Critical acclaim mailers for theater shows and double gatefold mailers for a CAF programs.
I’m most proud of the A Midsummer Night’s Dream postcard, the concept is actually 8 photos photoshopped, referencing the Freudian nature of dreams.
Posters for theater shows and an annual architecture festival (the photo is replace every year to create a unique “hero image” for each festival). The Shakespeare in the Parks poster is conceptual only.
Original concepts with custom typography for a variety of ad sizes and placements (including online and out-of-home) for theater shows, festivals/events, tours, programs and merchandise. The last ad featured was 2 pages back to back in Time Out Chicago.
My favorite is the collaged woodtype concept that I put together for a re-imagining of The Tempest. The production featured handmade wooden puppets.
Logos end up in the strangest places... like on banners hanging on the grill of a massive truck outside of a brick supply warehouse during an annual city-wide architecture festival. This Open House Chicago logo was second in a series of re-brands of an existing program and the application of the logo across several pieces of collateral was given an honorable mention by the MarComm awards. Along with the OHC logo are other program/festival sub-brands created for the Chicago Architecture Foundation.
Next are logos I designed for a United Way of Metro Chicago partner agency, their quality-of-life plan, and one of the plan’s signature initiatives.
And finally, here are a few freelance logos and stationery suites. The last three stationery suites are school/conceptual work.
These are spreads from school/conceptual projects: a re-design of an existing annual report; a non-fiction book telling the story of someone who went to the moon as an alternate when one of the actual three astronauts could not, which included faked “artifacts” mimicking the typography of the 60s and featured public domain photos from the NASA archive; and a brochure/invite for a Ravinia Festival event. All three were custom bound as well.
I've included a few spread designs from the CAF Member Magazine. It is a loosely-templated 28-page quarterly magazine that is mailed to over 10,000 CAF members, and includes information about CAF offerings as well as original editorial content that can also be found on our website.
Lastly, using concepts developed by an outside firm, I've designed and done final production on 3 CAF Annual Reports, included one that received a Silver Trumpet Award from the Publicity Club of Chicago in 2015. You can take a look here.
This is the invitation suite and program for my brother’s wedding, featuring a custom type lock-up of their names using Aphrodite Pro. I printed and trimmed 100 a piece as a wedding gift.
Also shown are two invitation suites, one accordion-fold and the other a traditional tri-fold, for two CAF galas. These are just two of the five gala brands I have developed for 2 different cultural non-profits, and applied to all materials associate with the events.
Oh... just playing around at home, brewing cider and making labels! The second is a conceptual packaging project, labels and tags meant for traditional honey containers. The name “Dead Horse Holler” comes from an actual location in Kentucky where my mother grew up. A bit morbid but unique, no?
A product shot of custom-designed merchandise for the annual Open House Chicago festival; a hoodie and Swell water bottle from a line of Divvy merchandise sold exclusively at the CAF Store; and a tumbler and notebook featuring icons created for a periodic table of iconic buildings, in collaboration with Thirst and several architecture firms throughout Chicago, to commemorate CAF’s 50th Anniversary.
“He/she looks sooo... [insert adjective here].”
“That’s how his/her face looks, I don’t know what to tell you...”
“Can you make it look less... [insert adjective here]? We’re trying to sell tickets here.”
“Sure.”
—Every conversation you have about editing theater photos to use in ads.
This is an infographic hero image that I designed using pre-existing stock icons that is now updated annually to communicate the scope and success of CAF's annual free architecture festival Open House Chicago. It is included at the front of an annual wrap-up report. I have included additional pages of infographics from that report. Hey, it even ended up on Curbed!
The last infographic was a special gift to a retiring VP, a collaborative project as far as content, jam-packed with inside jokes.
These are three direct mail membership acquisition (two regular adult and one family) that I creative directed (visuals and headline copy), art directed, designed and did final production on. The primary goal is to encourage new audiences to join CAF as members, but through trial and error we have found that the more we offer content that has a long shelf life (i.e. itineraries that can be used for the entire summer, or interesting information about architecture and Chicago, fun maps that engender a sense of wonder), the better the response rate. Basically, this is more than a marketing piece about membership offerings, it is something that creates brand awareness about CAF as a trusted way people can enjoy their city throughout the year. It is one of my favorite and most challenging projects to do at CAF, and comes around twice a year.
