Beauty Mark, a luxury skincare spa located in Camden, Maine, was in need of a brand refresh. Using the inspiration board posted below, we ran in the direction of painterly scripts, in order to differentiate Beauty Mark from the sanserif-saturated spa industry. The elements of this mark- the condensed letter forms, the imperfect line quality, the quick, tapered swashes of the B and the Y- all work together to say "sexy, sophisticated & modern." The ink spot rounds out the logo as the literal beauty mark. In the print materials, we combined the painterly logo with an elegant serif type and pink watercolor motifs, creating a unique and identifiable brand language. As a designer, you cannot ask for anything better than a creative client who fully trusts your design expertise, and that was my experience with Beauty Mark, making it one of my favorite projects to date. See this logo and more of my favorites here.

A large portion of my design process is spent seeking out sources of inspiration. I keep a library of inspiration always, but when tasked with creating a new logo or a brand refresh for a client- I hit the ground running finding what's out there in the client's industry, and what their competition is up to. From the research stage, I develop a few design directions that will allow the brand to stand out from the noise- not succumb to it- and that's where the inspiration hunt begins. For Beauty Mark, a luxury skincare spa located in Camden, Maine, we wanted to break away from the clean, minimal sans-serif look that is often associated with the beauty industry and create a logo mark that was sexier, had personality, and that would ultimately be unique. We set our hearts on painted scripts and used the inspiration board above to guide the design. You can see the final logo here or check out the next post.

Build, the catalog of middle market management insights, that I've been apart of from its founding in 2011, is now a pillar of Inc. magazine. The Build section debuted in this November issue of Inc. (pick it up on newsstands now!). Still packed with the same relevant and applicable advice, the section will now have a larger reach and broader impact under the Inc. title. A special thanks to the talented Ben Wiseman, Todd Detwiler and Jorg Meyer for their artistic contributions this issue!

The Portland, Maine based firm, Whitten Architects, has been specializing in site specific and sustainable architecture for over 20 years. Their portfolio is incredible and they needed a site that could communicate just that. I loved working with these talented guys, alongside Steve Pogson at FirstPier.com, to maximize visual space for their fantastic imagery. Beyond the grand showcase of images, we also addressed navigation issues (do you love the disappearing nav?), we created a clear process breakdown in their approach section, and developed their blog to allow for flexibility of posts to highlight how dynamic these guys are (I love their travel sketches). Spend some time pining away at their projects- whittenarchitects.com

My 10 year high school reunion was just a few weeks ago and although I missed it, I DID design the invitation for it. Locating my old yearbook for this took some time, but probably not as much time as flipping through it. My conclusion: I think they should ban personal senior write ups!

I had the pleasure of working with Bridget Hunt, blogger extraordinaire, on a logo for her photography venture. We have a shared love for minimal and modern design, so she had me at "Just do what you do. I know I'll love it." My favorite part of this logo is the triangulated shutter icon- it has infinite possibilities from patterns to tags to jewelry (getting crazy now). See Bridget's logo here.

Our Summer issue of Build is out now! You too can enjoy the yumminess of this print pub at any New England area (NY too) Barnes and Nobles store. In addtion to the normal editorial flow- I worked up this custom content piece for Principal Financial's 10 Best awards program- from conception to final! It's been awhile since I've designed pen to paper (plus scanner!)- but the result made it worth the ink stained hands.

We're so happy to finally be able to show this branding project that we're over the moon about! We just wrapped up Barbarosa Trucking Inc.'s  logo, web calling card, business cards, notepads, truck lettering...and because Jay at Barbarosa had such a unique vision- it made this job incredibly creative. I've never had a client send me a movie as a jumping off point for their branding. It was awesome. If you have never seen Barbarosa (1982, Willie Nelson, Gary Busey...yes you heard me right)- I don't know if I'd go so far as to recommend it- but it was an educational experience and enjoyable to say the least. Anyhow, we hope you enjoy Barbarosa's visual identity as much as we do.

Back in the fall we submitted a poster design to this call for entries put out by Women's Health magazine:

"There’s been a dramatic 800 percent rise in cases of melanoma (the deadliest type of skin cancer) among young women. Why? TANNING BEDS, say experts. They also say that education efforts to get people to stop using them haven’t been effective. Women’s Health wants to help.This winter, our magazine will publish a report that will challenge young women to rethink their behavior, and we’re inviting creative minds to join us by coming up with high-impact PSA-style posters that will accompany the article. The Mayo Clinic—whose new study found the skyrocketing rates—and the Skin Cancer Foundation both support our effort."

And our poster was chosen and published in the Jan/Feb issue of Women's Health! Special thanks to the Luciano- for letting us showcase his powerful art installation.

It's been awhile since we've shared studio news! Not only have we been busy working out the details of a full time Art Director position with Build- but we've been wrapping up logos for Maine Bunk Beds and Barbarosa Trucking, branding for BluePoint Financial and Beauty Mark Spa, and developing a book project with Parragon. We'll get all of these projects live and showcased on the site as the officially wrap- so you can see the yummy visuals we've been creating! And if you still haven't checked out Build- it's time. I just designed our new business cards and they truly give a flavor of what Build is all about (great ideas).

...And not only was it a beautiful, simple, wonderful wedding, but she was the perfect client. She let me run with an idea I had featuring a starry Boston skyline. She was only adamant about her colors- purple, orange, and pink- which played out nice and graphically- and tied the whole wedding together. Check out her suite here.

Last week, I stumbled across a contest for a new Maine license plate design through the Center for Maine Craft. I've always wondered who was bestowed the honor of designing such a visible tribute to the state. I have loved that Maine has approached the plate as an environment- where some states stick to an iconic color and outline of their borders or to just an icon, Maine tries to incorporate the horizon line- like our chickadee plate now and the various vanity plates that have been produced from the Lobster plate, to the Loon plate, to the Moose/fish plate. I had a day to come up with something and I felt like, when an especially inspiring opportunity presents itself, you have to do it. So I did. Taking a Charley Harper approach, I stuck to the iconic Maine subject matter, and submitted these three designs. Eventually there will be a vote for the winning design on the Maine Craft facebook page or through their website. So, when it's available, vote for ME!

Last week, as we shipped issue #4 off to the printer, the edit team of Build also came together for an "offsite" (we all work virtually, so "offsite" is really an "onsite" for us) in the offices of Inc./Fast Company, to talk big picture. The way Build has been described, by those of you asking what I'm up to these days, has been vague. "It's not realllyyy a magazine.." is what I've often caught myself saying- and it's true, the magazine/manual/catalog that we produce is just one aspect of the bigger picture. Build, to put it in the words of our web editor, is "service journalism, co-branded partnerships and web-based diagnostic tools all with actionable follow through" serving the middle market and those trying to reach that audience. We're a consulting firm and an editorial staff (and oh, so much more). I've been a part of this endeavor for a little over a year now, and it's amazing how far we've come. To see a few pages from the last year, check out my Build portfolio. And here's a few highlights from the trip:

1.) (Top left) Visiting Pentagram to seek Paula Scher's critque on the printed pub. She did say "beautiful" more than once.

2.) (Top right) Patrick and I trekking across town.

3.) (Middle) The Build team! We had Jorg Meyer come out to the offices to photograph of our staff.

4.) (Bottom) The 9/11 Memorial, right at the foot of the Inc./Fast Co. offices. An amazingly reverent site.

So proud to show Three House's new logo. We think it's a real keeper. Website comin' soon!

Now you can finally check out all the cool stuff we've doing with Build...online! We have a kick-ash website that just launched yesterday. Check it out here!!