Valparaiso University Junior Year Mailing Series

Aimed at Juniors in college, these brochures featured a more vibrant palette and layout than much of my Valparaiso work. My goal in these pieces was to create connections between 16 year old juniors in high school and 21 year old college juniors. To do that I art directed a photo-shoot that featured a variety of university related activities that the high school students could relate to. It was through these connections that I hoped to spur interest in the university and facilitate campus visits.

The second brochure here took that step further and introduced high schoolers to campus life and the surrounding community. It followed along with the same design language but was produced in a slightly larger format to accommodate larger photos and more detailed descriptions of campus life.

Valparaiso University Admissions Poster & Visit Mailer

As the University's prospective Juniors became Seniors, I felt our design language had to evolve. As studies show, this is the point where parents start to become increasing involved in the decision making process. Gone were the bright bold primary colors that introduced Valpo. Instead I wanted to focus on a more traditional collegate look and feel. So there was a subtle but distinct shift in typography and colors as students got closer to the application process. The subsequent change in photography and liberal usage the University's official seal were aimed as much at parents as they were students.

Valparaiso University Mailing Series and Branding Exercise

This collection of pieces was designed to be sent out to admitted students of the University and one of the final steps in our series. It's language and design were aimed as much at the parent as the prospectice high school student.

The look of these pieces was inspired by the history and heritage of the University. This history, while being rich and long, had been often overlooked in a marketing and design sense. Therefore, the University's image has always seemed to lack the typical higher education heritage of many of its peer schools.

The idea was to present this heritage while using current photography and modern design principles to give these pieces a timeless quality. The first two images here are of the "Admitted Student Pocket Folder". It was an idea that we had toyed with the year prior but hadn't enough time to create the complete package. It was mailed out as the first item admitted students would get upon learning they were accepted to the University. It was also to hold all of the important paperwork and brochures designed to help them with their transition from high school to Valparaiso. The piece introduced a design language that would represent the University for years to come. It exceeded all of our expectations in becoming a staple at any freshman orientation or welcome session. It was even reportedly seen at several other colleges' visit days as students' primary means of organizing all their collegiate material.

The second piece (third image) is one of a family of envelopes used during this mailing series. It also introduced the imagery that would be seen throughout the collection.

The fourth, fifth, and sixth images are of the Financial Aid brochure. This piece follows the same principles with its duotone photography and its two-color printing.

The seventh image in this series is of the Valparaiso University catalog. A university catalog is an extremely important piece in that its content exemplifies the university itself. At an inch thick, the book's design carried quite a bit of weight. It was created to extend the new design language (initiated by the "Pocket Folder") to all of the University. This book would have been one of the first things sent to the students after being admitted to the University. It follows the look of the other pieces yet lives up to a different standard as a university catalog. It is the very image of classic design with well-defined yet subtle lines and a timeless quality.

The idea of this collection was to bolster the view of the University as a higher end center of learning with all of the history and heritage of some of the more prestigious private universities. This was to be done while reiterating the value of the education.

Valparaiso University Freshman Core Brochure

The Valpo Core is a freshman course that emphasizes experience and self thought. I felt the brochure had to be dramatic yet academic because of these aspects. Understated color and dramatic discussion oriented photographs lend themselves to this philosophy well.

This was a two-color tri-fold due to our limited budget. I believe the fact we had this limitation is one of the reasons this piece was so successful. It was to the point and not saddled with unneeded content or design.

* The front of the brochure is on the right side of the first page. The left side is the flap that folds back and the center panel is the back of the brochure itself. The design used colors and interface elements that were subtle in their execution and allowed attention to be focused on the pages that were being sold to the customer.

Valparaiso University Athletics Brochure

Tons of text, two colors, and very little room were the starting points for this project. It began with a clean sheet on Monday and it was to the printer that Friday. This brochure was to be handed out to prospective students at campus interviews and more importantly to be displayed on the school's table at college fairs. The cover had to be to the point, very clean, and easy to read.

It had to not only demonstrate the University's various athletic teams but it had to speak to the school's image of upstanding sportsmanship demonstrated time and time again in the NCAA Tournament by the basketball team.

In general, the brochure had to uphold the classic modern look that was the design philosophy of the University.

* This brochure was a two-color tri-fold that included a reply card.

Channel Velocity Print Collateral

Part of the process in building the Channel Velocity brand and delivering it's message was to create a family of print pieces. The collateral was intended to do a couple of things. First and foremost delivery of the CV message to potential customers in a clear and concise manner. Secondly to extend the design language into the print world. The latter point was essential for a new brand.

Socrates Media / Legal Forms

Socrates Media is in the business of selling everything from self-help legal guides, to small business HR forms and everything in between. I was charged with designing and managing the entire process (including 4 other designers) and completely revamping the entire line of products - over 200 in total. The two images seen here are from the Legal Form selection and illustrate the overall design of the entire line.

The look and feel was crafted after several user research group sessions. We felt that a clean look and the reliance on bold colors both helped give the product an air of authority as well as trustworthiness.

Over 200 different products were launched simultaneously in all major office stores (Office Depot/Office Max/Staples) in June of 2004. By the time the launch was complete, Socrates had over 5000 products available. Working with printers and organzing all associated files for the project, while fairly trouble free, was an intense experience!

Part of my responsibilities at Socrates Media was also to design not only product but to create an entire corporate design language. Within this responsibility I did everything from business cards to stationary, as well as full design standards. I created standards from corporate font usage to proper logo placement and usage.

These two images are good examples of some of the work I've done. The first is a design for our business card. I wanted to go with something that was clean and modern. With that in mind I designed the card with beveled edges to increase its strength as well as tie in with our current branding. On the back I tried something a bit different. Knowing that our executives had wanted space on the back of the card to write numbers or notes I designed an area directly onto the card that would encourage that type of usage.

The second image is an example of a piece of environment design I've created for the new office space. As a fairly comfortable and casual office I thought it was important for the signage to reflect that directly. Also playing off the color-coded tabs we use for different product families, I decided to color code our various departments in an effort to give them and their responsibilities more of a connection to the actual product.

High Sierra Sport Company / Corporate Collateral

High Sierra Sport Company needed a new, more cohesive look for it's corporate collateral. HSSC has a corporate logo and a one major brand logo to work into the equation beyond the typical elements that are expected in corporate collateral.

So the layout that I proposed was a look that combined a several elements that could be easily rearranged and reused in for circumstances and uses.

The Scient Postcard

This was a postcard that was sent out to clients inviting them to a roundtable discussion with our CEO. It was one of the first pieces designed after our reorganization and new look.

The colors represented a big shift away from a typical Scient look of the time. The use of the white and black Scient logo along with other design details brought new elements into our language of design and created a simpler, cleaner look and feel.

Sara Lee Experience Room

These images are two of five that were completed for this client. The boards were designed to incorporate several of the client's online design themes with the typical Scient look. They were finished within two days.

They were created for what we called an experience room. A room that would take the place of the normal the typical PowerPoint presentation. This room would allow the client to walk through the room (complete with five boards measuring 48x60 hanging from the ceiling) and literally walk through the process that we have to come up with solutions.

The room was designed with special lighting and an edited audio track completed with SoundEdit 16. The room also had a QuickTime presentation broadcast via a large screen TV complete with all of the Sara Lee brands.

Charis Initial Logo design

Charis connects post-education, pre-children Lutheran young adults via an network of both electronic and personal means. It is an organization that was founded by a friend of mine in the summer of 2001.

Charis came to me with an idea of a Christian based organization that was different then many of the stereotypical ones out there today. They wanted to cater to young professionals in an urban setting. People who generally had little time for typical Church groups. What they wanted was a look that spoke to this savvy, young audience.

They wanted a look that was symbolic of several things without hitting you over the head with them. In short they wanted something that was sophisticated, yet fun. Something that would be at home on business cards and brochures as well as t-shirts.

There will be many more pieces in this family developed over the coming months.