PROBLEM SPACE

Danner knew its logo was creating production problems, particularly when injection molded, but not exactly what in the mark was to blame or what needed to change. The challenge was to simplify the mark without losing what made it Danner.

PROJECT SUMMARY

I knew where the trouble was: dense details in the mark were obvious failure points at small sizes. Then I discovered the original art was gone. The primary logo file was a vector trace of a photocopy already generations removed from it.

What I expected to be a straightforward recut became a reconstruction. I enlarged and compared the surviving versions, using their curves and stroke logic to recover the intent of the original handdrawn forms.

The riskiest part was changing two of the mark’s most recognizable characteristics, they were the same details causing the production problems. I kept that concern in sight, but ironically enough, the changes that solved the injection-molding issue actually made the signature read more clearly. The logo looked more like Danner by changing two of the things that had arguably come to define it.

Agency: Kamp Grizzly

Creative Director: Haven Anderson

Art Direction, Design, Identity, Branding, UX

What will the future look like?

Revelar is the world’s first device that uses breath to detect and measure free radical damage. Each test delivers a score to help patients and practitioners determine a course of action to lower their risk of free radical damage and live longer, healthier lives.

At first Revelar sounds like science fiction but it isn't. I had the opportunity to define/direct core design intent, engage with scientists to create a measurement system to communicate test results, and unravel/rethink a complex portal structure with medical/legal needs and implications for a better experience.

Agency: Liquid

Creative Director: Kylie Emers

Identity, Branding & Publication Design

I was brought on to infuse dynamism to the layout of the Rejuvenation catalog and enhance the retail experience. You could feel the excitement building in the employees with every new project. The brand had a new confidence. After a year and a half, Rejuvenation was purchased by Williams-Sonoma, concluding my involvement on a high note.

Studio: the Felt Hat

Creative Directors: Nicole Misiti, Don Rood & Paul Mort

ADIDAS NEMEZIZ SEEDING KIT

Concept and design for the adidas Nemeziz Football seeding kit. Footwear contained within a simple clear tube with impactful design helped this kit break through the steady stream of influencer seeding kits.

Client: adidas Football

Agency: Roundhouse (Ladd Arundel, Michael Brooks, Stephanie Diede, Alan Foster, Paul Glazier, Mitch Morse)

Creative Director: Mitch Morse

BRAND IDENTITY

PROBLEM SPACE

The assignment was to create the most minimal logo and business card possible. Then the creative director turned it into a dare:

“You said you were a minimalist. Let’s see how minimal you can be.”

PROJECT SUMMARY

What is minimal, really? I took the challenge literally. If I kept removing graphic elements, eventually the material itself would have to do more of the work. A few simple folds turned a flat piece of paper into form. Form gave light somewhere to fall, creating highlights and shadows that changed as the business card moved. Instead of adding another graphic element, the physical world supplied one.

Pick it up and the design changes with the light around you. What began as a challenge to see how much I could remove ended with something I never expected and didn’t have to add: the light and shadows of the moment.

Studio: the Felt Hat

Creative Directors: Nicole Misiti & Don Rood

Defined Visual Style and UX narrative for Portal Experience.

Creative Direction, Identity, Environmental Design, Lifestyle 

Crossbar is a vintage-hockey themed restaurant and bar in the heart of downtown Anchorage, Alaska. Co-founder, Brock Lindow first described it to me this way, ”It’s a place where you’ll dress to the nines – take your lady out for dinner, then stick around to watch the Stanley Cup Finals."

Crossbar is a time machine. It reconnects with warm memories and dreams of future victories, while inviting you into the moment that’s happening right now. The plates are familiar but unexpected – curated but not stuffy. It’s a place that celebrates heritage and the love of hockey. 

Initial discovery and thematic explorations drove the project, framed the needs and defined the language of the creative conversation. More so, the themes seemed to put themselves into archetypical buckets: Hero, Fight, Win, Team, Plan and Rink (Home).

In hockey, the crossbar is the top horizontal bar of the goal (the red metal frame that holds the net). It’s literally the line that separates victory from defeat. The Crossbar identity system centers around the same thin red line.

Art Direction, Photo Direction, UX , Icon System, Color System

A group of fine artists would use the Jive platform to collaborate. What they make would be used as the brand elements. 

I was asked to conceive a set of constraints and brief for the artists, as well as a design framework that would ensure the success of the campaign no matter what they came up with. Working with talented designers, we realized our goal.

 Agency: Liquid

Creative Director: Scott Donnell

Creative Direction & Design