Trying to keep busy while I continue the search for the next stage of my career as a graphic designer. A friend who is an event planner was organizing a party for a young man who was turning 18-years-old AND announcing which collage football program he was committing to. He said local and national sports media would be attending.

We discussed many ideas, including a mailed invitation made to look like a player’s football card with stats on the front and event details on the back. As time and budget details got worked out we settled on an e-mailed invitation graphic and a step-and-repeat background for photo opportunities. It’s been a long time since I was a high school senior so I needed clear discussions on Justin’s preferences and influences for the design.

In the end they were thrilled with the materials, which included graphics for use in Word documents and PowerPoint presentations. And the sports section of the St. Louis American reported he gave his commitment to West Virginia.

I was doodling letter forms during a meeting and hit upon a design I wanted to pursue further. It began with the lower case “g” and “q” shapes having simple circles connected by a diagonal line, almost like a pulley or film on reels. And I thought about how a g and q could be the same identical shape—only flipped—and still recognized as different letters. From there I structured a framework of shapes and proportions and built the other letters to match the style.

After putting the idea away for a while I was compelled to return and assemble uppercase letters as well. Maybe numbers and symbols are next. Making an “s” is so much harder than I expected!

This design required a little bit of everything. The content for this patient guide to COPD treatments was assembled from several different sources and had to be given a cohesive look. Some existing illustrations were updated to have consistency of color and typography, while others like the dry powder and Respimat inhalers I created from scratch. This clean, bright layout avoids visual distraction. It is critical for health information provided to patients be clear and accessible.

Digital publications have their own unique qualities. A guide booklet that is not going to press doesn’t need to have the typical “divisible by 4” page count for proper pagination. Seven page PDF? Sure, why not. But all the core principles of composition and typography remain as important as ever. Digital publications can also feature interactive content like bookmarks, hyperlinks, and embedded video to be more useful and engaging to the reader. This example has a simple URL link on the last page to guide readers to Mercy’s website where they can continue to engage and act immediately on the information they have read.

I started a contract gig in August, 2018 with Mercy. Coming full circle in a way because my first job ever was temp-to-perm at BJC HealthCare. It’s crunch-time at the end of the year and I’m working on a little bit of everything: PowerPoint presentations, maps, infographics, posters, ads, you name it.

Mercy has hospitals and clinics spanning four states but the marketing efforts are centered in St. Louis. To achieve a unified look, or “One Mercy,” they start with a strong brand and identity guidelines. This is a benefit not only to maintain consistency, but has also made it easy for me to understand the brand values and hit the ground running. Continue reading →

A client was building an addition on a stone cottage they purchased to rehab. Drawings of the proposed garage with living space above needed to be submitted to the town’s planning commission before any work could begin. Using the hand-drawn elevations I created a perspective rendering to illustrate the finished structure. It was important to show how the addition would fit both the style of the existing house, but also with the neighborhood. Continue reading →

This is the second patio I have designed and built. I keep getting older, and they keep getting harder. Another designer assessed my concept drawing saying, “Putting square stones at a 45 degree angle from the straight edge wasn’t enough torture? You had to round the outside edge of the square stones! Being an artist, you wouldn’t want anything common and aim for the aesthetically beautiful.” And she’s right. Design is considered and thoughtful. A patio is space shared with the house and the yard and plantings and people. These all communicate with and influence one another, and a good design should listen to what they’re saying.

They say you can’t manage what you don’t measure. USGBC-Missouri Gateway Chapter began a new campaign to improve energy efficiency in buildings—to reduce environmental impacts while simultaneously lowering utility bills—as part of the City of St. Louis Sustainability Plan. I developed this logo to brand news, information, and resources of the campaign using a color palette compatible with other efforts of the Chapter. The idea of “measuring/gauging/metering” data took me to the image of an analog graphic equalizer display on stereo receivers. And these columns readily call to mind buildings, from small to large. A cityscape of green buildings, each reaching for the goal of greater efficiency highlighted by the light green “peak” of performance.

A group of young girls, which includes my niece, started their own soccer team called the Flames Football Club. I was tasked with creating a graphic for their red uniforms. I went after something fun and dynamic that captures a sense of movement and energy. It’s a little bit hot rod and a little sporty. And my niece likes it so that’s all that matters, right?

This infographic highlights three years of progress in the effort to enroll Missourians in a health insurance plan. This is really a look back at the work of the grantee organizations who provided hands-on services. Where do they feel they have made the most impact?