Know your tools

Know your tools

A good designer needs to know the tools of the trade just like any other professional. The good news is that these are attainable skills. Time and an inquisitive nature are all that is required to gain mastery over a designer’s tools. The problems presented by...
Rebuild

Rebuild

I love rebuilds. I imagine it’s like being an 80’s movie reboot writer. I was given a musty pile of aged work and tasked with picking out the good bits and upcycling them into something functional. In this case, I was handed a stack of photocopied (and...
Budget

Budget

It is not an uncommon occurrence for the design directive to be, “Do something completely different.” Blazing new trails takes a confident designer and a courageous client. Most essential is open, honest, and effective communication between the two. It was in the...
Make your own art

Make your own art

There is an advantage to creating your own art, whether photo or illustration. Using home-made means no limit to the size of the piece. No constraint on the shape of the copy layout. No need to change the headline because you can’t find that just-right stock image....
Know Your Audience

Know Your Audience

Would this imagery work anywhere but Minnesota? I have been in love with the marketing campaign of the Minnesota state fair for years. They illuminated a brand that might not work anywhere but Minnesota.  Imitation being the sincerest form of flattery, I did my best...
IQ Magazine

IQ Magazine

I had the great pleasure to be the creative coordinator on IQ, the quarterly publication of the Initiative Foundation. The path of a project is usually a one-lane road. One follows the process to create a page, a poster, or a mailer. Sometimes though a designer gets a...