CTE Branding
The Career and Technical Education Department of Illinois required a new identity. Their new look needed to accomplish two primary goals: Raise awareness to state legislators to the seriousness damage budget cuts threatened to do to their programs, and educate the public to the great offerings CTE had. Client interviews were done, and research was conducted. First, a new logo that personified “CTE” was created. Then an identity system was developed for resultant collateral. The result is a system that gets their message across in an appealing, professional manner.

Typographical Study
Times new roman is SO overused! I mean really – it’s everywhere! Well there is a reason for that; it is a clear readable font that does it’s job well. It’s not a bad font at all, just overexposed. The purpose of this experiment was to make times new roman exciting. A watercolor environment was created then artistically combined with the font to take it into new directions. Does it still feel overused?

College of ACES Branding
ACES teaches you about corn, beans, and livestock. Well, don’t they? Yes, but they also do so much more, such as economics, business, and even cutting edge genomics work. This is what they wanted potential students and the rest of the world to know when they needed a new branding statement. To fill this need, a high-end look has been created that acknowledges their agricultural roots, but also makes a bold statement about their other areas of knowledge. This look is now being applied to upcoming pieces of collatoral. Shown here are samples of a fact booklet, tri-panel folder, and an InDesign Template (In production)
Copy Editor: Erica Rothmier

Research Park Branding
The university of Illinois Research Park is a world class hot bed of high-tech innovation, rivaling any other found in the world. They just needed a look and feel that got this point across. As a parameter, the look developed must nod to the University of Illinois, but not look 100% academic. A look was created that played on University colors while using a high tech spin. The end result placed the park at the same or higher playing field than it’s peers.
Copy Editor: Erica Rothmier

OAR Promotional Material
The University of Illinois Office of Admissions and Records (OAR) needed a mailer for prospective students. It needed to appeal to a wide range of groups, be easy to follow, and fit into an existing system while not appearing cookie-cutter. Combining elements of the current system along with new features blended into a piece that could stand on it’s own or be mailed with existing works.
Copy Editor: Erica Rothmier

Latina Newsletter
The University of Illinois Latina/Latino studies needed a newsletter redesign that would be just as professional and world class as the department themselves. Also, it must be visually relelvant to be both the audience as well as the client. Finally, it must be econimocal to produce. A masthead image was created that played on the identity of the department, plus the pages pulled in visual elements of the actual articles themselves. Finally it was produced as a 2 color job to keep it cost effective. The result was a unique, professional, relevant design.

Sinfonia da Camera - Poster
Sinfonia da Camera is a local orchestra that has gained international acclaim due to the high caliber of their performances, and they needed promotional materials to reflect this. Shown here is a sample promotional poster for one of their monthly performances. It was designed to reflect the intensity of it’s particular performance

Sinfonia da Camera - Newspaper Ads
Black and white does not have to be boring, and these ads created for the Sinfonia da Camera prove that. Appropriate use of contrast, well-placed imagery along with elegant typography all blend together to create a set of ads that are as sophisticated as the orchestra they promote.

Kofusion - Newspaper Ads
When the new restaurant Kofusion hit downtown Champaign, it was obvious by the quality of the food and the atmosphere of the place that something special had just opened, and they needed a brand to reflect it. Portraits of signature dishes placed against a simple blue background has combined to create a recognizable look that says Kofusion. You may see more examples of this in the web gallery.

Retirement Gift - Poster
The Department of Chemestry wanted a gift for Professor Charles P. Slichter that reflected his academic lineage. A watercolor painting in the style of an illuminated manuscript was done, along with complimentary typography used to outline his lineage. Finally it was printed as a one-time digital print on watercolor paper, then placed into a custom frame.

Newman Foundation - Class Brochure
As part of a major overall renovation, the Newman Foundation is giving their marketing materials a more high-end look and feel. This brochure is one such example. Meant to impress, it takes advantage of striking imagery on the cover for visual impact, along with solid typography inside to deliver a clear message. It was printed on a felt cover stock to make it feel as rich as it looks

Network Geographics Identity
How’s your network doing?  Do you know?  If so, is it because you have papers flying around with scribbled down notes?  That doesn’t seem too efficient… and Network Geographics wants to do something about it!  They have created an innovative product that automatically keeps track of your network files for you instead of having to do it by hand.  The kind of product that would be useful to a fortune 500 company.  Problem?  They needed a world-class brand to match their world-class product. A look that drew on analogies of mapping uncharted territories was created.