Process Makes Perfect: Telluride Arts
Sometimes it’s fun to take a step back and look at how we got from concept to execution. For the non-profit Telluride Arts, we were asked to create an at-a-glance Impact Report to help them raise awareness about all the arts projects their organization support throughout Telluride, CO. It was primarily an awareness piece but they hoped it would also help drive donations to their organization. We were on a tight budget, quick timeline, and had to keep to a standard format that their printer/mail house provided us. With all ...
Content Creation: Wellbeing
Sometimes I like to make content just for fun, it’s an exercise that helps keep me sharp. I pick a theme, plan out posts and execute the content creation. Since January is a time of rejuvenation in the new year, I created content around the theme of wellbeing to post on my personal social media all month long. The pallet I chose was very soft and neutral to capture the calming nature of the theme. I focused on things that I personally use for self-care. That ensured that I would ...
Process Makes Perfect: Endangered Species Mood Boards
Part of my process in the concept phase of new work is putting together mood boards. This helps me define the visual language, tone, and (obviously) mood for the story I want to tell. Some of my favorite mood boards are these endangered species-inspired boards I put together for an apparel project. I was able to draw inspiration from so many places: textures in their scales or feathers, patterns on their coats, speckles in their eggs, their native habitats, and the people who help protect them. The imagery on this ...
Lost Art, Vol 3.: Christmas Craft Blogs
I was fortunate enough to pick up a freelance project where I got to make and shoot a bunch of kids Christmas crafts for a brands blog. This is one of my all-time favorite freelance projects because it was very aligned with my interests: arts and crafts and photo styling.
Photo Direction: Kids Summer Camp
One of the perks of working for the San Diego Zoo is getting the opportunity to go on-grounds. In the summer of 2019, I got to crash some summer camps to art direct a photoshoot. This was a totally new experience for me, most of the time when I’m directing photos it’s in a controlled environment with either professionals or people who signed up to be part of a shoot. But this was a much more natural and uncontrolled shoot since these kids were all just genuinely participating in the ...
Lost Art: Vol. 2: Arbor Day Illustrations
This one was a truly sad loss for me. I’m not particularly skilled at illustrating but I got an iPad Pro last year because I wanted to work on sharpening my skills in that area a bit. When the social media team asked me to put together an Instagram Story for Arbor Day I was stoked on the idea of attempting to illustrate it! I spent the better part of a week taking an online class to learn all the ins and outs of Procreate. The illustrations themselves probably took ...
Lost Art, Vol. 1: Earth Day Illustrations
Every designer knows the pain of lost art. Whether it was overlooked in a pitch deck, scrapped after hours of labor, or simply had a fleeting life span, it’s always sad to see something you’re proud of disappear into the ether. That’s why I’m dedicating this blog series to all those things that never got the spotlight they deserved. First up, a series of illustrations I made for San Diego Zoo’s Instagram story on Earth Day. Although they did run on as planned I feel like they deserved to exist ...
Drink: Spicy Mango Mimosa
Is there anything better in this world than a spicy cocktail? I think not. Over the weekend I mixed up this spicy mango mimosa as a delicious brunch beverage and it was so good I feel the need to share with the rest of the world. Spicy Mango Mimosa 1 mango pureed 1 cup OJ (or more) 1 bottle champagne 2-3 jalapeno slices per glass 2-3 tbs Tajin seasoning 1 lime wedge Puree 1 mango, add orange juice to thin out the puree so it will mix easily into the ...
Create: Bedazzled Beer Koozies
Be the most bitchin’ babe at summer bbqs with these bedazzled beer koozies. They’re basically the modern-day equivalent of a royal chalice and probably the easiest craft you’ll ever do. Bedazzled Beer Koozies $1 foam beer koozie (from Michael’s near the kids crafting stuff or from Amazon) I personally opted for glitter koozies for a little bit of extra bling. Large plastic gems (also from Michaels or Amazon) Hot glue gun Sparkly foam letters if you want Step 1: Hot glue giant gems onto blank foam koozies (I chose to use a glittery ...
Design: Wild Connections Newsletter Redesign
If you’ve perused through my portfolio you probably saw the “San Diego Zoo President’s Clubs Redesign” (if you didn’t, I suggest you go check it out!) While my portfolio project highlights mostly the logo & asset creation, I also got to make a lot of nice supplemental materials for the clubs. One of my favorite of those materials was the “Wild Connections” newsletter, a printed stewardship newsletter that goes out 3 times a year. This newsletter is exclusively for President’s Clubs members, an insider look at some of the happenings ...
Design: Wildlife Conservancy Email No. 2
The Rhino Rescue Center is maaaybe the most magical place on the planet. It’s home to six bodacious female southern white rhinos who were rescued from Africa to become a part of our plan to save northern white rhinos from extinction. Interested in learning more? Check out the graphic email I designed for the Wildlife Conservancy outlining the Rhino Rescue Center and SDZG’s plan to save the Northern White Rhino.
Design: Wildlife Conservancy Email No. 1
I love everything about working for the world-famous San Diego Zoo, but I secretly love the Wildlife Conservancy most of all. What we lovingly refer to as “The WC” raises money on behalf of the zoo’s global conservation efforts, so the work I do for them makes me feel like I’m contributing to ending extinction all over the world. I don’t generally do large campaigns on their behalf (they work with an outside agency for a lot of their programs) I do occasionally get really fun one-off projects. My most ...
Design: Food, Wine & Brew Celebration
On literally my first day of work at the San Diego Zoo, I kicked off the redesign for the Food, Wine, and Brew Celebration, the zoo’s second-largest fundraising event of the year (no pressure). It was a pretty massive undertaking with tons of moving parts. There were postcards, check presenters, billboards, emails, a web landing page, paid search ads, social media promos, lanyards, event maps, on-grounds signage and so much more. The objective was to update the event branding to give it a more current look and feel. It had ...