New Web Designs
One of the site designs I’ve worked on in the last few month is for the Friends of Agua Fria National Monument. The website is in development and is planned to be launched in March. Here’s a peek of the design we came up with together.
When we first started the project, they didn’t have a logo or brand and didn’t really have the time or budget to create those things, since they are a non-profit. So we decided that I’d do a few mood boards and they could choose the style of the website from the three mood boards, it worked out quite well doing it that way.
Below are the mood boards I came up with, all using photography from the monument area which is where I pulled a lot of the colors from also. Being a native Arizonan I had an advantage of having an idea for the look and feel of the monuments surroundings. The first board I created is a fresh modern look, using bright, but earthy colors, and patterns and fonts reminiscent of Frank Lloyd Wright’s style, who has many designs around this area.
The second board has a rugged, hand-drawn look, as if someone was walking through the area and sketching plants and animals they might find on the way. In the end this was the chosen design, and I did actually hand draw the plant and animal sketches and scanned them in to use for the layout.
The third board is focusing on the heritage and history of the monuments area. Using an older style font and antiquated and black and white photos, I wanted to convey the importance of preserving the history of this area.
Another website design I’ve been working on was for a mobile design and development company. They had a logo, but was not necessarily attached to a look/feel or even colors. They wanted to replace their current site with something more eye catching. We started out with a couple designs for the homepage and then built the interiors once a homepage look/feel was nailed down.
Sadly for me (but good for them), the company has gone through some changes that I’m not at liberty to talk about, but will not be moving forward with the development to their site.
I’ve been hard at work on two other website designs in the last few months that I’m not going to be publishing until the launch of the sites, but they are going to be big and beautiful. If you’re looking to hire me and you’d like a preview of those sites, email me and I can send you a sneak peek.
Symphony of the SW Promotional Creative
I recently created a brochure, membership cards and magazine ad designs for The Symphony of the Southwest. They all turned out quite nice. Pictured here are the brochure and the membership cards, the ad has not been printed yet, so I’ll add that later.
I wanted to create a better cohesiveness for the SOTSW brand. So for the next year, we will incorporate these colors, design elements and fonts into all of their promotional and business materials to give them a more consistent, professional look (and hopefully make them more money so that they can keep supporting the arts!).
Redesigning Christmas
I was listening to archives of one of my favorite NPR shows this morning, Studio 360. One of the topics (since the show was from Dec. 5, 08) was to redesign Christmas. Kurt Andersen (host) asked the design firm Pentagram to re-brand the holiday. One of the first things Michael Bierut at Pentagram suggested is to get rid of green and red, yes! The official color of Christmas will be white, and shades of white. That’s what I usually try to stick to when doing Christmas-related design, and am happy to have some backup!
Here is the podcast, it’s a fun listen, whether or not you agree.




















