The project: Update the brand identity of a nearly 30-year-old firm, Manning & Kass, Ellrod, Ramirez, Trester LLP, to better represent who the firm is and where it’s going.

The result: A completely new look from top to bottom. What started with simply shortening the name to “Manning Kass” turned into a new logo, new website, new social media identities, and more. The logo represents the firm’s strong history and tradition of excellence while keeping an eye on the future. I was the creative lead on all elements of the project, and there wasn’t a piece that I didn’t have some hand in, if I didn’t build it myself.

In November 2020, I accepted a position for the website PitcherList.com and their sister site, QBList. As a passionate baseball fan, landing a role making graphics centered around baseball was a dream job.

As part of a 150+ member staff, my main priority is to work with writers to create graphics for a variety of articles. Deadlines are strict and turnaround times are short, but it is an incredibly creative and fun environment.

In addition to graphics for articles, I’ve created content for social media, videos, and podcasts.

Occasionally, I have been asked to contribute to data sets and polls, and to write articles. Here is an example of one.

The project: Re-introduce a brand. Food Over Drugs started in 2013 by founder, Sheela Mahdavi, with its mission to educate and shift society back into the use of whole foods and plants as medicine. With an established social media following, a variety of public appearances and articles written about her and her company, the goal was to create a new way to introduce her brand and mission to a new audience, and re-introduce her to her existing audience.

The result: Using bright, colorful images, combined with new and innovative recipes, the results speak for themselves. The ebook is bright, colorful, inviting, and easy to understand. One of my core values as a designer is to let the content speak for itself, and that often means keeping the design simple. The bold images, contrasted by the simple black and white color scheme, make for a modern look. The ebook is easy to process, no matter what type of device you are reading it on.

Brand identity and brand management are two of my strengths as a graphic designer. I enjoy establishing a logo and marketing tools for companies, from startups and individuals to massive corporations with hundreds of employees. Identifying with the goals of a company or individual and expressing that visually is a skill I've discovered as a designer and it's one that I enjoy using often.

I've been asked to illustrate several products throughout my career. Illustrating is something that every artist is good at and while learning to trade in my pencils and pens for a mouse and keyboard was a transition, it's one that I've embraced. Digitally illustrating products allows companies and customers to see a variety of options in size, color, accessories, and other variables. This also eliminates dealing with issues that photography presents, such as angles, lighting, and condition of the product.

In addition to professionally illustrating products, I also illustrate and create products as personal work. I truly love what I do, and that separates me from others in my field. I bring passion and energy to every single project I work on. You'll see some of my personal work below.

While this is not the primary focus of my career, I've been asked to take photos professionally several times. I focus on capturing the person, and usually do not give much instruction to the model - instead, letting the person act naturally and capturing who the person really is and authentic emotion.

For Manning & Kass employees, the annual retreat is an event that everyone looks forward to. It’s an opportunity to socialize with coworkers that may work in other practices or offices, and to celebrate everything that happened in the last year.

After three years of virtual retreats, 2022 presented the chance to get together in Palm Springs. To say it was great to see everyone again was an understatement, and the pressure was high to make this a memorable event. I created the assets you see here as part of the overall experience. The goal was to create memorable images and graphics that created excitement about the event and encourage people to attend. To that end, I believe we succeeded.

In 2021 I worked with iMT Residential, a national property management company, to update and refresh a variety of their materials. As the world shut down in 2020, they transitioned all of their materials for current and prospective clients to be digital. As things started to open up again in 2021, they wanted to bring back printed materials, and update the look and feel. I worked with the team to create templates for their booklets and insert pages. The results are below and are used in dozens of their properties nationwide.

The project: Design custom content for the annual firm toy drive, benefiting children between the ages of 2 months to 18 years old who are living in foster homes. The project required an announcement that could be adjusted depending on how much time was remaining in the drive, cards with the name, age, and wish lists of the children. These designs would be printed and displayed in a unique design in the firm's cafeteria that would appeal to the employees of the firm, as well as through email. 

The result: Over 300 children received a variety of gifts for the holiday season. All of the cards were picked up in less than three weeks, a record for the event. The firm continues to receive overwhelmingly positive feedback from the organization that fosters the children.

This has been a campaign I’ve worked on for the last four years, and in the last two, I have become the lead on it. During that time, the number of money and toys donated has increased, as has the capacity for the number of children, a result of the fine work and results we achieve every year. It is one of my proudest professional achievements.

The project: Create a unique identity for each Lewis Brisbois office under the Lewis Brisbois’ brand that could be used in a variety of ways.

The result: Using the color scheme from the firm’s logo, the gradient overlay was created, using skyline images or unique identifiers of the area. The images are used on the company website, social media accounts, printed signage, PowerPoint presentations, and proposals, amongst others.

The problem: revitalize a publication that hadn’t had a new edition in over three years. Highlight the company, it’s product line, and specific case studies. All in time for an upcoming trade show, where potentially hundreds of millions of dollars in sales were on the line.

The result: A beautiful magazine was released in time for the 2015 ProMat conference, and was then distributed to hundreds of current and potential clients. The 80-page document was created essentially from scratch, and featured case studies, bold and beautiful images, and showcased the best that Interlake Mecalux is capable of. I spoke with sales staff in the United States and overseas to find out the story behind the job that was accomplished. I contracted a photographer and traveled to New Jersey to speak to a client, taking pictures of the job Interlake Mecalux had completed for them, then wrote up the article for the magazine. Everything from the layout, to photo selection, to copywriting and copy editing, to paper type was designed and chosen by me. It was a huge undertaking but resulted in millions of dollars in sales in 2015 and beyond.

See the full magazine here.

I’ve been asked to create a variety of pieces for various marketing goals throughout my career. Below are some examples of these pieces.