Geneseo: Freshmen First Knight and Senior Last Knight

May 13, 2016

FIRST KNIGHT

Four years ago, I was still a student at Geneseo, working as a graphic design assistant for the technology department. At the time, the mighty and wonderful Andrea Klein enlisted my help to create a brand and host of design pieces for an awesome new event for incoming freshmen. The event, called "First Knight", is a joyful and welcoming celebration, complete with food, music, games & fireworks, directly after Opening Convocation on the night before the first day of the fall semester. Let me just say, Andrea Klein can throw a DANG good party.

As a student, I was so so excited to have the opportunity to work on this project, and to be able to work with Andrea (literally, one of the coolest people you'd ever hope to meet). This assignment was nothing like I'd done before and I got to experiment with illustration and typography (and, apparently, the warp tool). It was loud and joyful and celebratory and extremely blue, and it remained one of my favorite portfolio pieces for a long time afterwards. Here's at look at the First Knight materials Andrea and I created together:

The motif - what we'd base all the successive materials upon.

Poster design

T-shirt design

Andrea expanded the motif across banners, handouts, and even frisbees, to really round out the look for this awesome event.

LAST KNIGHT

Now, 4 years later, as Andrea was gearing up to re-brand the Senior Champagne Toast, an event for graduating seniors that occurs after graduation rehearsal, we tossed around names for the event. Maybe "Senior Soiree", maybe "Senior Send-Off Shindig". We even pulled out the thesaurus looking for other words for "party", but then we realized, WAIT. This event would occur on the graduating seniors' last night on campus, the night before commencement. LAST KNIGHT. Perfect. AND, to add a little bit of oh-so-delicious full-circle serendipity, this graduating class was the first class that got to enjoy the First Knight celebration 4 years earlier.

Now, the design for Last Knight is a bit more grown-up. Matured exactly 4 years - just like the graduating class and just like my eye and skills as a designer. The design retains elements from the First Knight designs, but with a new matured perspective and presented with a bit more refinement and elegance.

Motif

Flyer & front of invitation

Front and back of senior invitation

T-shirt design

If you thought I'd conclude this blog without presenting a juxtaposition of Freshmen First Knight and Senior Last Knight, well, you were wrong, sorry.

In conclusion, this post is quite timely because tonight IS the Last Knight for the class of 2016.

A big, happy, hearty congratulations to the Senior Class of 2016 - at any and every school, but at Geneseo especially!

Hedonist Artisan Chocolates: Valentine's Day Chocolate Collection

February 2, 2016

It's not often that I get to design graphics that can be eaten. And by "not often", I suppose I mean, well...never. I can consider this a career first, for sure.

Hedonist Artisan Chocolates, located on South Ave in the South Wedge of Rochester, is a lovable chocolate shop and ice cream store. They sell delicious handmade chocolates and ice cream with interesting flavors and combinations. I recently tried some of their milk chocolate toffee almond bark and I have quite literally had dreams about it since. And then another time I tried some apple cider sorbet with salted caramel ice cream - SO good.

Anyway, Hedonist's social media manager and fellow Geneseo grad, Rebecca Fitzgerald, reached out to Keith and I to see if we would be interested in participating in their Valentine's Day campaign. Typically the shop enlists a local artist to design the artwork for the chocolates and then they also feature them as their "Artist of the Month", meaning the artist would get to display and sell their artwork in the shop for the month of February. Keith and I both were very excited at the prospect. Our chosen career paths work very well together - for this project, I designed the graphics, and we'll be displaying Keith's artwork (and some of my own little doodles) in the store for the month of February.

But the trick, you see, was that what I put on the chocolates and what Keith put on the walls had to tell a story. And it had to relate to Valentine's Day. Oh boy. Keith's body of work is landscapes. How the heck are we going to relate landscape photography to Valentine's Day? And chocolate? As I scrolled through Keith's body of work, I realized that every sky he captured was magnificent - filled with stars, cradling a bright big moon, or ablaze with a sun peaking over or under the horizon. From somewhere in the back of my mind I remembered a quote - "You are my sun, my moon, and all my stars." Boom. Got it. Romance. Landscapes. There's our theme.

I have loads of anecdotes about the sun, moon and stars as they relate to Keith and I and our relationship but they're mushy and cutesy and I won't bore you with them, sorry. Okay, just one. The first summer that we were dating, Keith got an opportunity to be the photographer/media director for an overnight summer camp in the Adirondacks. We had just started dating and were bummed that we'd be apart but both truly excited about the opportunity for Keith. We exchanged daily letters that summer - Keith even more faithful than I, sending two letters to arrive on Saturday so that I still had one to read on Sunday. One time he sent me a flash drive on which he had placed a timelapse video of the sun setting so that we could watch the sun set together. Oh my gosh, I love him. Anyway...

So here are the chocolates! Here's the box they come in:

And then here's what it looks like when you open the box:

Hedonist takes beautiful care of all of their products - I was seriously impressed with the way that they packaged this 10-piece collection. It's refreshing to see a company take really thoughtful care of their brand and products. I love it.

The top 5 pieces display the E.E. Cummings quote "You are my sun, my moon, and all my stars." The cool thing, too, is that you can buy them separately so if you wanted to tell someone "You are my moon" or "You are all my stars", you have that option! If you're really into ampersands, you can also just eat an ampersand. The bottom 5 pieces display a repeating pattern of suns, moons, stars and hearts, of course.

Here's what they looked like on my computer screen:

And, ah, ze transformation is complete:

The other piece to our theme: if you didn't know, I like to draw words and letters and doodles and such, so to go along with Keith's BEAUTIFUL prints and the chocolate collection, I designed some cards! Each card features a hand-drawn lyric from a love song about the sun, moon, stars, or light in general. Here they are!

You've got your Coldplay, your Ed Sheeran, your Temptations - you know, the good stuff. Each design is inspired by one of Keith's photos and on each card, the photo that inspired the artwork is printed on the inside cover. Below are side-by-side images of each hand-lettered design and the photo by which it was inspired.

Glamour shots!

In addition to all of this, we installed Keith's first ever exhibition of metal prints on the walls of Hedonist's ice cream shop. If you think the colors in Keith's photos pop - which is a trademark of his style - you will be AMAZED when you see them on metal - twice as vibrant on metal than on your screen, if you can even believe it! I don't have any pictures of the exhibition because I want you to come see it yourself, please.

This Friday, the 5th, Hedonist is hosting a FREE chocolate tasting party between 6pm and 9pm.

Come in and chomp on some delicious raspberry truffles - made with fresh raspberries from Hurd Orchards - featuring my designs, and come stare in awe at Keith's gorgeous photos. And while you're there, if you haven't gotten your Valentine's Day gifts yet - I'm just saying, a box of chocolates, a metal print, and a hand-lettered card is a pretty well-rounded gift... ;) Also, Keith and I will be there if you just want to stop by and chat!

Check out/RSVP to the Facebook event here.
If you're out of town but still want some sweetness, you can order the chocolates here.
And if you want some of Keith's majestic photos on your wall, you can click here.

And, uh, here's one more awkward image for your brain. You're welcome and also, we're sorry.

Wadsworth Library: Rebrand

May 20, 2015

Just wrapped up a super fun project this week - a rebrand for the Wadsworth Library - the adorable community library here in Geneseo. It's so cool when you get to design for an organization that you're pretty familiar with - I used to spend time studying at this library when I lived across the street as a student! Of course, then I was doing math problems (ha! ha!).

Mary Mohan, a delightfully sweet and kind professor of Communication at Geneseo, had referred the library to me after her class worked with them to develop a brand. The class had done a lot of really great leg work for me on this one - they'd come up with a bunch of different logos but none of them were quite exactly a fit. I pulled elements from several of the different logos they had drawn to create this:

The library was looking for something to escort their image to the modern side, while still retaining the historic nature of the building. They have four pillars to their mission statement, which we chose to represent with color:

1. Early literacy: Yellow relates to acquired knowledge, mental challenge, and original thought and inquisitiveness.
2. Stimulate imagination: Orange is both physically and mentally stimulating - it gets people thinking and talking.
3. Comfortable space: Blue reduces stress, creating a sense of calmness, relaxation and order. Green is the sanctuary away from the stresses of modern living, restoring us back to a sense of well-being.
4. Information literacy: Yellow is the scientist, constantly analyzing, looking at both sides before making a decision; methodical and decisive.

We also wanted this mark to be unique to Wadsworth Library - each element of the mark has a specific purpose, outlined below:

And now it's time for some sweet, sweet glamor shots...here's their new business card design...

Letterhead, biz card, and web below...you'll see a tablet and mobile view of the new wadslib.com website, designed and developed by Mark Gillespie. I love what he did with it!

This project also marks the first time that I had an opportunity to develop brand guidelines (which is essentially a set of rules for using the logo, colors and typefaces for a brand - what to do and what not to do - in order to maintain consistency) for an organization. I have drooled over other brand guides many a time, so this was so so nerdily exciting for me to work on. Here are a couple shots of the guide, which explains the elements of the logo, outlines the proper usage of the logo, gives formulas for all colors, details the approved typefaces for use, and shows examples of improper uses of the logo and colors.

Hope you like the new logo! :) As always, thanks for reading!

Taylor Kelly: Album Artwork

March 19, 2015

When I was in fifth grade, I played trumpet in the school band. I was obsessed with it and most of my young life, I wanted to be a music teacher. When I was in fifth grade, there was this girl in fourth grade who also played the trumpet. She was spunky and adorable and hilarious and super talented. That girl was Taylor Kelly and she's grown up to become this crazy talented jazz singer/songwriter. And I've been fortunate enough to get to work with her to create the artwork for both of her albums, the most recent of which dropped a couple of days ago.

Here's the new album:

It's so gratifying to hold something you've designed in your hands. To be able to turn and flip and open an object that has once lived as a 2D spread on your screen is seriously satisfying. Yes, I'm a nerd, DEAL WITH IT.

All photography used in the album artwork was done by Tammy Jean Lamoureux. Check out her website here. I just love the muted tones and minimalism of these photos - they were so so easy to design with.

And here's Taylor's first album - lil bit of a different feel, eh? Bright colors and illustration instead of the desaturated photography from the second album.

And all together now...

In a perfect world, I would design album artwork for awesome music all day every day. I can think of no better way to fuse my love for music and my love for design.

Listen to Change of the Weather by Taylor Kelly here. Listen to In the Meantime by Taylor Kelly here.

Prepare to have your face melted by her soulful scatting. Unreal.

Thanks for reading!

MAMMOTH: A play by Kate Royal

March 5, 2015

Sometimes you get to work with someone who totally trusts your design eye and is down to roll with whatever creative ideas you come up with. It's rare. It's SUPER rare. But Kate Royal is that kind of someone, and that's why I love working with her.

Kate sent me the script for her play Mammoth back in January. One read through it and ideas were already attacking my mind for what the promotional materials should look like. I don't want to spoil any plot points here, but I will say that the play is about the broken family dynamic of three siblings who, in sorting through and selling their childhood home, resurrect some drama from their past. Kate's writing unfolds the drama easily, with juicy reveals around every corner of conversation. A couple pages in to the script and I couldn't stop reading it. I swallowed it whole and then, no exaggeration, started sketching out ideas on the nearest piece of paper I could find.

So first, we developed this title graphic, a logo of sorts:

That's a mammoth tusk. And it's shattered (like the relationships of the characters) into triangular pieces (since there are three siblings). The background is moody and uncertain, while the text and shattered tusk are bright white, creating high contrast. Mmm, minimalism. Delicious.

Once we had the general look of the promo materials established, we moved on to the promo posters, assigning new roles to the elements we had already created. Mammoth tusk turns into crescent moon. Moody, uncertain blue background turns into dark night sky. Specks of light crop up, pretending to be stars. The silhouette of a house, the house where the drama unfolds, reveals itself in the corner. All the stuff you need to know to go see the show is minimally arranged at the bottom. The result is this:

Oh, another glam shot, because, I mean, why not?

Then, much to my delight, Kate asked me to follow up these designs with another poster series as an incentive for their Kickstarter campaign. Typography posters using quotes from the show?!? She couldn't possibly have given me a more drool-worthy assignment. So great.

In order to tie these posters to the official show poster, we inverted the colors - moody blue on stark white - and retained the informative footer. Check. them. out.

So much fun. In a dysfunctional family kind of way. Anyway, the play is THIS WEEKEND. Opening night is tonight! You should go see it. I'm seeing it on Saturday and I'm so excited! Here's a link to purchase tickets. Here's a link to the play's website, where you can read more about the staging process and more about the brilliant actors and the brilliant Kate Royal. And here's a link to the play's Facebook page, where you can leave rave reviews after you see it. ;)

As always, thanks for reading!

Geneseo Dance Ensemble: Show Posters

February 25, 2015

This is a fun post for me because I get to travel back in time a little bit. Through my own designs. Which can be painful. It's like looking back through your middle school yearbook pictures and wondering why on EARTH you wore that ridiculous scrunchy in your hair.

Let me explain. I fell in love with graphic design 5 years ago in my sophomore year at Geneseo. I had just landed an on-campus graphic design assistant position in the print-shop, had declared my graphic production minor (um, which I never finished, come to think of it) and was taking a Computer Art class. How stinkin' cool, especially since all of my other classes were titled more along the lines of "Really Hard Math" and "Even More Harder Math!".

Anyway, in that Computer Art class, one of our assignments was to design a poster for that semester's Geneseo Dance Ensemble production. The design that the ensemble directors liked best would be printed as posters, programs, flyers, postcards. Let me cut to the chase here and tell you that my design did not win. It was bad. REAL bad. REAL REAL BAD. And I would show you if I could but I can't find the file! I probably burned it, it was so bad.

The next semester I had another shot at the assignment in my "Graphic Design" course. There were only 4 people in the class, so we all won! Progress! The next semester, I was asked to design the poster for the production by my fabulous dancing roommate who happened to be in the ensemble. (Heya, J. E. Maslyn!) And then the next few semesters they asked me to design the posters again! So I had somehow nailed down this gig even though my first attempt was the most pathetic thing anyone ever saw.

Here's a progression:

You can see the designs improve over time. I won't go into specifics because that'll just bore you, but at least to my eye, the right side's lookin' a lot more polished than the left.

You'll notice above that the first poster uses an illustration, and then the remainder incorporate photography. Between those first two posters is when Keith Walters started at Geneseo as the campus photographer. He's moderately talented. (You guys, I'm kidding!!! He's so good!) So good, in fact, that this year he took SO MANY cool pictures that the directors of the production couldn't choose one. So they chose FOUR. Which meant I got to design not just a poster, but a poster SERIES. Using my HUSBAND's beautiful pictures. Could I BE any luckier?! Dang, what a sweet gig!

Here they are:

Look at those pics, man! Stunning! The only difference between each poster is the photograph/dancer and the color, but you've probably already figured that out by now. Check out some glamour shots:

This project is always a joy to work on. It's quite the challenge to fit SO much content in such a small space but still have room to dance. It's a nerdy little puzzle that I enjoy putting together every time.

If you're still reading, though, this is most important. The best thing about these posters, by far, is that THOSE ARE REAL LIVE GENESEO DANCERS! Look at them!!! They are so beautiful and so poised and so talented! I've been to see this production many a time and have always been entertained, amazed, inspired. Especially when aforementioned roommate was on stage! :)

Go see the show this weekend. Tickets. Facebook.

8 REASONS TO HIRE A GRAPHIC DESIGNER: BY JOANNA WALTERS

February 11, 2015

A case for why small to mid-size businesses should invest in professional design.

1. make a good FIRST IMPRESSION

The first experience a person has with your business – whether they explore your website, open a menu, or walk by your storefront – is your opportunity to show them that you know what you’re doing. Hire a designer to make your brand look professional & attractive.

2. focus on YOUR BUSINESS

Rather than spending hours wrestling with Word to create a simple flyer (ain’t nobody got time for that), enlist a designer. They’ll take care of it quickly and let you get back to what you do best: running your business.

3. keep it CONSISTENT

From your biz cards to your website to your Facebook page – each of these and everything in between is a piece of your image that can strengthen or weaken your brand. Designers work to strengthen your brand by keeping it consistent across the board.

4. we’re on YOUR TEAM

It’s nice to have people in your corner, isn’t it? Designers are there to help you succeed. To get your brand recognized. To support your ideas and endeavors. To make you look good.

5. save yourself TIME & MONEY

You don’t have time to format that event flyer for seven different sizes. But I do! For example, you could spend 10 hours of your precious time on a DIY poster or you could spend a hundred bucks to pay a designer and spend that time bringing a thousand bucks in to your business. Choose wisely.

6. communicate EFFECTIVELY

Designers don’t just make things look pretty. We take the information you need to convey and visually organize it so that it's easy to read, appealing to your target audience, and quickly and clearly communicates your message.

7. unlock NEW IDEAS

Designers are creative people with a fresh perspective to offer. You may find yourself struggling to come up with a creative way to advertise your newest menu item or your upcoming event. Give yourself a break. Let some outside eyes help you build something that might never have crossed your mind.

8. enhance your WEB PRESENCE

In an age where everyone’s face is buried in a device, it’s so crucial to have a strong web presence. So ask yourself: Do you have a website? Is it appealing? Is it easy to navigate? Does it show up in search results? Is it responsive to any device? If you answered “no” to any of these questions, it’s time to contact a professional.

CHRISTOPHER ROBIN'S PET CARE: LOGO REDESIGN

January 30, 2015

Y'all might know how crazy I am about dogs. I'm obsessed with my dog. She's my tiny little furry best friend. Dogs in general are just the most incredible creatures. So, anytime I can put my skills to use to help any organization that does anything to promote the welfare and happiness of dogs, I will JUMP at the opportunity.

That said, when Christopher Robin's Pet Care (could that name BE any more adorable?) in Avon, NY wanted some help refreshing their logo, I'll give you one guess at what I said.

Um, YUP.

So check it out - this is their current logo:

Not bad, not bad at all! We just wanted to tweak it a bit and make it a little more dog-focused, inviting, friendly, and perhaps even playful. So swap out some fonts, rearrange some elements, remove some shadows and some cats, tweak the colors, add some curvature and we've got this:

What do you think? A little more modern? Look like a friendly place you'd want to leave your pup to frolic while you're at work or on vacation? Can't you just imagine your chocolate lab playing with that happy-looking golden retriever?! Well if you're not convinced by the logo, hop on over to their website or their Facebook page. The dogs there just look so stinkin' happy! If you need a place to leave your pup during the day or for a long weekend or your week-long trip to grandma's, look no further!

And if you're interested in refreshing your logo (or your business cards, or your website, or your...well, anything that's lookin' a little outdated) I want to help you! Contact me here!

Thanks for reading!

:) JW

Hart's Local Grocers: Online Shopping Infographic

January 22, 2015

So I just wrapped up one of my absolute favorite projects to date. I am a total organization nerd so having someone throw a whole bunch of facts, numbers, and figures at me and say "MAKE THIS LOOK NICE!" is pretty much a day, NAY, week-maker.

One of my most favorite businesses that I work with, Hart's Local Grocers, an awesome local grocery store with a beautiful brand and just the nicest people one would ever hope to meet, is launching an online shopping experience through an app called Rosie. If you live in the downtown Rochester area and you haven't been to Hart's yet, what kind of cave is it that you are living in?! You've got to check this place out. Amazing food, amazing atmosphere, amazing experience - they really did a fantastic job creating this little slice of grocery store heaven.

Anyway, the folks at Hart's cooked up an idea to create an infographic outlining the details of their new online shopping/in-store pickup/home delivery experience and tagged me in to bring it to life.

We created two versions of the infographic. Above is the large format (24x36) version that will live in the store. Below is the version created specifically for mobile - a more vertical layout of the information.

Check out Hart's new online shopping experience here!