KU Schedule Card
There also was a matching poster to go with the schedule card. The photograph was embellished with contrast and the KU colors in Photoshop. ❦
Admark Newsletter
Each of us at Admark had to come up with an idea for a photograph that, in some kooky and creative way, portrayed ourselves. I'm not sure what this meant other than I used to be a florist, died, and was reincarnated as an artist. Each employee’s photo was featured in the agency's quarterly newsletter. R.I.P. ❦
Spyder National Ad
While with Callahan Creek, I created this ad with a 3D application and photography and composited it in Photoshop. The image depicts a tough Spyder saw blade that cuts three ways, easily cutting its way through the wallboard. This concept had attitude and did a great job expressing what Spyder tools were all about. I liked the negative space and the simplicity of this ad. Anyway, you cut it. It's another fave! ❦
Merchandise Catalog
I designed this bold graphic for the Spyder Merchandise Catalog. The silhouettes of the tools against the bright Spyder orange made it a catalog that could easily be spotted on the bookshelf. ❦
Countersign
I designed this Spyder countersign for trade shows which was finely cut out by a Spyder jigsaw blade to show how versatile and intricate it could be. I was impressed! ↓
Trade Show Display Panels
For the background of this Spyder’s trade show display panel, I photographed a wood step from my back balcony. The illustrated Spyder Blade was created in a 3D application, and the rest was created in Photoshop. I illustrated all the tool scenarios because the new Spyder branding had not yet been printed on the tools. Each panel is approximately 3ft high by 6ft long.↓
The Spyder jigsaw panel, again, was created the same way as the first. I photographed the plywood in a hardware store. ↓
Another trade show panel done with Photoshop and a 3D application. I'd like to have rapid results! ↓
Of the four trade show panels, this one and the first are my favorites. I liked how the motion blur turned out on this panel. ❦
Packaging
Spyder package design with a nylon brush tool for reciprocating saws. ↓
Spyder Package Design for the jig saw variety pack, multi-surface blades. ❦
Section at Lowes
This was the Spyder tool section display at Lowes. ❦
Website
The Spyder website had a pop-up window listing the tool's specifications, and the background tool image would change when the side arrows were clicked along with the lower information. ❦
Creative Director
Bragging about his beloved pickle jar collection is my buddy and Creative Director on the patio of the owner of Callahan Creek. The guy with the sunglasses in the background was an account executive who would eventually become the last owner. He would later sell it to an agency in Kansas City. This news deeply saddened our core group that had been with the agency from its humble beginnings.
Going Away Card
Gary, pictured in the middle, was our chief IT guy. He hated Bill Gates (left) and Microsoft with a passion. He could easily operate Microsoft computers blindfolded. He just believed the technology was, at best, crude, primitive, idiotic, and just plain stupid! He described Apple's Macintosh computers as brilliantly engineered with far superior logic and elegance. He was also a staunch Democrat and, at the time, despised President George Busch. I created a parody of a popular grocery store gossip tabloid cover for his going away card. I photoshopped the heads of Bill Gates, Gary, and George Busch on three office guys who dressed for the part, and we secretly snatched Gary’s coat for the photo shoot. Gary’s real head nearly vaporized when he saw the card.❦
Direct Mail Development
This is a mockup of a direct mail (junk mail) concept in the development stages for Virgin Mobile. When I photoshopped a $20 bill into a $15 bill for this piece and made it look somewhat believable, I instantly realized my monetary outlook could be looking brighter! ❦
Sprint Direct Mail
Sprint direct mail concept in development. It is designed to resemble a lottery scratch-off ticket. Sprint was a reasonably large client that kept us busy throughout the years. Most Sprint projects were ads for the Internet, along with sporadic print material. ❦
Virgin Direct Mail
This direct mail piece is one of my favorites, with its cover image of fanned-out dollar bills cut out along the edge and concealing a portion of the inside page. When the cover is opened, the capital B is exposed next to the other letters that together spell Bonus. As you can see, this was a mock-up and is still in the development stages with notation marks. The concept was able to materialize only because of the way “Bonus” happens to be spelled. BONUS! ❦
Poster For A Play
Poster design and illustration for the play "A Christmas Carol" were donated, in part, by one of our clients, Southwestern Bell. I illustrated the Scrooge drawing in pen and ink in a loose cross-hatch style. Scrooge's top hat and cane were repeated in the background to form a pattern. Bah! Humbug! ❦
Luck Of The Irish
On St. Patrick's Day late in the afternoon in the early 80s, an account executive, a copywriter, and two artists, including myself, left work after having a green beer happy hour at the office. We decided to continue the party elsewhere, so we all piled into one car and headed west until we found ourselves at a strip club right off Highway 70 and Auburn Road. Because it was still early, there weren't many people there, which was fine by us. This way, the dancers could more easily focus their efforts in our direction. After several beers and a few good old-fashioned lap dances, our copywriter began to get more acquainted with one of the dancers, who was quite attractive all over and very friendly—the night ended at the club with the two making out and saying their goodbyes. In the morning, we all had a St. Patrick's Day hangover and were sick of the color green.
The following Monday at the office, we worked him over pretty good about his newly found girlfriend, like asking him if the wedding would be performed with or without clothes and if dance poles would be incorporated. To our surprise, he had started to date her and bring her to some of the Admark functions. This seemed so out of character for our ultra-conservative copywriter, who came from a small northeast Kansas town that we knew was more than likely extremely conservative, as well. They dated each other for a few months before it gradually ended. It seems I remember hearing he married an old girlfriend from his hometown. I don't mean to sound judgmental; they can date whomever they please. It just intrigued me. Their backgrounds were from opposite ends of the universe. They were like fire and water. ❦
Character Development
Funky cartoon character-style exercise on the computer. ❦
The Merc Vintage Posters
In 1974, a small group in Lawrence acted on their shared passion for community access to affordable whole foods. ↓
They formed a volunteer-run, organized buying club distributing bulk foods from Harry and Judy Kroeger’s house in Lawrence. The Community Mercantile was born! ↓
This poster implied that you don’t have to feel dumb with your questions at The Merc because of their employees’ qualifications and culinary knowledge. ❦
Energetic Office Dog
You could always find our super energetic office dog, Birdie, laying on her giant bean bag right next to my desk. ↓
Energetic Birdie and the IT guy troubleshooting my computer. ↓
Energetic Birdie offering her expertise to the IT guy who reluctantly takes her advice and solves the problem! Thanks, Birdie! ❦
All Aboard
This was an illustration of the train engine that sits on the grounds of the Topeka Expo Center, which is now the Stormont Vail Event Center. The illustration was for a promotional poster titled “All Aboard” for hotel owners interested in building on the Expo Center grounds. The illustration is done in colored pencil on a 3ft x 2ft black illustration board. The Butler Paper company awarded it, and I have the original on my wall! ❦
Parade of Shoes
One of many Parade of Shoes direct mail advertisement I created while with Admark. This client kept us busy with a tremendous amount of work, including numerous photo shoots, circulars, and point-of-purchase materials. They were geared for women only, and we had a woman artist lead the account until she left! Then, I found myself leading the parade.
Gut Feeling
Our Parade of Shoes team flew to Chicago to do research at several of their stores. Normally, our research department handled this sort of thing, but this time, our team was assigned to conduct the groundwork for educational purposes and to gain a better understanding of the stores’ operations.
The research involved talking with store associates about product purchase stats and in-store shopper behavior, as well as observing trends. We also surveyed customers about their shopping experiences. All of that information was later distilled and used to better communicate with the target audience and, of course, boost sales.
With our mission accomplished, everyone agreed to celebrate with a sushi dinner and some sake. Not me! I’d had it before and wasn’t particularly crazy about it.
The next day was our last in Chicago, and we were headed to the airport when one of the sushi lovers started to feel sick. She told the taxi driver she wasn’t feeling well and asked him to find a gas station fast, which he did—and that was just the beginning.
We must have stopped four or five times before we finally made it to the airport. Once we were on the plane, she began to feel better and slept all the way home.
I had a gut feeling about that sushi! ❦
Electric Shoes
It's amazing the kooky things that can be done in Photoshop! This was a “P.O.P” (point of purchase) piece inside Payless Shoe stores. Store signs for the layperson! ↓
“Power Lights” lit up this billboard with an electrified shoe! I think it could have gone without the text on the bottom. Those funny copywriters! ❦
Payless Wallpaper
New internal branding and mission statement to inform and energize its employees. It was installed down the hallways, floor to ceiling, in Payless headquarters. ↓
This is the other half of the previous wall graphic. It was a long hallway. ↓
The hallway wall signage was removed after several weeks and replaced with new. We soon became good at wallpapering after taking these hallway signs up and down so many times. ❦
Payless Packaging
The black Trekkers shoe box with the skydiver and the white Payless Kids bag with the dinosaurs tying their shoes on a park bench was a lot of fun to design and illustrate. But this wasn't the first time I encountered dinosaurs, drawing them, that is. I twice had the opportunity to illustrate dinosaurs. The two Meal-O-Suarous kids' meal cartons were illustrated in a semi-realistic style: a Stegosaurus and a Tyrannosaurus rex. The four DinoTyke’s kids' meal boxes were illustrated in a colorful cartoon style. ❦
Internal branding brochure
“Be The Authority” was the mission statement for the new internal branding initiative for Payless Shoes.
This colorful accordion-fold brochure was a guide for the Payless Shoe associates to better understand their role in bringing the New Payless brand positioning to life. Energy and excitement are what I was aiming for with this piece. ❦
Lexus Color & Trim Selector
The two top halves of the leather case opened outward to reveal the contents. Inside were two leather portfolios, one for the interior trim and the other for the exterior trim. The case was for the Lexus sales associates to meet with prospective customers at their residence or place of employment. This project was a team effort and took several weeks to complete. We were very proud of the result, and won multiple awards. Toyota and Lexus were extremely pleased, too, and looked forward to us doing the next one. ❦
Toyota Color & Trim Books With Holder
Toyota’s color and trim books with the holder were supplied to North America and Canada dealers. To make a better client presentation, I designed the holder in a 3-D program so it could be viewed from various angles.↓
Toyota was a great client; they expressed enthusiasm and were impressed with our work, and as our business relationship grew, Callahan Creek established offices and departments at the Toyota headquarters in Torrance, California. ❦
Pure nonsense ahead!