Communiversity - Spring Cover

I was asked to design the University of Missouri, Kansas City's (UMKC) Communiversity cover after taking a class through their program. It was a very informative letterpress class taught by Chuck Harper. I made stationary for George, but of course, he hasn't touched them. Communiversity offers a multitude of classes that range from sewing and writing essays to dancing and car maintenance. The community are the teachers as well as the students. It's a great way of continuing your education without a ton of money or commitment. The classes are so varied and interesting that it's easy to be a life-long student. Communiversity has been "teaching people since 1970" and its free catalog of classes comes out five times a year.

The concept for the spring cover was to show the vibrancy of the season by using vivid, eye-catching colors. Mainly, I wanted to show the variety of classes available. This collage is a amalgamation of line drawings, painted background textures, and manipulated clipart. Now go take a class!

Women Vision International

Women Vision International is a volunteer-based organization made up of mostly women. They raise money to send to women in third world countries so they can start their own businesses. I got involved in the organization because my friend, Jennifer Conkling is on the board. Jenny, bless her heart, fought really hard to get me this project. She kept saying, "I have a friend...." and they promptly ignored her. Then, she inadverdently became the Event Chair for their annual International Women's Day Luncheon and I was in. I've done several more pieces for them since and now I am a complete believer in all the good work they do.


INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY LUNCHEON 2005. I didn't know much about the organization when I worked on the first WVI piece except that they were sending the money to women in Ghana and that it was officially the year of micro-credit. Both the invitation and the program were two-color pieces (PMS 8201 and black) with stock photography as the main source of imagery. They were content heavy with a strong emphasis on layout.







FRAMING A BETTER WORLD. After receiving some great advice from a business-savvy friend and client, I attended committee meetings while I worked on this project. This gave WVI a chance to connect a face with a name and a design. I ended up calling my contacts and friends for donations and became very involved in the event. Now that I knew a bit more about the organization, my design approach changed. I used bright colors and patterns. Framing the event logo in simple corners was simplified from my initial idea of creating an ornate gold frame. Partly it was due to my limitations as an artist, but it worked out because a glitzy frame would have been so wrong.





INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY LUNCHEON 2006. This year, I was a little concerned about how I would approach this event -- WVI is still in Ghana and I had to keep it new and different. During many of the meetings, one thing that came up over and over was the batik fabric. And that is what inspired me. I researched batik fabric and created a patchwork of imperfect squares that told a story of Africa and this year's event. One thing I learned is that COLOR is vital. The women in Ghana wear bright, colorful clothing and my design had to reflect that. There is also another idea that I came up with and am still developing that is in this piece. It's the woman-tree figure of a woman holding up her arms to support other women - which WVI strives to do.

Cooking with an Accent

This little gem of a job came to me through my immigration lawyer, Mira Mdivani. I am her client, she is my client, and through it all, we have amazingly become friends. Mira wanted to publish a cookbook to educate people about immigration in a non-threatening way. She asked me what I thought, and of course I said it was a fantastic idea! I didn't know what I was getting myself into at that point, but two years later through many hours of planning, writing, arguing and eating, we have a cookbook.

This has been an all-encompassing project and I was completely immersed in it from the very beginning. Mira rallied a fairly large group of participants to come to her house and cook. The first week was very, very tough. We were trying to figure out what the hell we were doing while walking a fine line between artistic integrity and presenting an accurate representation of a wide spectrum of ethnic dishes and cultures, most that the photographer, Elizabeth Cook (bethcook591@yahoo.com), and I were not familiar with.

I would say the hardest part of the project was organizing the information, editing the stories, gathering photos, coordinating, and making sure the recipes were accurate. There were a lot of recipes that said "to taste." A big thank you to Maria Iliakova for driving this part of the process because Mira and I were so busy with other projects that the cookbook often got side-lined.

The design changed from month to month, but when we finally arrived at that step, it was easy. Ha! We went from four-color to two-color, hard cover to soft cover, little book to big book and on and on like that. And I had two weeks to put it together...no problem whatsoever.

Now, we have to sell 2,000 cookbooks because the net proceeds will be donated to Hope House and El Centro, Inc., two organizations who are dedicated to ending the cycle of domestic violence in Kansas City.

We would love for you to purchase a copy. Cooking with an Accent: An Immigration Lawyer's Cookbook can be purchased directly at www.uslegalimmigration.com.

Pinnacle Imports

My friend Craig tirelessly hocks wine for Pinnacle Imports, a local distributor. They sell wonderful wines and even though I am not part of their target sales audience, they always offer warm welcomes when I show up to their tastings.


THE WORLD TOUR was a fun and amazing event at Union Cafe. We enjoyed delicious wines from all over the world and got a chance to meet the winemakers. The event was a huge success. I developed everything on this project, from the imagery to the copy. I am especially proud of the copy here because it was informative, but in a clever way. There was a small issue with the title, To Bordeaux and Beyond since there was only going to be one bordeaux. But it was catchy and I fought to keep it. All the imagery was based on the world as an unidentified planet, not necessarily Earth even though it was my first idea. And of course, I had to include the little French man sailing through the universe on his bicycle leaving a trail of wine and grapes.



TURNING WINE INTO WATER was Pinnacle's efforts to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina. This logo was placed on shelf "talkers" (also known as tags) that informed buyers proceeds were going to buy water for Katrina victims. Different shades of blues and greens were used to keep it fresh, like water. The font was chosen for its aquatic characteristics.

Hereford House Discount Card

The Hereford House at Town Center Plaza in Leawood needed a discount card for service industry workers in the Overland Park area.
This doesn't have the Hereford House "look" but I was appealing to a different audience. The copy comes from having worked in the service industry since I was 16-years-old. For anyone who hasn't ever worked in a restaurant, yes, we are talking about you and some days are that bad...and sometimes worse.

DeLaSalle Education Center

The DeLaSalle Education Center is a private alternative school in Kansas City, Missouri. This piece is an "end of year" appeal sent to the school's patrons and supporters for financial support.

Although this was being sent out to "adults", I wanted this piece to connect with the students, especially Rasheed. If my face was going to be on a promotional piece, I would want it to look cool and not stale or stuffy. The image is gritty and I pulled out phrases from Rasheed's essay (back of mailer) that really spoke to me.

Mahogany Elephant

This is an identity created for my friend Bryon. He's a landscape designer trying to launch his own business. Bryon told me about how elephants in the South American rain forests feed on the leaves and plants and return seeds to the earth (filled with rich nutrients!) propagating the huge mahogany trees that canopy the forest.

So far this a purely conceptual idea, but I loved the story and had to create something. Ideally, this would be a circular business card. He could then attach seeds, leaves or flowers in glassine envelopes to the back of the card. That would give his potential clients a tactile sensory memory of his business.

His number is on this piece so if you need some gardening or landscaping, CALL HIM. He's hilarious and kind and the ultimate professional. mghnyelefant@yahoo.com

The Vineyards Summer Luau

This is one of the very first pieces I designed that was not for school, and it remains one of my favorites. Every few months The Vineyards Restaurant {Weston, Missouri} holds a dinner with a special menu and wine pairings. I was simply given a theme or an ingredient and complete free rein to do whatever I liked. This was a very liberating and unique experience for a new designer fresh out of school.

The Summer Luau Menu is a full-color, tri-fold piece. The imagery is all tropical to evoke hot, Hawaiian nights. I always added informative content to the menus; in this instance, it was Hawaiian history and language, but it could be a quote, an interesting fact, anything to give the menu and the design another layer of depth.

Chinese New Year Cards

This is a series of 20 hand-made Chinese New Year cards I created for my clients and friends. Chinese New Year began on January 29, 2006 and it is the year of the Dog. Each card was made with an assortment materials -- newsprint, dog pictures (of course), stamps and various odd and ends. Just click on the image to see a larger view.