Hello, Fellow

Tomorrow night I'm being honored by the local chapter of the AIGA. I've been working for weeks on my presentation, created in Keynote - an incredible program by my standards. I'll try to post some samplings later. I've shared it with a few colleagues who were stunned to learn I used Keynote and not Flash - I guess that reinforces what I've been saying all along: "you can teach an old dog new tricks." Many revelations have come from producing this presentation - it's sort of a retrospect of my career and the path I took (or didn't in some cases) to get where I am today - resulting in why I've been given such an honor. The presentation lasts about 25 minutes and at the end there's a sequence of the many logos I created over the last 20 years. If you've worked in Keynote to achieve such a sequence you have to layer every logo on top of the other and plug in the seconds for fade in, fade out, etc. This beautiful collage came from that sequence. We'll be using in some new promotions soon...

Comp Time 2

We recently produced a 110-page (french-fold 55 leaf) book comp in one day! Created for an incredible man, chancellor emeritus William H. Danforth of Washington University in St. Louis, it features letters he wrote to the University community every Thanksgiving from 1974-1995. I quickly documented how we assembled the book throughout the day/night. It's the largest comp we ever created in the shortest amount of time and it's a great object we love to hold (but not too much - after a few months and many hands, it's slowly falling apart!)

Nest is Best

It's been a while since my last post - feverishly working on many exciting projects and one in particular which could have a significant impact on childhood obesity. This diagram, a work-in-progress, shows the connections being made through a collaborative project I led with visual communications seniors at Washington University in Spring '07. The Design School along with the Brown School of Social Work partnered on a creative and social marketing campaign for the Healthy Youth Partnership, a member of the United Way of Greater St. Louis. For an entire semester we researched, interviewed, studied, investigated, brainstormed and presented our findings and strategies regarding childhood obesity, its effects on youth and innovative creative strategies for getting kids to make healthier choices. We connected with a lot of interesting people and hope to form alliances that might never exist if not for this project. My colleague and Brown School practicum student, Stephanie Kilstein, initiated the idea and I'm visually exploring ways it might be realized. I sort of like the egg and nest-like appearance so far. This diagram will be part of a larger case study documenting the collaboration with the goal of securing additional partners to help realize the proposed program. More on this project in future posts.

Guess Who?

I just completed the design of a poster which invites high school students to attend a portfolio review day at a local university. My colleague, DB Dowd, illustrated a set of characters each with their own unique creative trait. I cropped in on them, individually, to pique the interest of the reader as the piece unfolds. This image, in particular, is mysterious in many ways. The poster will print using fluorescent inks.

This Is

"This is Simpson Park (?). And this is the slide and hiking trail. This is the boat and this is where the fishies swim. This is you and the doggy. This is the jungle gym. This is for you, dad." This is beautiful Grace, thank you.

Double Trouble

It's fascinating to watch your child (any child) grow and develop. But with twins, it's a bit more fascinating (that's a nice way of saying incredibly challenging, mystifying and rewarding). Clark and Grace are quite the pair. Extremely connected, yet couldn't be further apart. They were recently separated-Grace now has her own room and Clark shares a bunk with big brother-yet crave to have sleep-overs every weekend. It's a sweet vision until one scratches the others face in a demonic-like rage. The journey continues...

Beak to Beak

Concept sketch for a locally-owned bakery and cafe. The overall brand story revolves around two birds who can't stop talking. We gave the client some starter conversations to build upon, which was fun: "Heads up, the kid at table six dropped his cupcake."; "You've got a poppy seed stuck in your beak."; "Quiche me, I'm yours."; "Forget the worms, baby."; "Early, late, always good." The new brand debuts this fall...more to come.