Their logo was already looking dated, and since the studio was moving into cutting-edge digital rendering as well as photography, a very new look was called for.

We began by paring the name down to its initials. Then by thinking sleek, modern and cleeeean (and working through many many pages of sketches and comps), I shaped their look into this:

I love it. Strong and simple, light and open, it’s a timeless look that should age beautifully, and suggests “creative studio” without resorting to pixels or camera lens.

A suite of complementary colors, typefaces, and a style guide were developed to help the studio understand and work with their new look. For a certain sort of mind, these detailed reference works are actually pretty fun to do!

The warm secondary golds work perfectly as complementary colors, just dark enough to hold up in typography, but light enough to serve as solid backgrounds as well. And they even evoke sunny Santa Cruz.

The website had recently undergone a nice redesign, so working in the new logo, color scheme, and typefaces went very smoothly too.

There’s more, of course — email newsletter, presentation template, QuickBooks invoicing template, and so on … but this will do for now .

Another logo design, another satisfied client.

The post TB&O: logo/rebrand appeared first on Calyx Design.

When my friend Dana recently launched her new relationship coaching practice, I was flattered to be asked to help craft her new brand.

It needed to reflect her warm, gregarious personality, to be fun — but also modern, upscale and professional.

As I worked through various ideas and logo iterations, I realized that one color just wouldn’t be enough for Dana — but a system of three would really spice things up! Green is leading color, and the other two get used for special occasions, with a splash of pink linking all three,

We were able to integrate a piece from another project we’d worked on (that would be Candace), update her look, and hand her a smart phone.

It all came together beautifully — logo, colors, typefaces, Candace, complementary patterns to round out the system — and Dana couldn’t be happier. And we’re both looking forward to extending the brand as her business grows.

The post The Modern Relationship Expert: logo/branding appeared first on Calyx Design.

As I updated the address and Ann Weiser Cornell’s photo, I thought, “hmm, this is actually a nice little package!”

And since I do love packaging work, I thought I’d share:

The post Focusing Resources: CD package design appeared first on Calyx Design.

Simone is a certified hypnotist and a life coach — as she so nicely puts it, “an artist and technician of changing people’s minds so they can run their own lives better”.

She’d seen my Astounding Offer, and hoped for a sophisticated header graphic for her new website. Something bright but restrained, something…

“Wise, but fresh & young.”

Yes. Exactly. But it also needed a little touch of magic.

Simone’s reaction?

“I so wish you could have heard me emit a literal 15-second SQUEAL.”

And that’s what is known as “SUCCESS”.

The post Simone Seol: website header graphic appeared first on Calyx Design.

Yes. Magic.

This seemed like the very thing to do — especially for someone seeking to “make the world more loving, compassionate, sparkly and alive.”

I love it so very much. And thankfully, its new caretaker Rhiannon does too.

The post Mirrorhaven: web header illustration appeared first on Calyx Design.

Riding them, of course, but wrenching on ’em, too.

So when Matt Remington Wilson started talking about his vision for a DIY motorcycle repair shop — a cooperative, DIY repair shop (how Portland is that?) — I knew I’d have to climb on board.

Matt learned his craft in the military, so a brand that alluded to this fact (as well as to a simpler time, mechanically speaking), was called for. We decided that World War II bomber nose art would be our touchstone.

And thus was born the Ratchets Away “Flying Wrench Girl”:

I love this project for many reasons, but fooling around with hand-lettering (in homage to the DIY art of WW2 bomber crews) and a ’40s-era vibe are near the top of the list.

And the whole thing turned out beautifully.

Note: there’s a Kickstarter project currently underway to raise money to outfit the space. Feel free to throw some cash in the kitty.

The post Ratchets Away!: Brand, logo, and website appeared first on Calyx Design.

Here’s the basic concept as I imagined it: the client would send a few parameters via the online form, and I’d give birth to a one-take, drop-dead gorgeous design.

It was kind of a nutty experiment on my part, but the results have been Quite Satisfactory … and so I’m extending the offer.

The post “Astounding Offer” Web Graphics: A Few Choice Results appeared first on Calyx Design.

I want to get a poster-display-thing designed which shows the complex process I use for creating my awesome blank books.

This will make retail shop owners go HOLY BALLS THESE BOOKS ARE AWESOME (AND CHEAP FOR HOW HARD THEY ARE TO MAKE!) and be something I can use as a display, so customers can also be super impressed.

YEAH!

I was in. Obviously.

The books are awesome. And the process is complex. And though book making is the kind of old-world process which might suggest a crafty or precious approach, Ealasaid (and by extension her work) rolls with a rock-and-roll aesthetic — so that’s the direction we took for the design and illustration: Rough. Unpolished. Strong.

The illustrations were technical and challenging, and I learned a TON about how this kind of book is crafted in the process of creating them.

Which is to say I had a blast.

The poster and illustrations turned out beautifully, and will soon be seen in a bookstore near you.

The post The Book Roadie: Book Making Poster appeared first on Calyx Design.

That’s where Robert Peplin and Chicago Urban Energy come in — to measure the windspeed and help pick the turbine that’s right for you.

One of their clients suggested that hanging a poster in the windows of various testing sites might be a really useful way to spread the word.

I agreed:

I would LOVE to work on this for you, Robert. Not only do I have some space in my schedule, but you said the magic word: HATCH.

Yes, Hatch. As in “Hatch Show Print” of Nashville Tennessee, a classic of American vernacular folk printing. You know them even if you don’t know them.

» Click for a better look at the cool textures

And I LOVE that style, so even if Chicago Urban Energy wasn’t the kind of green, good-for-the-world, heart-of-gold company that I love to support, I would have jumped at the chance to create this kind of visual homage.

Wood cut typefaces. Letter-press textures. Carefully (if digitally) hand-created ragged edges and organic forms.

A sense of style and a sense of place. So beautiful, and SO MUCH FUN.

The post Chicago Urban Energy: “Wind Speed” Poster appeared first on Calyx Design.

Word of mouth is the BEST. That’s how Judy Kinney found me when she needed help developing a new identity for the non-profit she heads up: NEST (North East Seattle Together). They needed a mark that was friendly, simple, approachable, and said “community”:

It’s a fantastic organization, firmly in the good-for-the-world camp — connecting neighbors, building grass-roots networks, all to help the aging members of the community stay out of “old-folks homes” and in their own. This includes help with transportation, yard work, gardening, computers, pet care and errands, etc.

Wonderful stuff. And I was proud to help.

I always create a wide range of options for brand/logo projects — just for fun, here are a few sketches that didn’t make the cut.

The post NEST: Brand/logo appeared first on Calyx Design.