Bentwood Elementary Yearbook Cover Illustration

The theme was "Wild about Bentwood". The school's mascot is the bluejay, so I thought it would be fun to create a scene using wild animals from around the world, including a blue jay. I wanted the cover to be playful and colorful. I felt that by using "cut-out", prism-like shapes and adding texture would make the illustration feel handmade like something a child might make in the classroom. 

CHICAGO MERCANTILE EXCHANGE, CREATIVE SERVICES, MANAGER

I worked almost a decade for the Chicago Mercantile Exchange in the creative services department. This is where I started my career as a designer and I learned much from the experience. The best part about designing for the "Merc" was that I had total creative freedom to learn new tools and brush-up on trends. The budgets were pretty good for an in-house agency which allowed us to use materials in experimental ways. I did many projects over those years. I have selected just a couple here to showcase. 

Annual Report

The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME Corp) is an options exchange located in Chicago. At the time of this printing, the exchange had two floors of physical, hands-on trading with a few thousand people crammed into every square foot of the space. It was lively, loud and raucous. The energy was unavoidable and it was an exciting sight to watch. At the time of this annual report, the digital age was striking fast and ways of doing business were changing drastically for the traders on the floor. The idea for this annual report was to intertwine the two –blend the old with the new– to expose it as a beautiful transition that would carry the exchange into the future.

This annual report won an ARC award for writing and design. 

Gala Invitation

Every year the aquarium holds a fundraiser gala for its board members. This gala's theme was based on the recently opened permanent Amazon River exhibit. The theme "Amazon Night's" was a celebration of the species which inhabited that region and also it's indigenous people and history. The exhibit format followed the rivers seasons: low river, high river, flood and dry. Each section of the invitation reflects those seasons. The opening page starts in the low river season, when the flowering lilies would be abundant. We worked closely with a paper designer to create the paper lily. When opened, the lily would pop up and inside would reveal the beetle of whom made its home inside the flower. 

Ravinia Theatre --  Gala Invitation

Each season, Chicago's famous Ravinia outdoor theatre hosts a member's gala fundraiser. The theme of this season was "big top circus". The theatre serves as a cultural center, so they wanted to make sure that the invitation felt refined and yet spiritful. 

Nature's Grace Landscape Solutions --Branding

The initiative was to emphasize the preservation of the environment as their approach to landscape design and care. I chose the hand as the symbol of the human element in the work; representing both the physical and mental aspects to landscaping. Adding the leaves to form the shape blended man and nature, giving the symbol an organically active presence.

Client Appreciation Calendar

The interest rate calendar was a client promotion provided yearly as a thank you to the people who supported the exchange with trades in the short-term interest rate sector. The idea behind this particular calendar was to tell the story of how a trade was actually conducted. We decided to tell the story both with words and visually. Each page shows the different stages a trade goes through, from the onset to the final report to the person who requested the trade to happen.

This piece was selected for inclusion in the Print Regional that summer. 

KU Endowment, Assistant art director-2016 to present

Winter Mail campaigns

Each year there are numerous projects ranging from student focused philanthropy to annual donor giving campaigns. The winter mail campaign is one of those fundraising efforts sent annually to graduates and past donors. This particular direct mailer is a calendar aimed at evoking a nostalgic look back on alumni's past experience specific to KU.

2016 KU Endowment Annual report

In 2016, KU Endowment celebrated 125 years of philanthropic support to the University of Kansas. To highlight this, the annual report focused on donor giving and the areas of support they have provided for over a century. The main part of the annual report was written like a history book and used a timeline to showcase important events, people and buildings that play a role in  KU's rich history and continual growth. 

This annual report won both a regional and national CASE award. 

BOMBUS ART & DESIGN, SOLE PROPRIETOR

Next Theatre --7 Seasons of great theatre 

Working closely with the artistic director and the board, the initial project was to redesign the logo for the Evanston, Il based theatre of more than 20 years. The logo was starting to feel dated and they wanted a cleaner, simpler logo that reflected the refined theatrical evolution of the company into one of the most popular, serious community theaters of the area, drawing a strong following from all over the Chicagoland.

I ended up taking on 7 years of design for the theater working closely with the same marketing director and artistic director on the design for each season to help increase their solid position in the theatre community of Chicago. 

JOHN G. SHEDD AQUARIUM, Planning & Design, Design Coordinator

Annual Report

It was a year long celebration for the Oceanarium as it turned 10 in 2001. The annual report was the capstone for the year's events. The Oceanarium is the home for indigenous species of the Pacific Northwest like the popular beluga whales, white-tipped dolphins, river otters and many small seashore creatures. The second floor below was still considered part of the space, but was a slight departure from the theme as it featured the penguin habitat. 

The Oceanarium birthday was as much a celebration of animals as it was the architecture and exhibit features. The idea behind the photography for the annual report was to intertwine the animals that lived there with the nuance of their habitat and the historical architecture of the aquarium. 

In an effort to downplay a slight dip in attendance and to capitalize on the greater mission of the aquarium as an environmentally conscious institution, we decided to use a more monochromatic color approach to the layout  and used an uncoated, recycled paper printed with soy inks.