Blog Archives

Reina Del Rio Amazonas

CATEGORIES

Art Direction
Music Composition
Videography
Video Editing

Reina Del Rio Amazonas

Revisiting the art of music to use in integration with my other work was something I had been thinking about for years. I finally took the leap to purchase my first synthesizer in 2019, a 1986 AKAI AX-60, and eventually my first drum machine. However, finding my first project to experiment with adding sound took some additional time.

Once I began planning a 2 week trip to Peru that would include several nights in the Amazon rainforest, I felt this was the inspiration that I was looking for. I recorded the sounds of the jungle (as heard at the beginning of the video), I filmed birds flying over the river, trees, flowers; many beautiful and surreal moments that I felt incredibly blessed to experience.

Upon returning home (a mere hours before Peru closed their borders due to COVID-19) I used my newfound quarantine time to finally experiment with sounds and video editing to compose a music video that would encapsulate my experience in the Amazon.

May 23, 2020

The Speakeasy

CATEGORIES

Lettering & Type
Branding & Corporate Design

CLIENT

FOUNDERS & FRIENDS

Occurring annually since 2016 during the CES conference, FOUNDERS & FRIENDS is an invite-only networking event in Las Vegas that brings together key players of the hardware development industry to connect in an inherently mindful environment. The party has grown in size and success each year, with past co-hosts including names like MIT Media Lab and UNIT9.

The event’s liquor partner for 2020 was Victoria, BC-based Empress 1908 Gin, who sponsored an exclusive, invite-only 1920’s themed Speakeasy (yes, within the already invite-only party). The organizers of FOUNDERS & FRIENDS asked me to design an invitation that would be handed out by the hosts during the party to guests they wanted to connect with in the quieter environment of the Speakeasy.

Using the 20’s most recognizable arts movement of Deco as my guiding direction, I designed the bold and graphic invitation cards that were printed in a small batch of 100 on soft, extra thick black card stock with gold foil and white ink.

May 22, 2020

Sage Advice Liqueur

Sage Advice is an artisanal small batch whisky liqueur produced in BC’s Okanagan Valley that is available at select BC liquor stores. I was asked to design the packaging for the product, which included bottle labels and cap straps, each adorned with the Johnston family crest to harken back to the brand owner’s Scottish heritage.

So far, there have been 2 batches of Sage Advice that have been produced, with the second run having 470 bottles and incorporating gold and green metallic spot treatments on the labels.

CATEGORIES

Packaging Design
Illustration
Lettering & Type

CLIENT

Sage Advice

May 7, 2020

Survivor’s Guide to Opioids

The British Columbia Centre on Substance Use asked me to update their guide on opioid use that was targeted to opioid users and their loved ones. The goal of this project was to create something that was not clinical in nature, could be visually engaging, and was written by those that have personal experience with opioids and OAT (Opioid Agonist Treatment).

After several months of remote work and a trip to the BCCSU’s office to meet some of the guide’s writers, the 83 booklet came to life with raw and colourful illustrations, hand drawn typography, and a lot of critical information. The powerful cover illustration, provided by artist Hawkfeather Peterson, was my guiding inspiration for the look of the rest of the handbook.

I feel incredibly grateful to have had the opportunity to work on something that aims to empower opioid users to get the information they’re entitled to while they face a world full of stigma that can often offer little support. I also hope the handbook can offer support to family and loved ones who care about someone with addiction.

As of summer 2019, the handbook is available at various medical services providers around BC. You can read the online version on the BCCSU’s website.

CATEGORIES

Layout Design
Illustration
Lettering & Type

CLIENT

BCCSU

July 25, 2018

Cream Pop-Up Shop

CATEGORIES

Animation
Art Direction
Branding & Corporate Design
Lettering & Type

In 2018, collage artist Sarah Judge (NSFW) and I decided to set out on an ambitious endeavour to organize our own pop-up shop for summer that coincided with Vancouver Pride and would be offered as a sex-positive, queer friendly space for vendors and customers alike. We named the shop Cream after the song by Prince.

We collaborated on many assets in this project, starting with the event poster. Sarah created a collage background featuring a banana that turned into a fixture for promotional materials for Cream. I designed Cream’s logo by hand lettering in my sketchbook and tracing a vector version for a crisp, clean cursive result. A small splash flourishes off the end of the logo to help convey its creaminess.

Both of us being graphic designers, Sarah and I definitely considered that an advantage as all our social media posts on Instagram, Facebook and the Event page all included the same fun, floral and titillating variations on the poster. We were able to keep all promotional materials consistent and on-brand.

Outside of having retail vendors involved in Cream, we wanted to create an environment that would encourage customers to hang out and feel welcome at our shop. I crafted a sponsorship pitch deck and reached out to various small businesses in Vancouver and successfully landed Umaluma, a local shop that serves organic non-dairy gelato, which was followed by me creating promotional Umaluma graphics for our partnership.

Because I couldn’t help myself, I made an animated promotional video for the event. The song usage in this video is entirely unlicensed, but the song was integral as this can only be enjoyed with the sound on.

The Cream venue was decorated with roughly two dozen large vinyl bananas that could be easily applied and removed from the walls, and a vinyl graphic of the Cream logo for the front window. Giant inflatable pool floaties of a banana and rainbow were placed in the front display area with scattered postcards and varying merchandise from vendors to help attract interest from passers by.

Our hard work that included an ad-hoc digital campaign, Facebook event and printed postcards/posters that were placed around Vancouver proved successful as Cream had a great turnout over its 2-day run, with many customers ranging from friends, family to strangers who wanted to support small businesses and artists.

October 3, 2017

WAVAW Annual Report ’18

WAVAW Annual Report 2017-2018

2017-2018 was a transformative year for WAVAW Rape Crisis Centre, with a new Mission Statement & Vision broadening their services and outreach to a more diverse range of gender-identifying individuals.

A vibrant report was designed to reflect this new chapter in the organization’s life. As they are moving away from traditional printed reports, I designed it in a single page, pitch-deck-style that could be easily shared as a PDF or printed in-house if need be. This report also relied solely on illustrations and colour typography for visuals instead of incorporating photography with each program report.

With each passing year that I’ve designed WAVAW’s annual report, they have put more and more trust in me with my design concepts, and this year was the first where the art direction was 99.9% led by me, with almost no major changes to concept.

CATEGORIES

Editorial & Layout Design
Illustration
Art Direction

CLIENT

WAVAW Rape Crisis Centre

August 28, 2017

WAVAW Annual Report 2014-2015

WAVAW wanted to stay closer to their existing branding colours of Blue and Green as opposed to previous years’ annual report themes, so my focus was on a sobering front cover in Blue with the year’s tagline, “A Society Where All Women Are Free From Violence.”

The cold blue tone of the report is offset by the flowers, indicating beauty and hope for women who have suffered at the hands of patriarchy. The report’s typography layout was a classic, minimal magazine layout.

CATEGORIES

Layout & Editorial Design
Lettering & Type

CLIENT

WAVAW Rape Crisis Centre

February 2, 2017

Retro Futurism

Retro Futurism Collaboration

I was commissioned to make 3 original pieces of art for the MistyWest office in Vancouver in a collaboration with collage artist Design Judge (NSFW). As they are an engineering firm that primarily focuses on new technologies, the inspiration for the art was ‘the future’, but since Judge works with media that is often older than 50 years, the desired results were to represent a future that was envisioned in years past.

Judge provided all of the graphic material and created a different scene for each piece: The Sky, The City and The Beach. Knowing that I would be adding my own typographic touch to each piece, she left me negative space to work with, and the results were beyond both our expectations.

The phrases on each piece were carefully thought out and provided by members of the team at the firm, which fit the ethos and messaging of the company.

CATEGORIES

Lettering & Type

CLIENT

MistyWest

February 2, 2015

Only Child Apparel

Photos by Victoria Black / Wild Hearts Collective

Only Child Apparel

CATEGORIES

Art Direction
Lettering & Type
Branding & Corporate Identity

I was working for a custom t-shirt company and also volunteering at WAVAW Rape Crisis Centre in 2013 when I felt compelled to explore a cross-section of these two areas of my life. In this era before Beyonce’s FEMINIST moment at the VMAs, there was little to no market of feminist apparel, but I knew quite a few people who were begging to get their hands on some.

I launched my brand Only Child Apparel on Etsy with a mission of bringing visibility to intersectional feminism, and to donate a portion of each proceed WAVAW. No professional models were used for photo shoots; just people of a wide variety of body types, genders and ethnicities to reflect the dynamic range of humans we all are.

I designed the brand identity, graphics for the apparel, and eventually evolved the brand to carry enamel pins and coffee mugs. Over the course of my small business’s run, I sold over 1000 shirts to people all around the world, including countries like Sweden, Germany and New Zealand (to name a few) and my designs have been worn by comedians Jen Kirkman, Sara Benincasa and Jodie Sweetin of Fuller House.

I officially closed Only Child Apparel in early 2020, as it was time to move on to new ventures. Long live Only Child Apparel!

Photos by Jackie Dives Photography