I’ve done many projects with Umpqua Bank, from the buttoned-up online identity for their Private Bank to a giant mural of a birds nest for a new store opening. Our latest collaboration was no less ambitious in the greatest direct mail piece I’ve ever seen. Yes, I have designed my first ever direct mail piece, and I’m proud of it!
Just the phrase “direct mail” sends shivers down my spine, so one goal while working on the piece was to make it as personal and relevant as possible. Sewn binding on the book and having a precisely fit clear sleeve presented it well from the outside. Inside, working with a great photo library was a boon – nary a stock image was used! Professional architectural photos of Umpqua as well as brand images from Mazama Wares created a cohesive visual narrative. A diminutive format (the magazine fits easily in your hand) and 32 pages of editorial and lifestyle centered content made it both useful and interesting. Continue reading “Umpqua Promo Magazine”→
A recent collaboration with a Portland-based consultant resulted in rebranding his small company to present a more cohesive visual front. Upward Partners is a company that builds infrastructure for fast growing companies, and its founder, Brian, wanted a brand that reflected his way of doing business: results driven but also fun and innovative.
Working primarily with numbers, data, money, and other cold hard facts doesn’t always lend itself to an inspiring logo. To stand out in the field of CFO’ing and COO’ing we opted for a Northwest influenced motif of a mountain range. With a ‘slight chart & graph’ vibe, the icon also reinforced his positively-geared business name.
A geometric mountain range.
The typography was set to focus on the action part of the name and give it the same uplifting feeling as the mountain icon. Combining that with a nuanced color palette gave plenty of options for leeway in future materials. The font Adelle proved its worth by being both approachable and serious in its serif and sans versions.
A friendly yet respectable color palette and serif/sans combo of typography.
Various illustrated elements were combined into a banner graphic that did some heavy lifting on the homepage, which had previously been bare of graphic elements save for a background pattern.
The path of running a business can be long and winding.
A large part of this project was determining Upward Partners’ written voice, as the previous site had been a somewhat dry list of business ingredients. Jargon-free speech and easily digestible explanations of complex business scenarios made it easy to understand their approach and work. A mantra-like introduction was created to describe the essence of the business, leaving the technical points for sub copy.
Mantra text summing up what Upward Partners brings to the table.
Using icons to support key areas of expertise upgraded the straight-forward content from bullet points, and let the new long-form content call out the key differentiators Upward Partners asserts – a pre-engagement fit assessment and no middle-men in the work process leads to tangible results from their consulting efforts.
Sixteen icons visualizing main areas of expertise.
The culmination of writing, designing, and organizing resulted in a new website to be used in presenting Upward Partners’ work to both current and prospective clients. The site was built in Squarespace to allow full editing capability by the client. Check it out at www.upwardpartners.com.
Homepage design with all elements in play.
And because before and after shots are so satisfying…
A before shot of the Upward Partners website.
I’m excited to debut this small business rebrand and hope it helps Brian go forth and conquer. I look forward to expanding this flexible and fun brand to bring a fresh look to a category of business I don’t usually work with. Maybe I’ll even pick up some additional business acumen along the way…but for now I’ll just keep on keeping on with some kpi and metrics creation to optimize securing some series b funding. Or something like that.
Trying new illustration styles is always fun, but sometimes there isn’t time or budget for experimentation, or a client has a specific style they want from the start. On this recent project for Must Have Menus, there was plenty of creative leeway to create something from scratch.
The Must Have Menu’s website provides editable online menu templates for restaurants so that they can manage, update, and print their menus directly. The assignment was to use their menu building tool to show how templates can vary from the stock set of layouts provided online.
Mod Burger typography.
The concept of a modular burger restaurant influenced a mod-retro type treatment and a layered “paper cut” digital illustration of iconic burger parts. Choosing any ingredients from a long list of options and building your own perfect burger? Get me a reservation!
Mod Burger exploded view diagram and six sub-category icons.
Hoping to photograph the piece turned out to be too time consuming for this small project’s limited budget, but using textures and Photoshop did enough of the trick to get the idea across.
Testing, testing…early paper cut photo didn’t make the cut.
My latest collaboration with Umpqua Bank was to create artwork for their new Fox Tower store windows while construction was taking place. Eschewing the standard construction site graphics of some big type declaring “coming soon”, we opted for a truly Portland vignette by putting a bird on it.
Helping customers attain their goals and dreams and tending to their finances as a part of that was visualized through a bird finding home to its nest, which was carefully being watched. A hand drawn script reinforced Umpqua’s friendly and conversational message: what’s your dream? here to help…
Mural and hand drawn type for Umpqua Bank’s new Fox Tower store.
Capturing large scale work is a feat when competing with construction, Max lines running by, the strange appearance of Portland sun glancing off the glass clad building, and crowds constantly walking by. But I did get this shot of a hungry luncher walking by one of the window sections.
Somebody is eating for two. Director Park side of the facade, featuring the nest egg.
Much of my work is smallish – books, shoeboxes, beer bottles, iPhone covers, t-shirts. Even vending machines are kind of person-sized. But a 50 foot wide illustration is…big. Creating a piece that was both complex enough to be interesting but simple enough to read well was a good challenge, and reinforced the sage advice applicable for anybody working in making real things: measure twice, cut once.
Building mock-up of the mural artwork.
The new store opens March 9th (today!) and will soon host its first event featuring small Portland businesses and their founders speaking on how they got their start. Find the Fox Tower bank online at: umpquabank.com/foxtower, or come to their first event…
Don’t Quit Your Daydream Portland Entrepreneurs Overcome Their Doubts
Visit the new store for inspiring start-up stories and exceptionally tasty Breakside brews and Cheese & Crack snacks. The event is on Thursday, March 19 from 6:00-7:00pm at 750 SW Yamhill Street. Get tickets online.
I’ve enjoyed working on the Well Vegan brand over the years, starting with their initial logo and branding and continuing with an eBook cover, promo materials, and a series of DIY postcards (here, here, here, and here).
Our latest collaboration was to update their website based on user analysis to increase sign-up and promote their new eBook Starter Guide. To do this we streamlined the front page with a large either/or graphic focusing on the plan and the book.
New Well Vegan header graphics focus on the meal plan and the e-book.
The Plan and The Starter Guide got their own secondary pages that had more in-depth information that was previously outlined on the homepage. And all that new content was a great excuse to create more small plates!
Small plates, plan icons and testimonial fruit & veggie characters.
The homepage was also adjusted below the fold to highlight the resources section and recipes section, and make the all of the content more scannable. Four resource icons were made for this.
Four resource icons for the Well Vegan homepage.
Even though I’m not a vegan, vegetarian, or any other label of imbiber other than equal opportunist, I enjoy getting their weekly newsletter of recipes – always handy when veggie-only friends visit. If you need a hit of cooking inspiration, just visit their extensive library of home-tested recipes.
Here are four illustration panels I had fun creating for a little holiday video for Umpqua Bank’s home lending team in Bellingham. Who are a crack team at making your financing and savings dreams come true, even if it’s a duplex space station. I worked with Juliet Zulu who put together the video which was sent out privately to the Bellingham team’s clients.
A levitating tudor above Bellingham bay.A space station duplex.A home on the north pole.A new stable for your private unicorn collection.
Fall is here and that means layering…your breakfast bowl. There’s nothing better than sitting down to a steaming dish of gruel, Oliver, than feeling like it was put together by the best bed and breakfast in town. While it might not quite trump Sweedeedee’s breakfast bowls, following these instructions will get you mighty close.
For more details on how to make a perfect morning meal, check out Well Vegan’s breakfast bowl post. Or see others in this series, including how to make a salad in a jar, mix and match ingredients for a perfect smoothie or expertly stack a sandwich.
Here is the final batch of illustrations for the Icebreakers book I’ve posted about previously here and here and here. This set includes more examples of creating vocal symbols for a global audience that aren’t language specific. The entire book is focused on using collaboration, games, movement and music to aid in icebreaker activities for groups. To learn more about the book directly from the authors, check it out at www.breaktheice.dk.
Rap battle of voices and sounds until the best team wins.School games use rhythm and sound to create a “composition”.The pirate ship, where the captain decides what the rules are and any naysayers must walk the plank.
In my younger days I lived and went to school for a year in Aalborg, Denmark. There you can find a street called Jomfru Ane Gade where liquor flows freely from the plethora of bars and raucous ‘cheers!’ can be heard up and down the famous street the city of Aalborg is known for.
So when Line Krüger contacted me to commission an illustration for the schnapps company of the same name I had just a few flashbacks before promptly accepting the job. Basically anytime someone calls you up and asks “can you draw some meat on a stick?” you have to say yes.
If there is something the Danes like more than getting a tax cut or drinking schnapps, it’s consuming pork and other meat products. So combining the latter two activities seems like a surefire bet for Aalborg Akvavit, who created this new product for pairing with summer grill food. The label itself was designed by Line who also creative directed the illustration process.
Meat on a stick.
Usually associated with the popular and omnipresent event of December, the julefrokost, schnapps (or akvavit) is consumed in large quantities even though the glasses that carry the liquid from bottle to mouth are minute. I’m convinced this small beverage vessel was created with the hidden agenda of giving the Danes the maximum number of opportunities to shout SKÅL before reaching full inebriation.
Enjoying summer with many tiny glasses of akvavit.
A client I have always enjoyed working for is Umpqua Bank, which was the case again in my latest project with them to create branding for an event series duo. The two part branding was for a book event series (Bella Voce) and follow-up educational talks on wealth management and planning (Wise Women Conversations). The collateral needed to be upscale and feminine for an audience of women aged 40-60 with money to manage.
Taking cues from Umpqua’s Private Bank branding, the new collateral uses a woodgrain pattern paired with intricate but modern flourishes to adorn the range of 16 pieces created for the two event series. This simple structure is combined with a brand color palette – the gray + chocolate (or brown, as most people call it) used for UPB is shifted to a gray + teal combo while still staying on brand.
The two logotypes were hand-lettered by Mary Snow, and Kate Zimmerman art directed the project. To learn more about the events, visit Bella Voce’s page or the Wise Women page on Umpqua Bank’s website.
Wise Women Conversations brochure and event card.Bella Voce brochure and guest card, two of thirteen deliverables in the Bella Voce collateral series.Bella Voce illustration library.
