Every business needs a graphics department.

Callahan’s Mountain Lodge is a wonderful restaurant/lodge halfway up Mount Ashland in Southern Oregon. They approached me to take over their graphic design recently, and here’s one of the first ads we designed. We kept a lot of the feel of their old ads, but cleaned up the layout, used fewer fonts, and added the AAA triple diamond logo (congratulations!) according to AAA’s guidelines.

Keep an eye out for their Father’s Day Backyard BBQ Buffet ad … and think about heading up their for some of the oak grilled chicken, tri tip, and babyback ribs..

Hospice Unique Boutique needed a rack card, but before we could do that, they needed a logo. They already had a sign on their building, so the next step was to use that as a basis for the logo. The finished design had to be something that was both eye-catching and visually related to their sign. Looking at color psychology and visual appeal, we decided to shift the yellow and blue of the sign into yellow and purple, to denote quality and caring. The shape of the sign and the calligraphic letterforms were its other distinguishing characteristics, so a font was chosen that would retain the feel of the calligraphy, and the oval was kept, though slimmed down somewhat. The angled words create an active feel, and the fact that they are both at the same angle and in the same font allows them to be seen as a single visual unit, despite the difference in size.

Hospice Unique Boutique (the HUB), is a non-profit, high quality resale shop supporting end-of-life care in the Rogue Valley. If you haven’t visited it yet, please stop in and support them. You can shop, donate gently used goods, or ask about volunteering.

Hospice Unique Boutique
1618 Ashland Street (map)
Ashland, OR 97520
541-488-7805

Southern Oregon Film and Television is a local non-profit trying to bring filmmakers into the area. In the past several years, over $3 million has been spent by film and media in Southern Oregon. They needed a brochure that would both explain their purpose to local businesses and attract filmmakers to the region. For more information, visit www.filmsouthernoregon.org.

Business cards are more than just a Rolodex entry. They are a foot in the door with potential customers. They are your most affordable piece of printed marketing. They are a reflection of your business in the eyes of the customers.

Your business card should be attention grabbing, easy to read, and something that people will want to show off … something that people will pick up several of so they can give some to their friends. A good card gets calls. A great card gets passed around.
These four business card designs were each created for maximum impact within the client’s budget. Although all the cards are art related and the layouts are relatively similar, the differences are astounding. The choices of typeface, color, and graphic elements create a unique personality for each.

Your business card shouldn’t just be a piece of paper with your contact information. It should be a design that makes people stop, look, and remember.

Red Hibiscus will soon be packaging and selling their Kimchi. I’ll have to try it to find out if I like it, but I do like the label I designed for them. The idea is to have a simple label design that can be modified slightly for future products. Red Hibiscus closed for December and January, but I eagerly await their re-opening so I can get one of their fabulous sandwiches.

A friend of mine was so inspired by my starting up a business, that she decided to go freelance with her bookkeeping. We bandied about name ideas, and while her first instinct was to avoid using her last name, she quickly turned around when I suggested “Bookkeeping is as easy as ABC…Agostino Bookkeeping Co.” Here’s the first draft of logo design and color scheme.

Logos aren’t just about looking good. They need to project an image to the public. If you are thinking about a new logo, or a revision to an existing one, you are welcome to stop in and chat with me. Often, just throwing ideas around can end up in a billowing brainstorm.

Candy Wooding creates books, boxes, and other keepsakes, and can customize them for any event. Since a great deal of her work utilizes her handmade pastepapers, I scanned in a sheet and turned it into the short-end border. Her handwritten name was also scanned and smoothed to use as her logo. Future cards may have different pastepapers and a revised color scheme to match.

Dale’s creations are colorful and whimsical, and her card needed to reflect that. I spent some time working on a basic logo, then Dale and I sat down to tweak it until we were both happy with it. Once that was done, it was time to scan in the photos, adjust the color and contrast, and add them to the business card. A nice thing about artists’ business cards is that you can turn a basic card design into multiple cards just by changing out the images.

The grand opening for Ashland Art Center is coming up, and I put together a flyer for them. The design went through several incarnations, as did the specifics of the event and ticket locations, but in the end, it was worth it. Please come check it out, and stop by my office (behind the main stairwell) and say hello.

Red Hibiscus is a Hawaiian fusion restaurant opening downtown. When they were told that their awning art had to be submitted in a particular format, they came to me. Unfortunately, what they wanted would not translate well for the purpose at hand. So, with some throwing around of ideas, a few rough drafts, and a final polish, a logo was born.