Your adventure: Keeping a throughline
Aphrodite and her son, Eros, were caught in the crossfire of a terrible battle when the monster Typhon tried to overthrow the king of the gods, Zeus. To flee the chaos and violence, mother and child turned themselves into fish (Pisces) to flee down a nearby river. In order to prevent their separation, they tied a string to each other.
While thankfully not as fierce as warring giants, messages fight for dominance on every media platform, and my own darlings risk getting lost in the churning waves. Not every announcement needs epic thunder, but keeping content visually connected and distinct helps my audience always recognise it. Following the love deities’ example, these projects have been given extra care to help navigate the chaos by maintaining a connection or an intentional throughline.
An update to the logo of a company that supplies digital tools for hair and beauty salons.
The challenge
Having marketed itself as a software company for the last 15 years, Fixit was gradually starting to shape its brand to appeal more to the salon industry and lifestyle. With this shift it made sense to tone down the logo’s “I.T.” emphasis, but the owners weren’t ready for a drastic change yet.
Highlight
With its big round curls, I always thought the “fix” part had character, so I created an “it” to match. Inspired by the ligature of the “f” and “i”, I tried merging some of the other letters together in order to turn this into a logo – not just text. Playfully extending the “x” to dot the “i” sort of mimics the shape of a lock of hair or a drop of water.
Room for improvement
Small adjustments made the shape and spacing of the letters simpler and more consistent – such as trimming the bottom serifs and increasing the height of the top one on the “x” – but the “it” still seems smaller than the rest. Adjusting serifs and spacing on these letters would help balance the logo. I’ve learned that it’s ok to “cheat” the math a little in order to trick the eye!
A campaign to increase appointment bookings in hair and beauty salons during their quieter months.
The challenge
Creating these types of campaigns on a regular basis eventually made our inspiration run a little dry. We wanted to keep these engaging and fun visually, while always doing something a little different.
Highlight
Inviting salons to participate by postcard (in addition to via the usual digital channels) was suggested during a brainstorming session. A travel gift card was to be the campaign prize, so this sparked the idea of creating a kitschy “greetings from...” postcard with large letters as windows to fun travel destinations. I used this for both the postcard sent to the salons and the contest page for their customers.
Room for improvement
While it’d be a bit of work to make the images on the desktop and mobile pages different, making small adjustments on mobile would’ve increased the legibility of the stylised text. I’m now much more conscientious of the mobile experience and take the time necessary to optimise it.
All the printed material for my wedding, including invitations, table cards, game instructions, prizes and thank you cards.
The challenge
Creating something completely from scratch I would be happy enough with to show my closest friends and family. I’m a perfectionist who, for once, had the time to indulge in getting all the details right, so this felt like a lot of pressure!
Highlight
My scanned doodles turnout out to be a lot more versatile than anticipated. I used them as different types of frames and borders without changing much and it resulted in my creating a sort of brand for the whole event. Serendipitously, even our wedding rings and party favours had heart motifs.
Room for improvement
I spent a lot of time getting every single comma and fold perfectly into place – this was for my wedding, after all. If I can’t say I’m entirely happy with it, I don’t think there’s any project with which I ever will be!
A fan website for the Californian band Orson, using images taken from their label's website and the album cover.
Note: This project pre-dates responsive design and thus isn’t mobile-friendly.
The challenge
The band had very distinct cover art, but it had been borderline overused in promoting them. I wanted to pay tribute to it in order to honour their sort of “brand” and make it recognisable as an Orson site, without just simply readapting it to fit my page.
Highlight
The band’s hometown of Hollywood was a big part of their identity and what gave their music a happy, summer-y quality. Taking inspiration from the rays around the collage on their album cover, I drew a sunburst behind a photo of the band. I brought it all together using the iconic sign and some of the bird silhouettes that are so prominent on the album art.
Room for improvement
The transition from the bottom of the band photo into the rest of the page is rather inelegant. Instead of trying to hide the edge with birds, I should’ve boxed in the photo and lightened the background from there for a cleaner layout. Creative problem-solving has become one of my biggest strengths over the years and now allows me to embrace these kinds of challenges.
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