CASE STUDY
BRANDING • IDENTITY • MASCOT
STYLE GUIDE

Overview
This is a branding kit for The Keg Stand Brewing Co., a brewery in Northern California.

I was approached by the owner Jacob to come up with a full logo set, which includes a word mark, monogram, badge design, and mascot.

Timeline
2 weeks

Project Scope
The deliverables would include a flexible logo system, and mascot for signage, apparel, and social media usage. Style guide developed for usage, as well.

Execution
For the overall feel, we wanted to go towards something very timeless and classic that would scale well. Using simple colors, bold lines and a couple of clean typefaces, it helped achieve what we were going for.

Conclusion
The unified system helped create some continuity that was lacking in the previous identity, with a simple palette and clean presentation.

Client: The Keg Stand Brewing Co.
Team: Freelance
Role: Logo system, branding, and style guide development; creative direction and design of collateral

CASE STUDY
UI DESIGN • ICONOGRAPHY
BRANDING • ILLUSTRATION
SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING

Overview
Surfboard is an app for sharing videos with people within a 15-mile radius of your location. Along with sharing, you could “surf” for trending and local content. This was run by a start-up in Texas that I collaborated with online in mid-2020.

I was contacted by email to work remotely as Creative Director and Design Lead. The objective was to create a consistent user interface, along with cohesive marketing materials.

Timeline
5 months

Project Scope
Mascot refinement, UI design of the app (some UX), pitch decks for investors, materials for social media, marketing concepts, and assisting in website functionality.

Execution
The materials were designed almost exclusively on Figma, as it allowed our team to effectively collaborate and exchange feedback quickly. Any illustration work I created would be done in Adobe Illustrator and imported into Figma. Projects were tracked in Asana with communication using Slack.

Most of the brand had been developed before I started, such as the logo, fonts, palette, and mascot. I took those elements and refined them for a more consistent look that reflected our vision. We wanted the app to feel very identifiable and modern, with the marketing materials incorporating a synthwave vibe.

Conclusion
Unfortunately, the Surfboard project came to an end in November of 2020, with complications from COVID. Nevertheless, it was a rewarding experience to be a part of as my first time in app development, and I’m glad to now have a deeper knowledge in UI.

Client: Surfboard
Team: Freelance
Role: UI design of app, creation of digital ads, development of website, rebrand of mascot, custom icon and type illustrations, social media management

CASE STUDY
BRANDING • EVENTS
POP DISPLAYS • WRAP GRAPHICS

Overview
This is a collection of event and POP displays that were created to be in line with the company rebrand.

Timeline
1 year

Project Scope
Due to the new branding, event and display pieces were needed to be updated and in some cases, created from scratch. I was tasked with coming up with event layouts, collateral, vehicle wraps, and POP displays, while working with the marketing and sales teams to get them produced in a timely fashion.

Research
Using the new brand style guide developed by AUS, I made sure to follow clearance zones, color codes, fonts, and more.

Execution
The goal of the rebrand was to modernize IRONMAN 4X4 and elevate the brand to feel more high end. I went about it with clean layouts and consistent balance of the primary PMS 375 C as an accent color. The POP displays were a collaboration with an outside vendor (Humid) to source the right materials to manage the weight of shocks, etc.

Conclusion
The events collateral was well received with the rebrand and our B2B partners purchased several displays for their retail spaces.

Client: IRONMAN 4X4 USA
Team: Katherine Abraham (IM4X4 Marketing Director) + Matt Rappleyea (IM4X4 Sales) + Humid Creative Agency
Role: Creative direction, logistics, prepping for print

CASE STUDY
EVENT BRANDING • IDENTITY
COLLATERAL

Overview
This is a set of event collateral that was created to celebrate BedMart’s 30th anniversary at the company’s annual holiday party. I was tasked with creating the look and feel for the event and building out the pieces.

Timeline
2 months

Project Scope
Design of event word mark and look and feel, invitations, multimedia, event swag, and interior signage. Along with the design piece, I also handled the logistics on getting the materials produced.

The event mark would carry over into evergreen materials outside of the event, such as email signatures and window graphics.

Execution
The event would be upscale and formal, so the look of the materials needed to feel polished. I went with a timeless feel on the badge for the word mark that would have some flexibility. The swooping elements with an accent of gold aimed to make everything feel elegant.

Conclusion
The event came together nicely and had great attendance. It was great to witness that special moment for the BedMart family and feel that I somehow contributed to it.

Client: BedMart
Team: BedMart Marketing Dept.
Role: Logo and branding of event, creation of all collateral, print logistics

CASE STUDY
BRANDING • IDENTITY
STYLE GUIDE

Overview
This is a branding kit for Angie Mesenbrink, a local physical trainer in the Portland, Oregon area who is also a mom that could kick my a**.

I was approached by Angie (politely) to come up with something contemporary and bold that would appeal to a younger male and female demographic. The primary use of the brand would be for marketing on social media to grow her client base.

Timeline
2 weeks

Project Scope
The deliverables would include a flexible logo system, messaging (tagline), patterns, and photo graphics to convey the image she was looking for. The extra collateral was created for prototypes or ideas she could use down the road. Style guide developed for usage, as well.

Execution
For the logo, she wanted something flexible and bold, that could work in many iterations and sizes. While being in incredible shape as a mom is rare, another one of the unique traits of Angie is her tattooed body—adding the ink aspect into the T+M barbell monogram of the logo made a lot of sense, giving more emphasis to her name. The monogram also provides a simpler identifier, working well in instances where the full logo would be too small to read. The font used is Termina, which conveys a modern and heavy look.

The palette selected comes from a very popular combo of chartreuse and bright blue, to contrast the heavy use of blacks and grays. The chartreuse for spots of contrast or visual queues in layout.

For the social graphics, the photography was supplied by another freelancer. I took those and the idea of ripped paper and layering to give that raw style she was seeking. Adding the “Train Like a Mother” concept helped elevate the intensity of the materials.

Conclusion
The edgy and electric vibe of the colors and graphics give Angie a youthful image that should draw interest to both men and women looking to take their workouts up a notch. While being a mom might have some write her off, this branding kit should have them take her more seriously.

Client: Tatted Mama Training
Team: Freelance
Role: Logo system, branding, and style guide development; creative direction and design of collateral

CASE STUDY
ANIMATION • EDITING
SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING
FUNNEL STRATEGY • CREATIVE DIRECTION

Overview
This is a collection of social media content (primarily for Meta) that ranges from promotions targeted for conversion (bottom of funnel) to organic for a broader audience (top of funnel).

Over this period of time, our marketing shifted from strictly paid/mid-bottom of funnel for conversion to integrating more top of funnel content for exposure and engagement.

Timeline
9 months

Project Scope
I was tasked with creating the concepts for each, then storyboarding, animating, and scheduling them. Afterwards, I tracked analytics on how well each performed to inform future action for creative. This included reach, impressions, retention rate (first 6 secs of each reel), and other KPIs.

Execution
The more polished assets were intended for sales conversion, and were edited with higher end software. The more raw assets were created primarily with a phone and were intended to be for entertainment and heavy engagement with a broader audience.

Conclusion
The bottom funnel CTA pieces yielded an average of 1-2% conversion rate, while the top of funnel reels gained increasingly higher to eventually record engagement levels — 3 videos exceeding 90k views!

Client: IRONMAN 4X4 USA
Team: Chris Miller (IM4X4 VP of Content)
Role: Development of creative, scheduling, and analytics.

CASE STUDY
REBRAND • IDENTITY • COLLATERAL
STYLE GUIDE

Overview
The Mind’s Eye Interiors has been a successful furniture business in Hawaii for over 50 years. They offer island-styled furniture and decor that’s hand-selected by a team of designers. In 2021, BedMart acquired the company to be a sub-brand for their furniture products while building more locations across Hawaii. BedMart wanted to rebrand the Mind’s Eye to fit more in line with their business.

Timeline
1 month

Project Scope
I was tasked with creating the identity for this rebrand with a new logo mark, color palette, and more. The logo would be the starting point for many pieces of collateral—which include hang tags, tape measurers, and shopping bags—that I would create down the road.

Research
Using inspiration from the decor of the Mind’s Eye designers and the colorful Hawaiian landscape, I had a lot of bright imagery to pull from. The client was looking for an “electric” palette that would complement the bright colors inside the store, while being easily identifiable within the busy patterns on the furniture. The font (Gotham) was pulled from BedMart’s branding, as this was intended to be an extension of that company. Since the Mind’s Eye has such a reputation in Maui, I tried to give a nod to the previous version with the eye symbol.

Execution
The final logo features lowercase type intended to create a more approachable experience, in contrast to the all-caps logo of old. The symbol conveys the mind’s eye concept with an “eye within an eye” graphic and sunrays (or eyelashes) coming from the center. Along with the logo, the palette complements the bright colors found inside and outside the store.

Conclusion
I’m proud to have been a part of this process and see this be applied to multiple Mind’s Eye locations—modernizing a historic brand tremendously.

Note: mindseyeinterior.com does not include the “s” like the logo, due to that domain previously being claimed.

Staged furniture photos created by MEI designers

Client: BedMart & Mind’s Eye Interiors
Team: BedMart Marketing Dept.
Role: Logo system, branding, and style guide development; creative direction and design of collateral

CASE STUDY
VECTOR ILLUSTRATION • TYPOGRAPHY

Overview
This is a love letter to one of my favorite toys growing up: LEGO sets!

I usually participate in the 36 Days of Type challenge every year, and this year, I decided to focus on different LEGO themes by pulling elements from different sets and figures that I grew up with.

Timeline
1 month; making 1 character a day

Project Scope
1 fully illustrated alphabet, or typeface

Execution
I wanted this to visually call back to the isometric angles and assembly process in the instruction manuals.

It was definitely difficult trying to track down reference images for each of these, but I really enjoyed the nostalgia trip in the process. For the numbers, I decided to focus on video games and pull those elements into the designs.

Conclusion
This was a really rewarding experience — getting to relive the days of playing with LEGOs as a kid. I feel like this came together as a very cohesive set.

CASE STUDY
BRANDING
SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING

Overview
This is a profile that I assisted in building and maintaining from January 2021 to June 2022, in an effort to create a cohesive presence for BedMart on Instagram. There was a strong desire to rejuvenate it, as the previous posts were lacking branding or identity.

Timeline
1.5 years (2-3 weeks to create the style, then maintain and apply it to each post going forward).

Project Scope
I was tasked with creating the overall look and feel of the posts and maintaining some consistency. I also helped animate reels as needed, build stories, and write content. The posts included “swipes” or carousels, as well as promotions for blog posts and sales.

I also suggested creating a “bug” for the avatar, as the BedMart logo is very horizontal, making it unreadable in the Instagram format. I thought adding some “Zs” could give a more playful feel, appropriate to the space. This could also create a brand “stamp” on the corner of the posts.

Execution
Working with the Marketing Manager, we planned out content for about a month in advance. The posts were mostly geared toward educating followers on sleep tips and the benefits of specific mattresses—wanting the tone to be very fun and inviting.

I worked out the feed in a grid as I built the posts, an effort to control how posts looked next to each other. The Marketing Manager recorded reels with her assistant and handled the scheduling and posting. Posting was on average 3 times a week during peak times, provided by our IG insights.

Conclusion
The engagement seemed to pick up, with our followers increasing from about 430 to 530 and likes averaging around 20 per post. It was great to build a cohesive system for a year, until the project was handed off to another party and I assumed other duties.

Client: BedMart
Team: Ivanna Tucker (BedMart Marketing Manager)
Role: Development of avatar, branding of Instagram feed, animation for posts, help with content writing and planning

CASE STUDY
EVENT BRANDING • WORDMARK
COLLATERAL

Overview
The OSU President's Dinneris an annual event hosted by the OSU Foundation. This event recognizes new million dollar donors to Oregon State University. The new members join the "Milton Harris Society", named after the university's first million dollar donor. The event also highlights the other giving levels to OSU in the "1868 Society" booklet, named after the year the university was founded.

Timeline
3 months

Project Scope
Design of event word mark and look and feel, save the dates, invitations, programs, interior and exterior signage, web graphics, and certificates. Along with the design piece, I also handled the logistics on getting the materials produced.

Execution
The OSU President's Dinner is the most prestigious event at the OSU Foundation. Being a high-class event, each year's theme must have an upscale look, reflected in the use of the script font, Shelly Allegro. This was my third experience working on this event, making it a challenge to keep things refreshing.

There was a desire to use faculty paintings as a focal point of the pieces; one by deceased professor Nelson Sandgren, and the other by his son, Erik. I aimed for creating depth in the materials by using transparency with the paintings. The herringbone texture came as part of the branding by OSU's marketing team, which I tweaked to my liking as a secondary design element.

Conclusion
The event came together nicely and had full attendance. It was great to witness that special moment for each of these donors and feel that I somehow contributed to it.

Client: OSU Foundation
Team: OSU Foundation Creative Services
Role: In-house Graphic Designer

CASE STUDY
PAGE LAYOUT • PHOTO EDITING

Overview
This is a 32-page booklet outlining pricing for Nikon’s sport optics product line in 2020. This includes binoculars, golf rangefinders, fieldscopes, and other specialty items. Nikon primarily used these at their booth for the 2020 SHOT Show in Las Vegas, the nation’s largest annual outdoor showcase.

Timeline
1 month

Project Scope
Page layout, editing and selecting lifestyle images, color correcting product photos, creating charts to input data, and pre-press.

Execution
The general look of the pricelist was taken from the catalog, which the department director worked on. The goal was to make this a companion piece that continued that cutting-edge style, with a very modern aesthetic.

Using the catalog as a base, this was built with a similar grid structure in Adobe InDesign. The styling and text was derived from the catalog, with modern, sans serif type and squares for bulleted styles. Since the styles had been mostly determined, my creative contribution was figuring out the layout and putting together the front cover composition.

Product photos were mostly outsourced to be clipped, but I would contribute those on my own, if needed. Color correction was also added to the lenses to give a more intriguing display.

Conclusion
This piece communicates the cutting-edge approach Nikon was looking for to go with their products. The layout is consistent, easy to navigate, and assisted in driving sales numbers for Nikon at the 2020 SHOT Show, as well.

Client: Nikon
Team: Chevalier Advertising
Role: Page layout, photo editing

CASE STUDY
BRANDING • IDENTITY • COLLATERAL

Overview
I was approached by a friend to create a logotype and album art for their digital album release. The music style is Christian lo-fi and the art was requested to be synth-wave or retro 80s inspired.

Timeline
2 weeks

Project Scope
I was tasked with creating the logotype for the band, along with album art, graphics to promote the single “Come Thou Fount”, and finally a banner for the artist page.

Research
I started by searching “lo-fi album art” and drawing inspiration from the dreamy purple and magenta scenes that I came across.

Execution
After checking out other lo-fi album art and retro posters, I wanted the scene to feel spiritual, with a glowing theme throughout. Since it’s a digital album, I could achieve a greater range since I’d be working in an on-screen colorspace (RGB).

For the type and graphics, since the music style is more modern, I wanted a typeface that felt new. The sheet music for “Come Thou Fount” was traced from the actual song (it’s a cover) in Illustrator.

Conclusion
The band was pleased and I believe I achieved what we both were looking for, visually.

Client: The Lofi Hymnal
Team: Freelance
Role: Logotype, design and illustration

VECTOR ILLUSTRATION • COLLAGE

Overview
Some posters and stickers — most of which I've made for fun. I’m a huge fan of anything retro or from the nineties and I try to bring that out in my work, whenever I can. I also enjoy projects focused on my home of the Pacific Northwest. A majority of these posters are setup to be multi-layered screen prints.

Client projects have been noted underneath

VECTOR ILLUSTRATION
SCREENPRINTING SETUP

Overview
Here are some graphics for clothing, which include screenprinted tees, stitched hats, and a bandana dedicated to my cat, of course.

These include self-initiated projects to grow as an illustrator and further understand apparel design. I love clothing that is bold, with heavy illustration and bright colors.

BRANDING • IDENTITY

Overview
These are some more branding projects I’m proud to have worked on, with a few of them being concepts, for practice. These include logo marks as well as graphics for sales promotions.

If a project wasn’t used by a client, I’ve noted that underneath.