Galleries

Concert Poster

Using several tools/techniques in Adobe Photoshop, I created this poster for a chamber music concert, resulting in a striking contrast of white on blue.

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Do you know what you do?

I woke up this morning to an Instagram message from one of my followers, asking about what I do. I sat down to send her an email, and I thought, “I should be able to do this with my eyes closed,” but I had to stop and think about it and organize my thoughts.

Usually, when people ask about what I do, I start with my “title,” then I visualize the tagline on my website, in order to keep it short and sweet. But this morning, when I was writing my response to her, something I have read time and time again in the last few years kept popping into my head: Do I have my elevator pitch ready?

If I had 15-30 seconds on an elevator with someone who needed to be convinced to hire me for my services, would I be ready? Would I know how to effectively pitch myself?

I do now!

In a nutshell, I’m a digital designer and strategist. My expertise lies in 4 main areas: web, video production, communication, and graphics. In essence, I help develop and enhance visual identities for people and organizations to effectively tell their stories in compelling ways.

It’s easy to not give this much serious thought, because of course we all know ourselves, and we all know what we do. But are you able to effectively articulate that to people when they ask…without their eyes glossing over?

 

I kinda have a thing for numbers and circles

I took a brief walk down memory lane this morning after running across some old files from my last job.

I created these for social media for the 2014-15 Trinity Fund. I love the vibrant colors I was able to work with. The green, especially, was great for capturing attention on social media.

I created this infographic (below) for an event for new parents. While the color palette is the same, the colors aren’t as vibrant, as they were printed pieces to be included in travel coffee mugs.

I love telling a story using stats, and using different colors, shapes, and placement for emphasis. This is the kind of work that drives me!

Sometimes, you just get it right

This is a post from February 28 for Elijah DeJesus, an emerging millennial artist. The goal is to increase her following and public awareness prior to releasing new music.

Instagram can be a tricky platform. Followers are not stable! An account can gain 50 followers in one morning and lose half of them that same night. And numbers rarely tell the full story. An account can have 4,000 followers, but only receive an average of 30 likes on posts. I’ve honestly never quite understood it. But when this magic post lit up my phone, I was beyond thrilled!

In less than 10 minutes, Elijah’s account gained 68 new (authentic) followers! On another day, about a week prior, she gained 79 followers in a matter of minutes after posting a photo using my strategy. Surges like these are incredible! And they definitely make up for those days that make you wonder if you’re just existing in a social media vacuum.

 

I Don’t Believe in “Cutting Corners”

I recently designed a print piece for Franklin Pond, a local youth chamber music organization. One of the photos the director chose had the date printed in the bottom, right corner. Rather than crop the photo and lose some of the height and the instruments’ details, I used Photoshop to remove the date for a more professional, polished look.

I love the powerful tagline this school uses!

Independent schools are currently in the throes of Admission season, so it’s no surprise that as I scroll through my Facebook news feed, I see quite a few sponsored posts from schools about open house events…more than I can remember seeing in the past. More and more schools are beginning to tap into the power of social media to tell their stories and get the word out beyond the boundaries of their communities, and many are understanding that the return on investment for advertising via social media can be immense.

While I can’t speak on other cities, I can say that the independent school arena in Atlanta is beyond competitive…on both sides. Parents scramble to get their children admitted into what they consider to be the best schools (and the planning/positioning starts early), and schools constantly strive to differentiate. Visually speaking, many schools can look quite similar in nature, so while word of mouth (particularly, constituent experience) is HUGE, it’s also important for schools to stand out in some way.

And that’s what St. Martin’s Episcopal School has done. They nailed it!

I have seen numerous ads about admissions-related events from independent schools during the past few months, but none jumped out at me like this one. I worked in the after-school program at St. Martin’s in college, and as part of my Communications minor, I interned in the Development Office. So I’m familiar with the school’s visual identity. I love that as part of this change, they remained true to who they are. They kept the school’s original crest, and they incorporated the colors well into the copy of this ad.

The clincher for me is the tagline: potential. realized. watch your child do good things. How incredibly simple, but so powerful! Don’t we all want our children to do good things? Don’t we all want them to realize their potential? As a parent, this ad would absolutely pique my interest in the school and consider attending the information session, if nothing else. And that’s the idea: Get them in the door, and we can take it from there.

Awesome job, St. Martin’s! Keep up the great work!

 

Branding

I presented at the CASE District III 2014 Conference in Orlando, FL with a colleague (Mindpower Inc.) about the process of slowly launching a new brand and visual identity. This video shows the part of the presentation that I created/led (music was not played during the presentation).

Social Media Policy

I was asked to present at a faculty/staff meeting to talk about Trinity School’s social media policy. Rather than project the copy-heavy document on the screen, I created this presentation to capture the main points.