spaces to help us be and do more for our neighbors. The project involved repainting a wall with a fresh look and style, creating pledge cards that would be easy for people to use, designing a visual mural sticker to adhere to the inside front entrance of the building, and designing a window panel piece that would tie it all together. As the project neared its end, we realized that the initial FOR OUR CITY window panel piece actually needed a back piece for the other side of the window so you wouldn’t be able to see the adhesive. We decided to make a second window piece that would serve as an additional welcome to people as they walk in.

 

Computer generated concept art for the new FOR OUR CITY mural.

 

You can see the original wall display in the photo at the top of this post. Right above this paragraph, you can see the initial design concept for the new For Our City wall redesign. Here is the process my amazing Youth Intern and I went through to make it all come together:

 

Since the original wall was painting pitch black, we needed to apply two coats of primer to start with a fresh blank canvas.

Then we covered the wall back up with two coats of red paint that matched the color scheme of the FOR OUR CITY promotional materials. I also wanted red to be the background color for the wall so that it would stand out more and wouldn’t just become white noise so easily.

I used a projector that was balanced on a stack of books on top of a bistro table to sketch the logo and lettering for the words on the wall. Then my Intern and I hand painted them with a coat of primer and again with white paint. [ Just tracing the letters on the wall took about half a day! ]

We recruited some of our eKids and Eikon Youth students to help get more paint on the walls and work on lower wall touch-ups.

My brave Youth Intern scaling the ladder to do upper wall touch-ups

After adding a coat of primer and a coat of white onto the box templates of the wall, we were ready to move on to adding the pledge cards to the mix.

 

And then we added pledge cards to the wall that people could peel off, fill out, and turn in to our Info Center team. I color-coded the cards in various colors so that people could tell there was a difference in the amount and so that they fit in with the overall color scheme + style used in the campaign promotional pieces.

 

 

And after many hours invested into the wall, we have our finished project!

I am in love with the final project and it’s really cool to see pledges already coming down as people contribute to the FOR OUR CITY campaign!

 

The next phase included designing the mural to go above the inside entryway. I sat down with our Creative Arts Pastor and we decided to go with a collage that would feature photographs taken in the various cities represented within Hays County. I roped in two amazing photographers that attend Eikon to snap some of the shots featured in the mural:

 

NATHANIEL ROSALES PHOTO

and

PAYTON MOREY PHOTO

After editing the photo mural in Photoshop, I sent it off to press and LUCKY SKY GRAPHICS installed the mural. Here is the final design of the mural.

 

They also installed the two window pieces I designed. The first window piece was created to tie in the FOR OUR CITY look and informational/promotional piece. It features text from the original vision statement for the church that our Lead Pastor, Dan Matlock, created before Eikon even launched. The second window piece was a welcome graphic that would share our inclusive culture as people entered the building. It includes the words that are hand painted on a featured wall in our lobby—those words are frequently repeated in our language on and off the stage because it’s the culture we promote at our church:

EVERYONE IS WELCOME
NOBODY IS PERFECT
ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE

The FOR OUR CITY Window Panel design (left) and the Eikon Welcome Window Panel design (right)

 

Here is what the final pieces look like after installation:

 

 

It was by and far my most intensive project to date, but also one of the more deeply treasured ones. I LOVE being a part of a church that is so dedicated to being a blessing and a benefit to our local community and seeing these pieces reflect those endeavors is like a warm beam of light to my soul. I’m grateful to be part of a team that truly allows me to use my gifts and talents in such a beautiful way to move the heart of God front-and-center inside and outside of the church!

Share the love:

Celebrating the annual Easter Reunion from a distance . . . in a coffee shop (naturally) ;p

 

Our family and extended family gets together every year for an annual Easter Reunion where we barbecue, have an egg hunt, and smash cascarones down peoples’ pants until the day is done! Now, one thing you should know about our family is that we are a rowdy bunch and we make ourselves KNOWN everywhere we go! So naturally, we gotta represent at these reunions and one of the ways we do that is by wearing shirts to show off our family. For the past few years, I’ve had the opportunity to design our family reunion T-shirt. This year I got to do it again and had so much fun playing around with the design. When my Auntie “O” sent me the design request e-mail, her idea was this:

 

This is the thought that is coming across for this year’s shirt. Two Coconut trees with Mamo on one and Papo on the other. Nuts in the tree could be the Kids, John, Josie, Olga, etc. and on the ground under the trees could be the rest of us “nuts.”

I knew immediately that I was going to have fun with this one! One of the things you have to think about as a designer is how your design can loan itself to the atmosphere of the event and the personality of the people you are designing for. Luckily for me, my family has a great sense of humor—you CANNOT spend more than 5 minutes with my family without cracking up at something that someone says/does—it’s awesome! So I took that idea that coconut trees were associated with the water, and the fact that we spend each Reunion at the beach. I think you know where it went from there 😉

That’s right, I went there. 😉

In the initial design, I decided to put the parents along the rope line, under the two big coconuts that represented my grandparents. Then, I wanted us grandkids to kinda be piled on top of each other because we’re very close. I thought it would be super cute to make the cuzzo cubs into starfish because they’re so playful and their personalities stand out so boldly. The sweetest part for me was adding the two seagulls flying above our family. They represent two of our family members that have died and are watching over us from Heaven.

After this initial design, I sent it off and awaited the critiques and changes. I know it sounds crazy and a bit masochistic, but I LOVE critiques. I think my worst nightmare would be for someone to say, “Hey that looks great, let’s go with it!” and deep down inside, they’re saying, “Y’know, it’s an okay design, but it’s not my favorite and I probably won’t want to keep it in eyesight of others cause it’s not that great.” Nightmare city for sure! I love critiques, especially from friends and family because it helps me grow and become better, allowing me to see things from a different perspective so that I can create something we’re all proud of. So I welcome and look forward to the process of making edits to my designs. The e-mail I got back after the initial design said:

Fallon’s sons name is Elijah. Can you make the 2013 a bit darker – as I need the screen to be able to pick it up, since it will all be a one ink print.

Right on! Let’s try this again . . .

We’re getting there . . .

Hey, I went by the tshirt guy tonight & he loved your design. He did ask that we make a few changes though so that the printing would be a bit crisper.

On the coconuts, we need to take the gray shading off  &  just leave it white. It is just a 1 color screen & the color will be black and the shading might mess up how the names look. Also is there a way to make the starfish a bit bigger and stack them, since they will be bigger?

The names are so small inside the starfish that when it prints they will barely be seen, if they are seen at all. If we make the starfish bigger, made me wonder if we needed to make the coconuts bigger so the starfish dont overplay the coconuts?? He also asked if the title could be a thicker or bigger fonts so that it would catch one’s eye. If not, then that will be fine.

You got it!

WINNER, WINNER, CHICKEN DINNER!

Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Squirrels, we have a WINNER!

This was the final design that left both camps happy as a clam! I was so excited to be able to work with my Auntie “O” again to make a shirt that everyone could be proud of. Now comes the kicker . . . when I say we like to make ourselves known, I mean it. Folks, our shirts this year are theme park friendly and kinda takes me back to island life . . . so fresh and so Kiwi Greeeeeen! 😀 I love it!

If it’s one thing that makes me happy, it’s bright colors . . . which is weird because when I was younger, I only wore blacks and grays and HATED bright colors. Nowadays, I love sporting hot pink, electric blue, highlighter yellow, and the like. And now, I get to add a fun addition to the collection! You can imagine just how happy it made me to get my shirt in the mail on Thursday:

Thanks for shipping my shirt to me, Auntie “O”!

I am more than proud to sport my shirt today (and tomorrow afternoon) in solidarity with my family as they are at the family reunion all day today. I’m even more excited because tomorrow, I get to make cascarones with the kids in our Children’s Ministry  . . . and I’m probably gonna make some extras to crack on some heads after church!

Anywhere But Here

There was never a doubt in my mind where I gained certain mannerisms and personality traits as I was growing up. My parents are intensely different in pretty much everything they do. When I spend quality time with each of them, those mannerisms and traits are magnified and I can pinpoint them in a heartbeat. I once took a spur of the moment road trip with my father from Austin to San Antonio (Texas) and during that car ride, he shared family stories and answered some of my bigger questions about life, maturity, and our family history. One of the stories he shared shed some light on an even richer background about a personality trait that I’d assumed was borrowed from him. He recounted a few instances where his mother would be finishing up the cleaning after dinner and on a whim, would say, “Mijo, let’s go for a ride!” He said they never had a real destination, they just went for a drive and spent quality time together, much like he would do with me. It revealed a legacy of encouraging the beauty of spontaneous adventure and it was something that I’ve always treasured. That day, my grandma gained 1,000 bonus hero status points!

 

I can always tell when my travel season is about to pick up because the travel bug bites harder and at the most random moments. My blood rushes and I get overly excited. I begin to stare out windows, envisioning far away places and my imagination takes me anywhere I want to go. I’ll more often than not, start humming a familiar tune like Rascal Flatt’s LIFE IS A HIGHWAY or Foo Fighters’ WHEELS or the like.  And in that moment, I’m not sitting on a crowded bus waiting to get to the transit center. I’m not standing in front of a microwave listening to the droning sound of my lunch heating up. I’m not waiting at the copy machine in FedEx hoping that the guy in front of me is only copying one sheet out of that giant book he’s got with him. No, I’m flying down the highway at 80 mph with my hair blowing in the wind and the speakers blaring catchy tunes—a wild woman on the loose, taking in all the sights that the world around me has to offer. Lately, that vision has been ingrained in my mind. I’m guessing a good reason why is because next weekend I will be joining two of my closest friends on a road trip to Leavenworth. Though we may not actually cruise down the highway going 80 (believe me, we’ve had the safe speed debate in a previous ride), we will be together, sharing an adventure and building great new memories. I could not be more excited!!

 

 

I recently got to participate in a Mixtape Exchange hosted by a friend of mine from Texas. From time to time, he gathers a large group of music-loving strangers to create/ship out a mixtape CD to one another through his random selection.  The concept is simple—everyone makes a mixtape CD for someone they don’t necessarily know, they all ship it out at the same time, and they all receive one around the same time. I LOVE this concept. I LOVE designing new artwork to go with the mixes I make. I LOVE being a part of this and sharing the music I hold dear with others on the lookout for new tunes to spin. When it came time to make my mixtape for this go-round, I decided to give it an adventurous travel theme! I think it turned out really well. These songs and more will also be accompanying my friends and I on the road to Leavenworth next weekend.

 

So if  you’re looking for new tunes to blast through your car speakers, or you’re just bored and in desperate need of a dance break, check out this mixtape playlist and enjoy! 

It’s also available on my Spotify
(except original/demo tracks)

Brighter Than The Sun | Colbie Caillat
Oh, Love | William Beckett
Not Over You (Gavin DeGraw Cover | Will Anderson of Parachute
Shake It Out | Florence + The Machine
48 To Go | The Fray
Laugh It Off | Eisley
I’m Shakin’ | Jack White
Blood Brothers | Ingrid Michaelson
Keep The Change Ya Filthy Animal | All Time Low
We Are The World Tonight | Runner Runner
Super Bass (Nicki Minaj Cover) | Nicolle Galyon
We Owned The Night | Lady Antebellum
Good Life | OneRepublic
Amelia Jean | Jack’s Mannequin
Southern Belle | Guthrie Scarr
Learning | Green River Ordinance
Young Blood | The Naked and Famous
In The Mourning | Paramore
A Face To Call Home | John Mayer
Ships In The Night | Mat Kearney 

Light Up The Sky

Mr. Mayer: You should have been a lawyer, Miss March. 
Jo March: I should have been a great many things, Mr. Mayer.

There have been many instances in my life where people have offered me the opportunity to do wonderful things and to be a part of some hefty endeavors. However, in the grand scheme of things, I have gleaned on the wisdom of Jo March. She KNEW who she was and what she wanted to do and who she wanted to be on the large scale of life. She knew what to pursue, what to lay down, and that no matter where life took her, she wasn’t going to let it keep her from reaching her dreams. Since watching Little Women, I’ve often seen some of Jo March’s traits oozing out of my pores. Just as she was a dreamer, so am I. She was a protector, which is one of my personality traits as well. She found comfort and joy in her writing, just like I do. She was full of ambition, craved discovery, and had a wild prankster side the way I do. She also had a passion for education and teaching just like me! Though, if I was her, I’d have definitely preferred Christian Bale over Gabriel Byrne . . . just sayin’. 😉

Make no mistake, even in the olden days of Little Women, Jo March was a busy woman. I definitely “get that” too. There are times that I wish I would learn to settle down and “smell the roses” but a lot of times, I’d rather chase the stars and just come back to the roses later. I have a 9 to 5 job working in the publications industry doing graphic design, layout, and editing. I’m also part of a community group at my church that meets weekly and I ADORE this group so much! I also do freelance graphic design and photography. I am also part of a team that runs the Street Team for one of my favorite bands, Parachute. I also do a lot of traveling either to Texas to see my family or to other places around the states to see friends. I spend my free time doing design projects both freelance and for my family, as well as dabbling in my hobbies—songwriting, screenwriting, reading, playing my electric guitar, photography, hanging out with friends, Biggest Loser night at the Siers’ house, working out at the gym. And on top of that, I live in a house with 5 other amazing young ladies that I want to spend time with and  want to spend time with me. I’m lucky to have the chance to do what I love and what I’m passionate about. However, there is one other thing that I do and it is the thing I’m MOST passionate about—I volunteer time as the youth pastor for 2Twelve Student Ministries at Westside Church. I realize that there will come a point in my life where some of the other things I do will have to take a backseat to the more important things, but the one thing that I will never put on the back burner is my opportunity to teach and spend time with the students at 2Twelve. They are my heart beat!

As a youth pastor, I develop the curriculum for the students each semester—planning (and teaching) the sermon series, topics, discussion questions, games, events, etc. I go to their soccer games, theater productions, etc. I’m at the church early on Sunday to set things up, since Saturday is generally my Sabbath day, and I’m with them all morning until the last student leaves. I’ve gotten the chance to counsel them through bullying issues, family trauma, self harm/depression issues, and much more. I’ve gone horseback riding with them, done a lock-in, taken road trips and more with them. Every moment that I get to spend pouring love, encouragement, and truth into their lives is like Christmas!

Every year, our church hosts a Staff/Elders Christmas party and usually it’s held at someone’s house and food is brought in. This year, we all gathered at Ristorante Piccolinos for a fancy catered dinner! It was truly a huge treat! Along with some hilarious and creative Christmas games, our pastoral staff took time to share their gratitude for all of the staff, ministry leaders, elders, community group leaders, and community group hosts that help make our church run so smoothly and in a way that focuses on personal connection and care for our attendees & neighbors. When it came time for our associate pastor, Corbett, to thank the ministry leaders, he took extra time to thank me for my work and for building our successful youth ministry from the ground up. He also shared a very special poem that he (with some help of his lovely wife, Amanda S.) wrote for me. It was PERFECT!! I was completely honored by it. Everyone at the party loved it and asked me to get it from him and share it! So, here it is. Enjoy!

Ode to Amanda Martinez

Amanda Martinez, I so enjoy seeing
So much talent, and fun come from one human being

You’re always so happy.  Your demeanor is sunny
We know this from your status updates, which are funny

She’ll watch your kids, clean your house, or come over for praying
Just not on the weekends that Parachute’s playing

When she enters a room, all the bad feelings vanish
But do not say “Hola,” cause she does not speak Spanish

You work with our youth, even though they’re uncouth,
Like Superman from a booth, you bring them the truth

You’ve got grace from on high, so that nothing can stop you
You’re going to be famous, I know this to be true –

But stay with us forever!  I’m just being proactive
Don’t ever leave us!  Unless he’s really attractive

He needs to be perfect, the man who will choose her
As handsome as Bob, from the show Biggest Loser.

All joking aside, I feel I must say
You brought sunshine from Texas, and brightened our day.

We know for a fact, you’ve been sent from above
From the joy that you spread, and you bring so much love

You are part of this family, and for that we are blessed
Amanda Martinez, you’re truly the best!

Words In The Water

If there’s one thing that gives me nightmares, it’s the thought of shopping during the holiday season, and for me, Black Friday shopping at stores is the worst.  I tried it once and I doubt I’ll try it again. There is just something so scary to me about grown adults fighting over movies and toys and games at 2 a.m. the day after Thanksgiving. I’m actually quite surprised that there are no documentaries about Black Friday showing on Animal Planet. It’s times like these that I’m thankful for the internet and the wonders of online shopping.

One of the new design projects I just finished is actually very much connected to online shopping. A few months ago, my friend, Heather Jolly and I were sitting in a coffee shop talking about each of our dreams for the future. One of hers involved starting a small business where she could sell some all-natural homemade soap that she had learned to make. We got a chance to talk about some of the practical steps needed to make that happen and now, she has her Etsy shop all set up and she’s been successfully building her clientele! Through our conversations, she decided to hire me to design the brand collateral for this new business adventure. It was such an honor for me to get to design for her! What’s even better is that she’s also given me the opportunity to try some of her amazing products before they even hit the market—and man, do they make my skin happy! I can’t wait until she releases her lotion line!

In the meantime, I’ll share with you some of the work I created to come up with the branding for Jolly Mountain Soap. We started with some basic color pallets and she asked for a wide range of designs both including and excluding the concept of a mountain. These were the samples I first sent her way to look over:

Muted colors + texture with a fancy logo

 

Her favorite color featuring a water effect to promote the soap aspect

 

Smoky color scheme incorporating a mountain

 

A bolder approach highlighting a mountain logo

 

After looking over the logos and finalizing details and which look would suit her business best, she chose this design:

The new look of Jolly Mountain Soap!

 

Part of her package also included a product label to go with her packaging. Now her soaps are sporting this fun little guy:

Packaging sticker!

 

And of course, a fresh Etsy banner!

 

It felt great to make something that she was incredibly proud of! Of course, the many bonus coffee date meetings we had to go over things wasn’t too shabby either. 😉 I love spending time with her and listening as she shares her big dreams and creative thoughts. I’m so lucky to have such a wonderful friend who shares my love for art and creating new things. I’m really looking forward to seeing her business take off—the open doors and local consumer demand she’s already accumulated amazes me!

And in case you are a super huge fan of online shopping (like me), stop by JOLLY MOUNTAIN SOAP and use the coupon code “BlackFriday2011” to save 10% OFF your entire order! (Offer expires Nov. 28th)

Still not sure if it’s worth it? Just check out these awesome products:

2.4 oz Coffee ground french press coffee soap

 

3.0 oz Aloe Vera Cupcake Soap

 

2 oz Lavender Oatmeal Cold Process Soap

Nonfiction Love Song

Mawwage.
Mawwage is what bwings us togeva today.
Mawwage, that bwessed awwangement
that dweam wivin a dweam.

♥ The Happy Couple ♥

Who doesn’t love a wedding? More importantly, who doesn’t love a unique wedding where the couple and their love for each other, rather than the bells and whistles of the event, shines bright? I see no hands raised!*

Last Thursday, I had the honor of attending the wedding of two of my wonderful friends—David and Kat. David was one of my media students when I lived in Austin. At the time, Kat was attending MC Remix and came down to Austin to co-host a conference with us. As Kat and David began dating, I got the chance to hang out with them a few times on trips home. I loved being around them. It was non-stop fun, jokes, and adventures. We all share a love for some of the best things: The Little Prince, Toy Joy, coffee, cupcakes, The Office, superheroes/comics, and The Big Bang Theory!

When they hired me to design their wedding invitations, I was equal parts excited and nervous. Designing a wedding invitation for a general client is one thing. Designing a wedding invitation for a client that happens to be one of your greatest friends? Now that’s another story! I met with Kat and we talked about what general color scheme and elements she wanted included in her invitations. One of her requests was to somehow incorporate a special picture that was hanging on her wall.

She wanted some of the elements from the picture  in the invites, as well as an Airstream trailer, which they were planning to feature at their wedding. The other thing she requested for the invitations was to have the Austin skyline on there. I wasn’t sure how I was going to piece it all together and have it be equal parts fun, simple, and beautiful. After some time, and lots of coffee, I got the ball rolling and sent out a couple of samples for her to look at. The color scheme I ran with was a mix of muted tones that fit her wedding theme:

After making some minor changes to the designs I had sent, she sent me back an excited e-mail of approval! And that, ladies and gentlemen, is what makes the Design Life all worthwhile—making others happy and proud to use your work! We were all really pleased with it and it’s been great getting such positive feedback from others who received the invites.

The only thing better than designing the invitations for the happy couple was getting to sit in the crowd at their wedding and party the night away with them! It was such a beautiful wedding and every little detail was all about them and the love that they shared:

Their laid-back style, featuring groomsmen in Cons!

Our friend Justin reading the vows from his iPad, featuring great quotes on love and marriage from Yoda and Michael Scott (The Office)

Dinner provided by the P.Terry's food truck—one of their favorite places!

The wedding cupcakes provided by Hey Cupcake! — their special date place

And of course, Airstream trailers dedicated to the bride, groom, and a lounge one, just for cigar smoking

Their guest book—a copy of The Little Prince!

I’m so glad I got to be part of their wedding in such a special way and even more excited that I got to watch them say their “I Do’s” and start their new life as man and wife!

Frosting Face Celebration! (I really need to work on that whole looking into the camera thing)

* Total nod to a comment Sheah made once 😉

Television

Have you ever seen something that was so horrific that you just needed to

1) take a cold shower,
2) hug a kitten,
3) watch a happy movie that restored your faith and hope in goodness?

Well, it happened for me with something I’m very passionate about: Graphic Design.

I recently received an e-mail with a graphic design piece and I was so disheartened by the ineffective and unimaginative waste of design potential. For me, it was the equivalent of watching a horror film and since what I had seen could not be unseen, my little designer heart set out on a search for hope in a “may-as-well-have-been-made-in-MS Paint” situation. I’m pretty sure God was watching over me because just as I embarked on my search, I saw that Jack’s Mannequin had posted another promo video for their upcoming album, PEOPLE AND THINGS, and my hope in quality graphic design was RESTORED!! I know that I talk about bands a lot, and I talk about design a lot, but there is just something wonderful about a band (and their label, creative directors, etc.) when they can get the design RIGHT!

Throughout the past month, Jack’s Mannequin has been releasing TRACK-BY-TRACK videos explaining the writing process and inspiration for the songs on PEOPLE AND THINGS and each video has featured artwork to illustrate the song. What I love about the design series is that it illustrates each song in such a clever, creative, and attention-grabbing way, all the while keeping things simple and attractive. That is what I feel that all design pieces should do: inspire, entice, promote creativity, and make the person who has to use it feel completely proud of the finished product. So to celebrate this beautiful discovery, I am featuring the artwork here. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, PEOPLE AND THINGS:

People and Things by Jack's Mannequin | This is the general album front cover. You'll notice the asterisk throughout the design series. The asterisk is a symbol that has been used in branding for Jack's Mannequin. As Andrew McMahon (the lead singer) has said, it is a representation of the "idea that everything passes through some central location. I love the asterisk in that sense, that it’s like the lines are reaching out everywhere, but they all pass through, you know, one nucleus."

PLATFORM FIRE | ♫ Stories stacked up so tall And you don’t talk me down You’ll talk me through ♫

AMY, I — ♫ Amy I, I never felt this kind of cold before... another long winter trying to fight this freeze ♫

CASTING LINES | ♫ And all the time that’s past held us together, and all the lines we cast will bring us home. ♫

TELEVISION | ♫ What if you could move the needle to a more forgiving song. What if it was never really broken all along. But for tonight, I’m sleeping with my television on. ♫

AMELIA JEAN | ♫ Drove 84 to the grave of Buddy Holly. Arm out the sunroof. hand full of Texas wind. ♫

PEOPLE, RUNNING | ♫ Yeah, we are just like oceans running aground in search of water. ♫

HEY HEY HEY (We're All Gonna Die) | ♫ And New England turned gray, found the old TLA, through the lens of my Polaroid camera. ♫

MY RACING THOUGHTS | ♫ She's a black cat hanging 'round my doorstep. ♫

RELEASE ME | ♫ My fuse is set, I'm pressing go. Your match is lit but it's burning slow. Release me. Take another piece of me and there won't be another left unless you let go. ♫

RESTLESS DREAM | ♫ I write you from this grounded aeroplane. I wonder how you’ve been and where you are. A letter for the one that got away. A letter for the things that never start. ♫

HOSTAGE | ♫ But I won’t hold you hostage, and I won’t set you free. I always leave the lights on and you return to me. Please don’t lose the keys, I won’t hold you hostage. ♫

I love that the artwork is very conceptual and it easily flows as one piece.
When you set them all up together, they form this beautiful array of vibrant whimsy:

And this, my friends, makes my little graphic designer heart SO happy! 

The artwork for TELEVISION and PLATFORM FIRE are my favorites.
Which ones do you like best?

Painting Flowers

I was recently hired to work on a new logo design for SO GRACEFUL PHOTOGRAPHY! I’ve met the owner, Carmen, before and she is such a joy to be around. She’s got such a sweet personality and can set you at ease with just a smile. I was so excited to hear that she was starting up her own photography business, and even more excited when she hired me to design her logo. A lot of my close friends are photographers by trade, and having seen a lot of their logos, I was ready to take on this fun project.

When I design, I like to give an initial set of 3 logo creations for the client to choose from and decide what they like, what they don’t like, what style to focus on more and any elements that they want to include as we look at the big picture of where their logo will be presented.

In our initial exchange, she wanted a logo that somehow involved a lotus blossom. So in the first round, I made 2 of them with a lotus and one without. I used different color schemes I liked and sent the rough draft logos off for review. This is the original set that I sent to Carmen:

After she sent in her changes and ideas, the finalized logo ended up looking like this!

I was very pleased with the finished project and I’m really
looking forward to seeing Carmen’s business grow!

Photo by So Graceful Photography

I’m Coming Home

Every family has their traditions. That is a known fact. One of my family’s big traditions is an annual Easter weekend family reunion (for my mom’s side of the family). Normally, we all drive over to Galveston and party hard at the beach for the day and then go out to dinner at a seafood restaurant near our hotel. We spend the rest of the evening playing poker and board games and just being rowdy.

Look at my Mamo (Grandma) and cousins gettin' down! They're party animals! Photo by my Aunt Sandra.

The day before Easter (today), we all meet up at a nearby park that the families all reserve. It’s a giant family reunion gathering of our family and our extended family. There is a lot of barbecue, games of horseshoes, and cracking cascarones that happens throughout the day—not to mention the annual family Volleyball Tournament! I hadn’t been in years, but then I went last year, and I promise you there were so many of us, I felt like I was meeting a whole new clan of family! There was NO way I was gonna remember all those names! But we had a blast last year and I had a great time reconnecting with the fam. Due to scheduling conflicts and a bunch of other factors, I wasn’t able to make it down to Texas for the reunion this year.

HOWEVER . . .

I was able to be there in my own little way!

Every year for this reunion, we have t-shirts made to represent our family. The one mandatory part of the design each year is that it MUST have the UT Longhorns logo on the front. Last year, my aunt contacted me and asked if I would come up with a design for the shirts, since she knew I did graphic design for a living.  They wanted the shirts last year to have a baseball theme, since our family is big on baseball. So I came up with a design and they all loved them!

Last Year’s Design:

The kids got white shirts with the green logo

On the back was a "roster" of our family's All-Star Team

This year, they had planned to make homemade T-shirts, but that plan fell through and my aunt contacted me again, asking for another design for this year’s shirts. They wanted it to have the Longhorn logo on the front (naturally) and have an emblem on the back that said TEXAS ARROYOS and they wanted it to look like the Texas Ranger star:

I wanted to incorporate a lot of text in the star without cluttering it. I wanted to keep it simple and make the symbol the focus, so I put the names all jumbled together in lines at the bottom. Here’s what the final design looked like:

Family Reunion T-shirt Design 2011

My aunt shipped my shirt up to me early so I wore it to work on Thursday and got SO many compliments. My aunt also said that everyone loves them! It does my heart good to know that even though I can’t be there physically, I can be there in spirit!

This Year’s Design:

Modeling the front

Modeling the back

Turn The Dirt Over

Happy Friday everyone!

Earlier this morning, my boss announced that we were going to take an office field trip to a local frozen yogurt shop for a little fun break! I seriously LOVE my job!! The people here are great, I get to have fun, and I get to do what I love: DESIGN!!

The only downside is that we work predominantly with black & white ink publications. A little piece of me cries when I convert beautiful color photos to black and white for press. I love working with bold, bright colors, and the only time I really get to use them is when I’m doing freelance work. Luckily, I was recently commissioned to work on some business cards and yard signs for a local real estate company so I was able to bring it back to the bold colors and pizzazz that I love so much!

When Kristi Lyn first approached me about helping her come up with a design for her new business, she gave me a few samples for reference. She was starting up her business unattached to her previous employer and needed all new business cards and signs. I knew that it needed to be more professional and streamlined than the majority of the work I had done before, but I’m also not one for the bland “norm” when it comes to design.

So I took her sample of this:

And made it into this:

Hanging Yard Sign for Reddy Real Estate Team

I also made some business cards for her:

 

Reddy Real Estate Team Business Card Design

 

Designing the logo was a lot of fun for me. I wanted it to look professional, but not like the design was trying too hard. I took a font and then cut out pieces of it to fit a more spiced up look and added a little simplicity with the REAL ESTATE TEAM text to give it a more welcoming feel. I incorporated some red to add splash to the blue tones. One of the other starter design samples I had originally given her to choose from (I usually give 3 to 4 options so I can get a feel for what they are looking for) included a key and she really liked it! I wanted to keep the “R” inside the key for a little flair.

So I took that element from here:

 

Rough design sample #2

 

And added it to create the new logo:

 

Reddy Real Estate Team Logo

 

I consider myself so blessed to have opportunities to express myself creatively through design and to be able to help others bring a fresh new look to speak for their businesses. I have more projects in process and I’ll post them up here when I am able to!  In the meantime, if you are in the Seattle area and looking for a real estate agent, just give Kristi Lyn and her team a call and they will take care of you!