Invitation: Van Ausdal Family Reunion

Not gonna lie. I have been anxiously waiting for an opportunity to arise to create a vintage poster-inspired invitation, so when my grandparents asked me to design the invitation for our 2011 Van Ausdal family reunion I decided it would be a fun & fitting occasion.

I have had my eye on a lot of poster/designs done in a similar fashion because I think they are a fun way to portray information rather than your run-of-the-mill invitation layouts. I also have this crazy obsession with typography & that's what these types of layouts are centered around. The images, colors, fonts, and blocky layout all seem to work really well together to help create the retro/vintage feel.

Shirt Design: Annie Oaks Outdoors

If you haven't heard about Annie Oaks Outdoors you definitely need to check out their site! (Click here). Annie Oaks Outdoors is an organization that specializes in outdoor retreats, particularly for women (but they do have one or two couple retreats each year) and they do a wide range of activities---anything from ATV retreats, trips into the back country areas of Utah, horse back riding adventures and more--how fun is that?!

This shirt design was created, in particular, for their 3rd annual water rafting trip in Moab next month. I was excited to help Tracy, from Annie Oaks, with this project because it combined two of my favorite things, designing and the outdoors.

This design evolved a lot from the original ideas through Tracy's great input and vision. It's always fun to work with someone who already has something in mind for their design as it presents a challenge of trying to portray their thoughts visually and in the same manner they envision it. By combining pine bows and a little girly-flare through the swirls and font (not to mention the excellent color combination) I think the final outcome is perfect for the event.

Logo: The Gardener's Grill

Logo created for a vegetarian grill. I love the overall "organic" feel of this design seen in color, text & graphics.

Logo: Eat Marketing

To my surprise I received an email from a client, who had seen some of my other logo designs, asking if I would create and enter one into a contest he was holding as he liked what I had done in past contests for other businesses.

Eat Marketing is a business that helps restaurants get customers through their doors by means of both online (social media, websites) & offline (mail, promotions) marketing strategies. This logo design was left pretty open leaving lots of room for creativity to flow.

I choose a plate-turned-graph design to incorporate both the restaurant and marketing focuses of the business. I tried to steer clear of stereotypical graphics and kept it clean and simple. I choose colors that were inviting and masculine yet not overpowering, that work well on both a white or black background.

Logo: Frugal Bride

This client wanted a logo for their website. One that was fun, relaxed, and conveyed "frugal" while still being classy. They mentioned that a lot of their articles are written with a bit of humor in them and they wanted to reflect that in their web logo, as well as their web colors of purple & green. Here are the images I created and submitted:

Logo: The Eatery

Okay, so you'll probably see a lot of these popping up because I am having way too much fun with these logo design contests. I'm really don't have my heart set on the money, but I am sure enjoying the challenge of racking my brain for creativity. Since graduating I have had done a decent amount of design work--but not much in way of logos, so this has been a lot of fun! Stay tuned for more---cause you know they're coming!

* 05/16 UPDATE :The top logo design got 5/5 stars in the contest, so I'm in the running for $240! Keep your fingers crossed!

Contest Logos

I recently stumbled across a website where designers can look at briefings from business owners, who are looking for logos and corporate identity stationary, and submit logo designs for a chance to win money if the client chooses one of theirs. How cool is that? I have been searching for a way to further build my design portfolio and thought this would be an excellent way to do so because you are creating logos for a REAL company, not a mock scenario--which never seemed to work for me because it was hard to put a drive behind something that was not real. (The possibility of winning money doesn't hurt much either, or course :0)

Here are couple of logo designs I submitted for a high-end boutique called Champagne and Shoes. The colors were specified by the client (which I think are classy and elegant) as well as a little background about their business. I was excited to work on this one since it's right up my ally as far as content goes. While I like the simplicity of the first design, I think the second & third ones are my most favorite---probably because of the fun shoe emblem. What can I say? I'm a true girl through and through!