Content Design & Infographics
This fall I got to redesign the logo for my client Productions Loft. Loft makes films, and they wanted a sleek, minimal, and bold logo that would stand out in a credit roll.
We made an abbreviated version with the letters stacked, creating a modern metro feel. The goal with the short version was to make the logo like a blank canvas; it can be filled with different imagery or textures that reflect the season or Loft’s latest project.
The weather is starting to turn so it’s time to get the Devon fall program guide, which I got to design in time for fall. The cover is meant to remind readers of going for a family walk on a crisp fall day. The imagery focuses on being active, social, and engaging in more “old-fashioned” play — outdoors and no screens!
Each seasonal guide includes an activities list, where I combine type and napkin doodles into a collage-style infographic.
One of my recent projects was to develop an ad campaign for Sugar Swing Ballroom. Fall is when a lot of people revamp their routines, so here we looked to promote the fall run of dance classes. Since we did a rebrand in January, we needed new materials to match the new logo and look.
My goal was to make something fun and lively but still supportive of the company’s more classic ballroom feel. We opted for vintage photos paired with a modern font, and emphasized the fiery red from the logo.
In the marketing mix were posters, postcards, and social media graphics, plus gift cards and foldable business cards to have throughout the year. The whole shebang kept me busy for a while!
My latest logo project was a really fun and collaborative one! I worked with The Shoelace Lab, a company that sells high-end shoelaces (ribbons, velvet, leather, glow in the dark…). The owner, Ira, has a science background and wanted a retro-science logo to capture the idea of fashion experimentation and discovery.
One of the designs that inspired him was this piece by illustrator Peter Behrens. So I wanted to incorporate a stippling effect into the logo somehow.
Ira told me his field was molecular biology — so that inspired me to make an atom-inspired design. The resulting logo is a play on the atomic symbol, made out of laces with the knot acting as the nucleus. We opted for a halftone starburst pattern to complement the atom shape and retro theme.
Go have a look at what the lab is cooking up!
Last week the crew and I celebrated How to be French en Alberta, a docu-series made by Productions Loft about Alberta’s Francophone community. The show has been launched, and you can catch six gorgeous episodes that focus on different aspects of French-Canadian culture. My part was to create a logo and other supporting graphics.
A while back I wrote a post about the logo. Since then we’ve worked on the box art and thumbnails for on-demand distribution. For these elements we used vibrant colours to reflect this rich community.
The wrap party was at Chartier, an independently-owned French restaurant in Beaumont, AB:
Group photo courtesy of Productions Loft! Go check out the How to be French episodes at howtobefrench.ca.
Every year I make a design for the event Lindy Harvest, a weekend-long dance workshop with a rustic theme. We focus on the grassroots nature of the swing dance community in Alberta, and try to include rural and natural elements throughout. For the last three years I’ve gravitated toward illustration to promote this event: here’s last year and the year before.
Moving away from the hand-drawn look, I made a digital illustration this year. This design is meant to resemble an old-fashioned farmer’s almanac, but with modern/minimalist twist. The hands are a nod to the unique and relaxed hand hold in the Lindy Hop dance; the moon speaks to the Harvest Moon Ball, a famous dance contest once held in Harlem and that Sugar Swing recreates at each Lindy Harvest.
The design started out as a sketch, which I then scanned and traced. I wanted just a bit of asymmetry here and there.
Watch for the old almanac design to appear on a t-shirt! If you’re a fan of dance or live jazz music, you can learn more about Lindy Harvest over here.
This is my second go at designing an enamel pin. It was made for Sugar Swing Ballroom as swag for the Summer Solstice Swing Dance Festival. We wanted to take a break from t-shirts this year, and a pin seemed like a cool thing to try! It’s easy for dancers to wear, and nice enough to pin to dressy vintage outfits.
This guy measures about 1.25″ and has a rosy/copper finish. The festival occurs on the calendar solstice and features late-night parties; here the colours and design are meant to reflect those long twilight hours. It has definitely been an interesting technical challenge to learn how to design for a pin!
Excited that my friends at Productions Loft and I completed this annual report for Coalition des femmes de l‘Alberta! Coalition wanted a concise and appealing document that would speak to ambitious women.
I made a kaleidoscope background to represent the beauty and strength of diverse women coming together. My goal was to create a modern look and vibrant energy, as the client was looking to draw more young professionals. Coalition also wanted to visuals to convey some important stats, so we used infographics throughout.
Many thanks to ProdLoft for collaborating with me on this cool project!
When business cards get exciting! I designed these for Curitus International, and it was a very special, challenging, and rewarding project.
This was a collaboration with Curitus’ Director Peter, who had a vision for business cards as art. He was looking to show (not tell!) the company’s vitality and ability to be creative. We started with a couple of sketches to make sure we were on the right track. I made a riot of foliage and wove symbolic images throughout to represent guidance, education, creativity, and innovation. We sought to make an intricate piece layered with meaning — but still able to work at a very small size.
A big design challenge! I’m really happy with how it turned out, and appreciate working with a client who pushes the envelope (and me along with it).
2017 started with a great big milestone: a rebrand for the family business!
My husband’s dance company Sugar Swing is coming on its 12th year in business. We recently acquired a beautiful new venue, which we are furiously renovating and building. It’ll be a dancer’s paradise and a completely unique building in Edmonton — check out our Indiegogo campaign if you’re curious about it!
With a brand new venue on the way, we thought it be appropriate to update the company’s image as well. So much is changing anyway — embrace the chaos, right? We had been thinking about changing the Sugar Swing look for quite a while, since we had the same logo and overall feel for around 10 years. I particularly wanted to update the logo; there are elements I like about the old logo, but as I became more experienced as a designer, certain aspects totally irked me. Now here’s a look at new logo:
After discussing with Birkley, we decided that the new look should more accurately reflect our regard for the swing era, vernacular jazz, and live entertainment. Our main inspiration was Harlem’s Savoy ballroom — somewhat upscale, but at the same time lively and welcoming. The new look is a nod to the roots of swing. (We also did a slight name change to reflect the wide variety of art forms that happen in the space.)
The “S” is an art deco letterform with a pattern resembling floor boards. The floor boards are meant to emphasize Sugar Swing as a ballroom — and the dance, music, and theatre activities that a ballroom implies. A candy-coloured red injects some excitement and helps balance the otherwise minimal presentation. Vintage-style fonts maintain the swing-era look.
As a brand isn’t just a logo, I made a basic style guide to help capture our overall visual style. There’s a lot of work ahead to update all of our materials (no new website yet), but we’re so excited to be evolving!
