graphic-design – Page 8 – Bureau of Betterment

Well Vegan (Hold the Pickled Herring)

The most recent project I’ve been working on, Well Vegan, just launched at the New Year. I enjoy eating healthy food frequently and on a regular basis, so when my friend Katie asked if I would help make it easier for vegans to do the same, I jumped on board. I’m not a vegan, but I have some vegan friends, and seeing some of them struggle with finding a variety of things to make that were also meeting their nutritional needs made this project hit close to home. Katie’s personal motivation to start Well Vegan stemmed from having her young daughter suffer from food allergies that were only ameliorated by switching to a vegan diet.

The first task was to create a logo for Well Vegan. After a short design brainstorm, the theme of “it’s in the greens” bubbled to the top, and resulted in a happy pea pod bursting with, well, veganism.

Well Vegan logo in various color ways.

The second and main task was to design a website. Katie wanted the site to reflect her healthy, simple, and homespun take on veganism. Visually, this is reflected by using the approachable and versatile font Skolar alongside rough-edged and spare illustrations.

well-vegan-font-illustration — The font Skolar pared with a simple illustration style.

Basically, Well Vegan is a repository of vegan recipes that are partnered with shopping lists and weekly meal plans that take all the hassle out of planning how you are going to sustain yourself. Sure, some people take joy in shopping and figuring out each and every meal, but others just want to get the job done without spending hours poring over recipe books and making lists. Using Well Vegan for $9.99 a month gives you all the tools necessary for eating home-cooked meals most every day. And if that’s what it takes for some vegans to eat healthier on a regular basis, I’m all for it.

well-vegan-plan — How the Well Vegan plan works. Pretty simple, and then you're full. Also, beets are pretty rad.

Some people might have the misconception that vegan food is bland, but with the right recipes it can be anything but. A series of illustrations were made to let the ingredients take center stage and focus on the uncomplicated nature of the vegan diet. I’m not sure eating a tofu cube that large is realistic, but it gets the point across! Send me some giant chopsticks and I’ll let you know how it goes.

well-vegan-meal-illustrations — Food for giants! Or very hungry vegans!

I even got to use my new favorite phrase on the error screen, making this my favorite error screen second only to the consolation trout I made for Under the Table with Jen.

If you’re interested in checking out the site and what Well Vegan has to offer, visit www.wellvegan.com, or follow them on twitter at @wellvegan.

Last Year’s Wrapping Paper

Each year when we receive our Christmas package from my Danish grandparents, my sister and I marvel at the wrapping paper that is almost as old as our grandma. With a soft fabric like quality from years of folding and re-wrapping, some of the prints have been in circulation as long as I can remember. There must have been a wrapping paper sale in 1962 that she has been carefully meting out paper from since. Past tape marks and rips are carefully covered, but often too plentiful to be obscured completely. While I admire her resourcefulness, I am also thankful that the presents inside are always new…I think.

Since it’s been a busy month here at the Bureau, I decided I would take a cue from Grandma. Not worse for the wear, here are five winter wallpapers from last year for use on your digital devices.

All The Future Is New

Download options for All The Future Is New

Dancing Pole Rats

Download options for Dancing Pole Rats

White Noise / Let It Snow

Download options for White Noise / Let It Snow (three colors available!)

Warm Fuzzies / Cackle Crackle

Download options for Warm Fuzzies / Cackle Crackle

Merry, Happy, Joy & Tidings

Download options for Merry, Happy, Joy & Tidings (five colors available!)

Last Year's Wrapping Paper

Since it’s been a busy month here at the Bureau, I decided I would take a cue from Grandma. Not worse for the wear, here are five winter wallpapers from last year for use on your digital devices.

All The Future Is New

Download options for All The Future Is New

Dancing Pole Rats

Download options for Dancing Pole Rats

White Noise / Let It Snow

Download options for White Noise / Let It Snow (three colors available!)

Warm Fuzzies / Cackle Crackle

Download options for Warm Fuzzies / Cackle Crackle

Merry, Happy, Joy & Tidings

Download options for Merry, Happy, Joy & Tidings (five colors available!)

The Timbers Say Thanks

Here is a nice little ditty I worked on for the Portland Timbers soccer team thru Jelly Helm Studio. I’m not the biggest sports nut around, but I do appreciate the talent and dedication it takes to play a game well. The part that usually rubs me the wrong way is the untouchable icon status that sports figure often inhabit. As my dad would say, “They put their pants on the same way as you do, don’t they? One leg at a time?” Sure enough. So when I was working on this piece, I was pleased that the tribute giving was going both ways. YES, the players are fantastic. YES, the fans are also fantastic. THANK YOU to the whole Timbers community for being what you are, and for the exchange being two way, three way, four way, the best way.

Timbers-Thank-You-Ad — Click the image to zoom in on the notes of thanks from the Timbers soccer team.

Story Cards

As a follow up to the business cards I designed for Jelly Helm Studio, here are some additional cards that show a little bit about how the studio approaches things. All of the cards were letter pressed on cream colored Neenah Classic Crest #165 cover.

The cards were printed at Brown Printing, where they were very helpful in trying out an unusual combination of printing techniques: first embossing (raising) the paper in a tree shape, and then letter pressing text (pushing the paper down) on top of the tree shape. For all that pushing and pulling of paper with the text being pressed into both the tree and non-tree area, it turned out pretty well.

storycard-tree — A very advanced "who, what, where, when, how" diagram.

My favorite of the three cards is this reproduction of a diagram by Joseph Campbell. Wikipedia says “…his work is vast, covering many aspects of the human experience”. No small task to fit onto a 1.75×3 inch card, even with some rejiggering on our end so the large original diagram translated well to a tiny version of itself.

storycard-adventure — This should get you through most situations.

The Goodie Monster Is Here

Just in time for Halloween! Over the weekend my friend Mark and I put the finishing touches on the Goodie Monster: a vending machine filled with healthy, tasty snacks. Not only does it taste good, it looks good too. Check out the full project process and see more pictures of us sewing and painting nonstop to create a green fur-clad monster complete with a mountainous environment where pears fly south for the winter. Read more >>

Calling Cards for the Digital Era

One of the projects I’ve worked on recently for Jelly Helm Studio was to design the studio’s business cards. Several ideas were sketched out (monograms, pop-up castles, and a series of tableaus, among others), but early in the brainstorming process we decided that simple was better. To support this direction, internet research turned up calling cards from way back when.

Most business cards from days of yore included only the person’s name. Additional notations on the card (in the lower corners) were left for specific reasons and were part of the intricate etiquette system surrounding the calling card, which are detailed in The Gentleman’s Guide to the Calling Card. We took the calling card structure and updated for the 21st century. Done and done.

The smaller-than-usual cards were letterpress printed by Kyle van Horn of Baltimore Print Studios with a nice deep plum ink on French Muscletone Whip Cream. During the project, Kyle sent us this slip taped to a furniture cabinet at the Baltimore Print Studios.

According to this, Jelly Helm’s business card size (1.75″ x 3″) is somewhere between a Miss and a Mister. According to me, it’s just the right size to carry the information on it.

JHS-business-cards2 — Other people get cards too.

JHS-business-cards3 — A calling card for the digital era.

Lego Logo Wall

While in Copenhagen this summer I stopped into a Lego store to browse, and was rewarded with a little designer treat – a giant wall of Lego’s logo history, surrounded by an even more giant lego dragon hovering ominously over a replica of the fuzzy-hatted Danish soldiers that guard the royal palace.

For Champion Eaters Only

Being a champion eater doesn’t come without some drawbacks, including a paltry wallet and an overly developed mid-section. In celebration of the latter, I made these face stuffer buttons for the launch party of Portland’s 100 Best Places to Stuff Your Faces.

If you want to make absolutely sure you finish 2011 with a muffin top, beer belly, love handles AND a spare tire, download the Eat Sheet to mark your progress on foraging your way through the dining spots included in the guidebook.

Tre Trin Til en Festlig Dag

This summer my Aunt Nete is turning 50, and I am very excited to visit Danmark for the event. The Danes like to celebrate, and this will be no exception! The “three step” party will include a sailing trip on a boat named Dagmar, a luksus picnic at Skanderborg Sø, and finally a live band at their home terrace in Århus so everybody can really party down. Continue reading “Tre Trin Til en Festlig Dag” →