1 & 2 Thessalonians Sermon Series

This artwork is a little older, but I realized I never posted it so I wanted to get it up here! This is the design for the Thessalonians series at GHCC. The theme of "Staying Strong, Living Ready" made me think of a lighthouse. Always firmly built on solid rock and shining a light faithfully rain or shine is the type of people we are called to be in the church. I thought the image was fitting for the series and I am happy with how the photo manipulation work that I did on it turned out.

Project: Thessalonians Sermon Series artwork
Client: Golden Hills Community Church

Jude Sermon Series

Here is the artwork I made for the Jude sermon series at GHCC. With the theme throughout the book being "contending for the faith", the image that first came to mind was a boxer or a wrestler.

To hear the messages that the art was created for, visit Golden Hills' media page.

Project: Jude sermon series
Client: Golden Hills Community Church

GHCC Winter Camp 2013: Empower Brochure

As promised, here's the brochure for GHCC's Middle School and High School Winter Camp. The theme is Empower, with the goal of helping the students encounter the person and power of the Holy Spirit. The main imagery is a lightbulb, which we are using as an analogy for the students to see how the Holy Spirit works in and through them, much like electricity does through a lightbulb. On its own a lightbulb is worthless, until it is empowered by electricity.

Hope you like it! Visit empower-wintercamp.com for more info about the camp itself or to download a registration form if you are in Middle School or High School.

Project: Winter Camp brochure
Client: GHCC Student Ministries
Details: 5"x5" tri-fold brochure

Empower Logo

Just wanted to quickly share the logo design for this year's GHCC Youth Winter Camps. The theme is "Empower". I'm sure the brochure and apparel design will be shared within the next month, so I'll talk more about it then!

Project: Winter Camp Identity Design
Client: Golden Hills Student Ministries

Inspiration: New Wendy's Logo

Wendy's recently revealed a new logo update that will hit their stores in March 2013. Wendy's is one of my favorite fast-food places because the quality feels so much better than other fast-food restaurants...and supposedly that is the driving force behind this re-brand. Wendy's wants their logo to be indicative of a more high-end hamburger joint.

But does the re-brand work?

My initial reaction was one of extreme dislike. This logo is so different than the logo I have known my whole life (Wendy's has had the same logo since 1983). Gone is the classic, old-style red box, old-style letterforms, and the 8-year old girl has been given a face-lift. It was hard for me to picture this new image on the restaurant.

After a little time of looking at it, I see that the illustration of the girl really is a big improvement. Much more detail, the pigtails look much more natural, and she looks friendly and cute. She has been moved into a real circle (no longer a slight oval) and she is free and has room to breathe now. I would give the illustration re-design a 9/10 and call it a success.

The type is still the area I am not a fan of. I just feel like this type design is pretty lazy and not very interesting. It has kept the trademark Wendy's "wave", but the style is all new. It does stand out as different from most of the other fast-food hamburger chains, so I will give them that, but gone is the look of a classic hamburger chain! I would have been totally happy if they made just slight tweaks to the original type, and then gave it the same treatment of moving it out of the box and into whitespace. I think it would have made the logo feel fresh, but still keep it familiar. It also really bugs me that the apostrophe is a different color than the rest of the letterforms (it has the same red color as the highlights of her hair). Why? I have no idea. And to be fair, this may just be a result of this image that is circulating the internet. On Wendy's official site, the apostrophe does look like the same color as the rest. I would give the type a 6/10.

So after some time, I feel like I can accept this new Wendy's logo (as if I had a choice). I am not in love with the type treatment, but I do think the new logo overall feels fresh and inviting and I will keep eating at Wendy's. I think I am addicted to the Baconator anyway. I would probably give the overall logo 8/10, which I would consider a success.

Hebrews Theme Poster

This is the theme promo poster for Kairos' current series on the book of Hebrews. The theme is called Christ: The Better Way, and the imagery was designed to emphasize the analogy Jesus created of the broad vs. narrow way to the Kingdom of God. One leads to destruction, and one leads to life. This was a pretty ambitious Photoshop project for me, as I am not a big Photoshop guy, so I got some help from some tutorials and had a lot of fun experimenting to get the final result.

Project: Christ: The Better Way, Hebrews Theme Poster
Client: Kairos, GHCC Young Adult Ministry
Details: 17x11" Poster

Identity Design: Empty

Here is the identity design for the GHCC Student Ministries theme for 2012–2013, Empty. I had some fun with the letterforms for this logotype, removing the tops and hollowing out the letters to make them resemble empty drinking glasses. The posters (see after the jump) are images that convey a feeling of emptiness, edited to fit in with the theme colors.

Inspiration: New Microsoft Logo

"Too simple." That's the main complaint that I have heard about Microsoft's new logo. However, I personally think this logo is a step up from their previous version. They have gotten rid of the big bold italic letters and used a simple, clean typeface that is similar to—but not the same as—the one used in their Windows brand (a typeface called Segoe UI). Yes, it is simple. Yes, it is "boring". But you know exactly who this is when you see it. And boring logos are not necessarily bad if they are used properly. There are plenty of logos that are very simple that are used in unique and classy ways, and we will not know if Microsoft plans to achieve this until they attempt to.

But overall, I would say that this logo is a step up visually and does a good job of capturing the same look that Microsoft has been implementing in their materials for some time.

What do you think?

Receiving the Blessing Poster

This is the poster for the upcoming Men's Breakfast at GHCC. The theme is based around Genesis 32, specifically the portion where Jacob wrestles with an angel from God and refuses to quit until God blesses him. It is a very strange story, but one that is also very interesting and that can apply to us today. I found this great illustration of the story and played around with it and roughed it up to give it a worn old illustration look.

Client: Core, GHCC Men's Ministries
Details: 11x17" Poster

Saint K Album Art

Today is the release date for Saint K's debut, full-length album, Why I'm Here. I was privileged to be able to work on the album art. You can download this album for FREE for a limited time by visiting saintk.com, Amazon, or iTunes.

Project: Album Art
Client: Saint K
Details: 4.75x4.75" CD insert sleeve

Backpacking Trip Flyer & Poster

This is the promotion for the upcoming Kairos Guy's Backpacking Trip. I wanted to give this flyer and poster a similar look and feel to the Kairos Coloma Camping promo stuff, since it falls under the same category. Wish I could go!

Client: Kairos, GHCC Young Adult Ministry
Details: 4x10" Flyer and 11x17" Poster

Book of Daniel Poster

Each year, Golden Hills spends 18–20 weeks with a course covering a book of the Bible (or in the case of last year, two books), and this year's topic is the book of Daniel. Most people know the book of Daniel for the story of Daniel in the lion's den, which is what I tried to connect with the image of the lion in the poster. But the book of Daniel has so much more in there, from the stories of Daniel's friends, to the stories of historical Babylon, the prophecies of the end times, and stories of the exiles of Israel. It is a book jammed full of interesting symbolism, exciting stories, and also some frightening revelations.

This poster was a fun one to work on, and I had free reign to do with it what I wanted. I kept the sizing similar to previous series for the sake of continuity, but other than that I really had fun exploring and designing the small collage of images I created.

Project: Daniel Promo
Client: Golden Hills Community Church
Details: 17x6" Poster

Identity Design: Misfits

This is the theme identity for GHCC Middle School & High School's summer theme, called Misfits. The look was designed to resemble old 8-bit video games. This was a really fun theme for me to work on since I love video games, and the 8-bit look was actually a little more work than I thought it would be (who knew that actually making the graphics look pixellated is tough when you are doing it intentionally!).

The theme is intended to play on the idea that Christians recognize that this world is not our home and that we are Misfits if we are doing our job correctly for Christ.

Project: Misfits Theme Design
Client: GHCC Student Ministries

Kairos Picnic Flyer

Here's a fun flyer for the Kairos Picnic this week. The design is pretty simple, with an emphasis on the typography.

Client: Kairos, GHCC Young Adult Ministry
Details: 4"x10" flyer

Authority Poster

This is the new poster for the Summer theme at Kairos, titled Authority. The theme explores the authority given to Jesus is all aspects of the world and I created some icons to help highlight some specific areas (the world, death, nature, healing, the church). I went with an ancient world style to help represent that Jesus had this authority from before the world began and it fit in with the classic iconography of the courthouse columns to represent authority figures that I wove into the background.

Project: Authority Theme
Client: Kairos, GHCC Young Adult Ministry
Details: 6"x17" Poster

Children's Ministry Impact Poster

This is the summer recruitment campaign image for GHCC's Children's Ministries that I put together. The main brochure for the ministry features paint textures, so I wanted the focus to be on the reveal of the word IMPACT as a paint texture.

I was inspired by this tutorial that I came across a while ago and I was glad to be able to try it out, with my own modifications to fit the purpose of this poster.

Project: Summer Recruitment Poster
Client: GHCC Children's Ministries
Details: 6.5"x17" poster

Special Needs Logo

Here's the new look for GHCC's Special Needs Ministry, their program for children with special needs. The Special Needs Ministry offers kids with special needs a place to play and learn. Their parents have a place to leave their children safely while they go to church, with the knowledge that their child will be taken care of and cared for.

Project: Special Needs logo design
Client: Golden Hills Community Church Children's Ministry

Song of Songs Poster

Song of Songs: From Courtship to Covenant is the new theme for Kairos for the next few weeks. We wanted the look of this to have a heavy romantic vibe and put the emphasis on the rings to signify the covenant between a husband and a wife that Song of Songs is leading up to. I wanted this to be a really tall poster and I used the fabric lines in the background to help accentuate that.

Song of Songs is not a book that I have had a lot of opportunity to tackle as a graphic designer, so I really enjoyed exploring the themes and imagery in this book and finding a simple solution that hopefully will intrigue people to come check it out and will represent the theme of the messages as well.

Project: Song of Songs theme and poster design
Client: Kairos, GHCC Young Adult Ministry
Details: 5.25x16.75" poster

Wunderfest Fundraiser Promo

This is a set of promo materials I just developed for a fundraiser coming up to support the work of GHCC missionaries, Marty & Carol Pelton. Since they are returning home from Germany, and the fundraiser features an authentic German meal, I tried to develop the look based on old German-style posters with bright, bold colors and simplistic illustration. I wanted the illustrations to invite thoughts of spring countryside picnics where people enjoy God's creation and a good time.

Project: Fundraiser Promo Materials
Client: Golden Hills Community Church
Details: 11x17" Poster, 5.5x8.5" Flyer, Ticket

GHCC Easter Flyers 2012

Easter is coming up fast! I had to get these flyers out a little earlier than years past because Easter is so early this time. I found this great image of an empty tomb and with a little editing I made it fit great into this year's Easter flyers for Golden Hills.

Project: Easter Flyers
Client: Golden Hills Community Church
Details: 3.67" x 8.5" Double-Sided Flyer

Updates

So I have been away from the blog for about a month, but not for lack of a good reason.

On February 27th, my wife and I welcomed our 2nd son into the world! He is a healthy, cute kid named Owen and we love him like crazy. So between trying to catch up on sleep, taking time off work, and taking care of our other little munchkin, I haven't been able to post updates on here as often as I like.

And today is the 2nd birthday of my other son, Levi! Happy birthday, buddy. I love you!

So it's been a big month for us and I plan on resuming posting some new work very soon. If you follow the blog, thanks for your patience with me!

Mayor's Prayer Breakfast Promo

I was asked again to do the promotional materials for the Antioch Mayor's Prayer Breakfast, which takes place on the National Day of Prayer. And even though this design is not completely finalized, I wanted to share it!

I really wanted the look of this year's materials to be very bright and cheerful, emphasizing the morning sunrise (since this is an early 7am prayer time for the community). I chose an image that I thought reflected the look of the Antioch area and tried to just let it speak for itself.

This is an event open to the public through ticket sales, so I also designed the tickets to accompany the poster and flyer.

Project: Promo Materials for Mayor's Prayer Breakfast
Client: City of Antioch
Details: 11x17" Poster, 5.5x8.5" Flyer, and Tickets

Inspiration: AMS Design Blog

I wanted to share a design blog I recently discovered. The artist is Anneke Short, and she is brilliant at coming up with and finding inspiring art pieces, especially posters. The blog is a place where she posts a lot of her inspirations and I really enjoy scrolling through from time to time to see what other artists she is looking at. I wanted to share a link to some posters I saw today that I had not seen before, entitled "Confessions of a Designer". If you ever wanted a brief glimpse inside the head of a graphic designer, I think that these quotes are a good start. If you like these, I encourage you to take a look at some of her other work and the work she posts from other people who have inspired her.

AMS Design Blog

Inspiration: New DC Logo

I am a big comic book fan. So despite this news being a few weeks old, I could not resist the urge to talk about it. I saw this logo change a few weeks ago when it first became public, and I have thought about it enough since then that I thought I should share it on the blog.

DC Entertainment (under which DC Comics falls) is one of the heavy hitters in the comic book industry. Most people around the globe recognize their characters, the most famous being Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, etc. So changing the iconic logo of the company is a pretty big deal for those that follow the comics.

The logo change coincides with DC's decision to re-launch it's famous characters' storylines in DC Comics — The New 52. A good time to change the logo since many of the comics are changing. But does the logo change hold up?

Since this change was revealed a few weeks ago, I have had some time to see the reaction around the blog-o-sphere and critiques from a few design houses. The feedback has not been overly positive. Many people feel the new logo lacks the heroic look of previous versions. What do I think?

Rejuvenate Tea Packaging

Here's a project from my portfolio archives. One of my projects from the Academy of Art was to design the packing for a new tea company. I created Rejuvenate Tea, based out of famous Boston Harbor and specializing in boxed teas to compete with companies like Tazo and Constant Comment. I started with 4 flavors, each distinguished by color and a numbering system so it is easy for customers to find their favorite flavor on the store shelf (can't remember the name of it? Just remember #4). This was one of my favorite projects to do, and making the boxes from scratch and figuring out how to assemble them was a real learning experience.

See more photos after the jump.

Free Vector Fruit Characters

Normally, this blog is just a way for me to show work I have recently completed, but today I am doing something a little different! Just for fun, I am giving away free vector versions of some characters I created for the GHCC Summer Squeeze last year. Feel free to use these on any non-commercial project. Enjoy!

Click here to download the EPS file: DOWNLOAD

Converge Men's Retreat 2012 Brochure

I was recently asked again to design the artwork and promo materials for the Converge PacWest Men's Retreat coming up in March. The theme of Fighting the Good Fight is one that will challenge men to be soldiers for Christ, so I wanted the emphasis to be simple and all about the armor of God. If you are interested in learning more about the retreat, visit convergepacwest.com.

Project: Men's Retreat promo materials
Client: Converge PacWest
Details: 8.5x11", single-fold brochure

GHCC Winter Camp Brochure 2012

Here's the just-released brochure for GHCC's Winter Camp called The Crash. You can see previous items designed for the camp here and here. To learn more, visit www.thecrash.me and sign up! I am really excited with how the brochure turned out.

Project: Event Brochure
Client: GHCC Student Ministries
Details: 5"x15", Tri-fold Brochure

Faithful in Prayer

This is my 4th year designing the church-wide campaign devotional book covers for GHCC (see 2011 and 2010) and the books are printed and ready to go.

This year's theme, Faithful in Prayer, is focused on learning more about why we pray and how to pray the way Jesus intended. The key image I chose for the cover is of this elderly man in intense prayer. I really liked this image because who the man is could be left open to interpretation. Is he a grandfather? A prophet? A homeless man? A priest? The point is that it does not matter WHO we think he is, but that he is intimately speaking to God. The image is cropped really close on the man's face and hands to try to capture the intimacy of this time the man is having with his Heavenly Father.

Client: Golden Hills Community Church
Details: 8.5"x11" Book