Every year, as December winds down, I set aside a chunk of time to update my corporate identity. I use this as an opportunity to ask myself what has changed about my brand in the last year and to explore new design influences. Though, this isn’t all for fun — as a freelancer, I require [...]

I just finished up the 2010 identity for Nubbytwiglet.com. As a challenge, I create a new version each year. Last year’s can be seen here. The original exploration of the 2010 identity began last October. All of the type is done in two weights of DIN; 1451 Mittelschrift and 1451 Engschrift. From top to bottom: [...]

On Sunday morning, I had the pleasure of taking part in the CRAVE Business Chat: Local Inspiration alongside Sheryl Stewart, Kami Gray and Sandra Colton at Little Urbanites in Portland. For two hours, we shared our stories with the audience and answered questions about entrepreneurship. CRAVE did a great job of picking an intriguingly diverse [...]

Photography by Luke Copping Over the last few months, I’ve had the pleasure of working with Buffalo, New York based photographer Luke Copping. His images are sharp, engaging and stylish and he needed an identity to match. Of his work, Luke says: My images are all about style, creating it and changing it. I make [...]

On Monday night, I was invited to be part of the Creating A Killer Portfolio panel discussion at PNCA (Pacific Northwest College of Art) and shared my experiences with creating a portfolio and building a freelance design business. The conversation was moderated by Kelly Coller, the founder of OFFICE PDX, a business specializing in portfolio [...]

Photo by stickathing Often, I receive questions from my readers resembling the one below: I am a graphic designer that recently graduated and I just got a design job a few weeks ago. Eventually, I hope to be able to freelance. I was wondering how one should go about freelancing. What was your transition like [...]

I am currently in the beginning stages of formulating the look of my 2010 Identity. I’ve decided to drop Helvetica and switch to DIN for a sans serif typeface. And for a serif, I’m considering Bodoni Ultra. The black and white palette will most likely shift to a series of grays. Some older elements like [...]

I just received a copy of Super Identity, an amazing new book of branding concepts. Published by All Rights Reserved out of Hong Kong, it features nearly 300 pages jam-packed with the branding of top companies including American Apparel, Saks Fifth Avenue, Maison Martin Margiela, House of Holland and Uniqlo. It’s no secret that I [...]

Marketing yourself is hard work but it is also a necessity. Why? Good designers are a dime a dozen these days. Having a strong skill set isn’t enough anymore. An advanced knowledge of the Adobe Suite is just the beginning (and it’s easy to get overloaded by the Photoshop tutorials and free typefaces lurking around [...]

Dr. Sketchy’s Anti-Art School was founded in 2005 by New York’s own Molly Crabapple. How is Dr. Sketchy’s different from your typical life drawing class? Molly claims that “In normal life classes, silent students sit in a silent room and draw a bored, oft-uninteresting model. In Dr. Sketchy’s, we’ve got scandalous performers as models. We’ve [...]