2009 New Jersey Freshwater Digest

I've held my current design position since the middle of August, and am very excited that my first book is about to hit the shelves in New Jersey!

Picking up another designer's files (and making them your own) can be very challenging. Style sheets are so personal!

Most of my own individual style and (obsessive) attention to detail can be felt beyond the cover, and I really think that my designs and re-designs have improved the readability of this book. Readability seems particularly important when your job is to clearly convey the laws of the Environmental Protection Agency.


Below are some pages from the 2008 Digest along with my re-designs for the 2009 book.

A spread showing the original trout charts which lacked uniformity, introduced arbitrary colors that appeared to have meaning, and contained redundant information — very confusing:


I standardized the chart styles, and restructured the content of those same charts:



The original stocking program spread:


My revised version—having fun with the flying fish:



I wanted the "Take a Kid Fishing" page to feel more cohesive. The redesign is on the right:



A simple design element introduced into this new 1-page article brought the subject to the forefront:

Baby Shower Invitation: Lucas and Elena

My friend, Jessie, had found the perfect invitation for her upcoming baby shower...almost. It was not the right color for her celebration and, more importantly, it did not reflect that there are two babies on the way. With her direction, we put a spin on the invitation that she found.

The original, by Tiny*Prints, is no longer available on their site.

And here is my design:



Matching thank-you cards will soon be designed, as well.

SplinkDesign Logo

Branding one's self is very difficult. I have designed a logo for my freelance design business (the nickname-inspired name came very easily!) that I think I am pretty happy with. I think that means it's time for business cards and letterhead!

Birthday: Mom's 60th

On a lovely August day, friends and family joined my mom in celebrating her 60th birthday. We decided to host a small dessert party (with big desserts!), and everyone showed up with amazing contributions.

Because this gathering involved last-minute planning, no invitations were mailed out. Over the past few months, I had thought about what the invitations to my mom's party would look like. Keeping in mind that my dad and I have called her "The Moose" or "Mamoose" for over 20 years, and that most people are aware of her nickname (which, for some reason, she embraced?!), I was going to go with the "moose" theme. I turned my idea, which uses Roman Numerals for the number "60," into little decals on display at the party.

Diabetes Coalition of Massachusetts Logo

I offered my services last October to the Diabetes Coalition of Massachusetts (DCOM). DCOM's executive committee was looking for someone to design a logo for the newly formed alliance. They had no visual identity when I contacted them, and I am excited to say that they now have a logo — and brand colors!

I wanted to develop a logo mark that represented the various groups of people coming together to form this coalition. I wanted it to feel positive, but to also be symbolic of the seriousness of the topic of diabetes. I had very specific direction to avoid pointy edges, which might be reminiscent of the needles used when treating the condition. Here was my solution:


I'm pleased to report that the committee is very happy with the result:

I just wanted to let you know that everyone on the Executive Committee loved the final version of your logo, and we’ve started to design the new web page around it. I’ll let you know when it’s live. I hope you are happy with your work. You did an amazing job, and we are all very grateful. Hopefully, the new image ushers in a new era of involvement and ups the excitement quota.

venn5 Bioconsulting

venn5 is a small, newly established bioconsulting firm who has united five specializations within the oncology field to assist businesses in need of their expertise. For them, I created a clean identity with a chemistry-inspired Venn diagram at the core of their logo.

This logo was selected as a winner for viewing at the 2008 Annual Rx Club Show!




I also designed the company's website:

Restless Leg Syndrome: Proposed Ad Campaign

Below is a series of three proposed journal spreads I created for a new business pitch within my advertising agency. The cricket, illustrated under my art direction by Steven Salerno, represented the late-night jumpiness that patients with RLS experience. The cricket's brushstroke outlines were derived from the existing Neupro mark. This concept and execution played a large role in winning the global account for my agency.

FACE Logo

This intra-company logo was designed to designate a select group of regional communications appointees within Alliant Pharmaceuticals. The logo utilizes the "A" from the existing Alliant logo.



Below is the Alliant Pharmaceuticals logo. (I apologize for the size of this image. Alliant Pharmaceuticals has since been purchased by Sciele Pharmaceuticals.)

Turtle Feet Branding

Turtle Feet is a learning center for children that offers classes that utilize the arts to emphasize academic subjects. The name of the company came from the owner's nostalgia for an art project that she had completed as a child, creating a turtle with a rock, glue and popsicle sticks. I designed Turtle Feet's logo with this in mind, maintaining a childlike feel with the appearance of a construction paper craft cut-out. I also designed (but do not maintain) the website for this unique company.

Berkshire Writers Room Logo

In July 2006, the Berkshire Writers Room announced that they were looking for a (free) logo design. I thought a great deal about this project, although due to my upcoming wedding, I had very little free time. Though I realize there is a great amount of writing and art inspired by the Berkshires, none had such a strong visual representation to me as Herman Melville's Moby Dick. Melville found the shape of Mount Greylock, as seen from the view of his study at Arrowhead, to resemble the back of his famous whale emerging from the water.

In my logo design, I decided to use the specific contour of Mount Greylock as seen by Melville (gathered from photos), while also showing the result of his inspiration—the whale. It is my hope that this new logo will be reminiscent of Melville's inspired writing and Berkshire pride.


Unfortunately, they seem to have never made a decision and continue to lack a visual identity.

Lee's Eggrolls Label

To help out a fellow freelancer, I was asked to contribute a layout option for a food product label. I thought it would be fun to incorporate the eggroll shape into the typography, and below is my solution:

Martha Stewart Living Architecture

This project involved dissecting a specific issue of a magazine or periodical and constructing a visual map of its content. I chose to represent an issue of Martha Stewart Living, and feel that the structure used highlights the balance of the magazine's sections.

Tomboy Tools Rebranding

This project involved researching an existing brand and redesigning their identity system. Tomboy Tools is a company that sells ergonomically designed tools for a woman's smaller hand. They teach workshops and empower women to take charge of home improvement, while emphasizing that they do not simply make "pink tools."

Here is the company's current identity, which I feel does not accurately represent the uniqueness of their company or their brand philosophy.



Here is my proposed redesign of their identity, followed by its application on color-coded tool packaging.

PLATO Poster

A leadership training program was developed during my internship at Thomson Course Technology. This team was called PLATO (Providing Leaders Accelerated Training Opportunities), and I was asked to redesign some materials that had previously been quickly thrown together. The previous materials relied heavily on illustrations of the actual Greek philosopher, Plato, and I wanted to give my redesign a very different feel while still acknowledging the origins of the program's name (by incorporating Greek columns). Below is my solution to this visual problem:


There is something about this poster that reminds me of the illustrative style in Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol.

Muscle Spindle Animation

Using Flash, I created an animation demonstrating the functional anatomy of the muscle spindle. In physical therapy classes, many students had difficulty picturing how this tiny receptor functioned. I created a visual animation of its role as an educational tool for such students. This was a great opportunity for me to combine my previous physical therapy education with my current art classes.

I am unable to upload my Flash file to this site. Below is a screen shot from the animation.

Tie Dye Instructional Sequence

This project involved creating image-only instructions to describe the series of steps involved in completing a task.

Cities & Change Project

My first typography project in design school was to create a 3-panel piece in response to text given to us about the Big Dig in Boston. There were two phases of this project. In the first phase, all of the type used had to be of the same family and the same size — this, in my opinion, was entirely too restrictive and the results were poor.

The second phase allowed for greater typographic freedom. I chose to represent my daily, ever-changing encounters on the MBTA Red Line in this part of the project (using only typographic elements).

Lamp Rendering

Using Illustrator only, I created a photorealistic image of a lamp found in a popular housewares catalog.