Too often, beautiful stories are presented within utilitarian pages. My goal is to support the artistry of the writing with artistry in the layout and cover design.

With this book cover, I visually translated John Muir’s message that a common lizard is as important and as beautiful as an extravagant Sierra lily. I chose the color palette to reference that of the Sierra foothills in summer.

I typeset the jacket material and book content, created illustrations and dropcaps, and wrote the About the Author copy.

To adapt a quote from Toni Morrison, if there is a magazine you want to read but it doesn’t exist, you must create it.

Here I incorporated my original writing and photography in article layouts, plus invented the title logo and article headings to envision a magazine I would definitely want to subscribe to.

I also designed the ad and the product featured in it.

Read the full article here.

I once saw a movie where the main character quits his job as a greeting card designer to pursue his dream of becoming an architect. All I could think was, Dude, I want your greeting card job.

Here I’ve stylized one of my favorite subjects—birds—for use on stationery as well as home goods and accessories.

Chemeketa Press produces affordable textbooks authored by the instructors who teach the classes.

As a member of the design team, I worked primarily on a health and fitness textbook, laying out content and creating more than 70 custom graphs, charts, and infographics on a tightly compressed timeline. I also created a style guide to ensure the graphics serve as legible, consistent, and effective aids to student comprehension.

This project was a team effort to create from scratch a complete magazine for design students. I laid out and typeset articles, conducted and wrote the feature interview, illustrated the cover, named the magazine, and wrote the tagline and article headlines.

Here I’ve envisioned a brewing company whose brand uses vivid colors and stylized illustrations to celebrate the varied landscapes of Oregon and the enchantment of nighttime.

I love designing holiday cards because it allows the unabashed use of words like peace and joy.

I was honored to create the 2018 holiday e-card for Chemeketa’s Office of the President, and it was fun to dip into my photos from Salem’s last big snowstorm.

For this poster promoting a play commissioned to raise funds for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, I interpreted the storyline with a custom illustration and included all the information the client requested. I then adapted the design to a t-shirt and website banner.

The challenge in this design was to fit a large amount of information in a limited page count while ensuring readability in a dimly lit theater. I further challenged myself to create an appealing visual experience within the constraints of budget-conscious grayscale.

People ask me if I have a personal connection with quail. As it happens, I do. But then, I have a connection with all animals—we all do because we’re all earthlings!

I chose a quail for my logo mascot because my job is communication and quail happen to wear quotation marks on their heads. (Plus, their call is so dang cute.)

I started with a photo I took years ago that isn’t a great photo, but I’ve always loved its songful gesture. I made it into a line drawing, and then I pared back some details and rounded some curves to logo it up. Topped it off with a single quotation mark from the typeface Lust Script, and bam, my mark was made.

Shout out to that singing quail for posing for his (not-so) closeup and inspiring me.

I crafted this design concept for a local artisan soap maker with the goal of differentiating the business from other manufacturers of personal body products. I was delighted by the business owners’ story and philosophy and I set out to capture their unique value both by writing the copy and creating fresh, whimsical imagery.

The concept shows the home page and an interior page in both desktop and mobile formats.