2009 Projects Coming Soon

I've got a year's worth of new projects to put up on the site. Please stay tuned.

Active Engagement

ACTIVE ENGAGEMENT Book Cover Design

For the third edition of the book Active Engagement, Ergon Communications needed an update of their successful previous edition that differentiated the two but didn't lose the look they had already established. I redid the crayon scribbles as my own vector illustration, giving it a cleaner and more polished look (not unlike the edited and expanded edition itself), while making sure to keep the casual feel that characterizes the book.


ACTIVE ENGAGEMENT Book Cover Closeup

Themes of colouring outside the lines, thinking outside of the box, combining and overlapping multiple disciplines, and actively engaging in the career counselling process are all meant to be captured in the cover.

Anvil Brochure 2008

DAYBREAK POINT BIBLE CAMP Anvil Island Brochure Cover Detail

Anvil came to me just before the camp brochure season with an urgent request to do theirs for 2008. They had already established a website and needing something to match in print. I took inspiration from the elements they had used already, while adding my own touches like custom icons, new textures, and tighter typography.


DAYBREAK POINT BIBLE CAMP Anvil Island Brochure Spread

Because most of the information needed for the brochure fit on the other side of this spread, I was able to concentrate almost all the imagery here into one giant poster, giving the brochure another life beyond camp registration.


DAYBREAK POINT BIBLE CAMP Anvil Island Brochure Spread

Anvil Island is located in an amazing spot up Howe Sound, about 3 hours away from Vancouver by boat. This shot was the perfect representation of that, and I actually used it across the first two spreads so it opened from the middle like a barn door to reveal the inside of the brochure. That's the camp itself down below.

Pioneer Pacific Brochure 2008

PIONEER PACIFIC CAMP Summer Program Brochure Cover

In refreshing the previous brochure for the 2007 and 2008 seasons, I simplified the elements to really highlight the beautiful photographs, which were not available in past years because of the camera quality. This image in particular captures the spirit of adventure and exploration I know they were going for.


PIONEER PACIFIC CAMP Summer Program Brochure Inside Spread

The client also expressed a desire to show off more boating, sailing, water sports and the classic camp activities that set Pioneer apart from their competitors. The now bigger photos also allowed me to show off more faces than past years, which really helps draw readers into the brochure and stories of camp.


PIONEER PACIFIC CAMP Summer Program Brochure Page

For this brochure, I also developed a special photographic effect involving gradients, overlays and colour blends that gave each of the main images this nostalgic look, striking a nice contrast with their more modern subject matter.


PIONEER PACIFIC CAMP Summer Program Brochure Page

My photographic effect is seen at work here, forming the deep reds of the ocean to those idyllic blues skies and that vintage cream in the sails.


PIONEER PACIFIC CAMP Summer Program Brochure Back Cover

A secret with the back cover that you might not notice if you didn't think about it: that carefully positioned yellow title band helps conceal that fact that it's actually two different photographs.

Feast on Design and Communications

FEAST ON DESIGN AND COMMUNICATIONS Event Poster

Kwantlen needed a poster for an event that enticed instructors and school counsellors to the school with the promise of feasting. Once there, they would engage in various food-centred activities with the different disciplines of the Centre for Design & Communications, learning about each of the programs at the same time. Unfortunately, the timeline and budget did not allow for an original illustration (it's stock), but I left feeling satisfied with the fashionable type treatment.

Brainstorm

BRAINSTORM CONSULTING GROUP Logo

Brainstorm Consulting is a company that helps with business, sales, marketing, design and IT solutions. With a name like that, however, the logo held more possibilities than the traditional corporate branding job. This is what we ended up with, and I'm especially happy with the custom type I developed, but the process was pretty interesting too...


BRAINSTORM CONSULTING GROUP Stationery

The stationery package included a unique mailing label that was easy for the client to fill out quickly and slap on outgoing packages (shown on the right, in orange). They also were special in that they demanded all paper have a certain percentage of post-consumer content, hence the recycling icon (on the business card) and the disclaimer (on the letterhead).


BRAINSTORM CONSULTING GROUP Alternate Logo Iteration

This version of the logo was definitely my favourite, but the client opted for a more serious and tough approach. With the brainy cloud and the addition of another colour, as well as the little details like the break in the white outline, I preferred the interesting mood this one set. I'm glad you get to see it here.


BRAINSTORM CONSULTING GROUP Logo Concepts

Here's another sneak peak at some of the process involved in ending up with the logo we did. Don't ask about the broccoli idea or where that came from, because I have no idea.


BRAINSTORM CONSULTING GROUP Signage

Finally, a look at a final application of the logo on the office windows. Wouldn't the little cloud have looked swell up there?

Volunteer Richmond

VOLUNTEER RICHMOND INFORMATION SERVICES Corporate Identity

As a non-profit organization, Volunteer Richmond previously had a hand-drawn logo and was suffering from an inconsistent brand image. Because the existing concept for their logo was good, however, I took the figure they had been using to show the "V" and "R" of their name, and cleaned it up, fattened it up, and make it generally more readable and more pretty.


VOLUNTEER RICHMOND INFORMATION SERVICES Information Brochure

They were also adding the moniker "Information Services" to the official name, and wanted to include it in the logo without overpowering the established name. As well, they were introducing their "Circles of Support" programs, so I made the prominent addition of the circle and integrated that as an element into their stationery, brochure, and even their website.


VOLUNTEER RICHMOND INFORMATION SERVICES Brochure Inside Spread

I'm not usually too keen on purple and orange, but it was a requirement of the client, and I made it work.

Central Park

CENTRAL PARK DEVELOPMENT Logo

I developed this logo for a local townhouse development located on Central Avenue in Ladner, where the clock tower depicted is a prominent piece of the landscape. I'm not sure where the term "estate homes" came from, but with a name like that we decided to keep things classy and classic.


CENTRAL PARK DEVELOPMENT Brochure Detail

The client wanted to target people in the mid to later years of life, most likely couples who were downsizing and wanting to be close to amenities like the mini-mall and grocery store. This couple fit the bill.


CENTRAL PARK DEVELOPMENT Signage and Construction Plan

We brought the same couple from the brochure into the site signage, which you can see here as the final product and in our detailed construction plans.

Serena Spenser Aromatherapy

SERENA & SPENSER Aromatherapy Labels

Unified yet individually identifiable, these different types of aromatherapy oils had to communicate abstract emotions while still giving a definite impression of what blend each bottle contained. This is why choosing the images was so important to the whole design: while a pink bottle might not jump out as being "Rejuvenating", putting the flower in there added that sense of renewal and freshness.


SERENA & SPENSER Aromatherapy Labels

The clean blue ocean water running over the gritty sand really worked nicely for the "Detoxifying" blend, in my opinion.


SERENA & SPENSER Point of Purchase Display

This card was designed along with the aromatherapy spa line to sit folded near a product display or be handed out as a mini-brochure. Oh, and I didn't design that logo, just in case you were wondering.

Pioneer Pacific Brochure 2005

PIONEER PACIFIC CAMP Summer Program Brochure Cover

For an anniversary celebrating 50 years of Pioneer Pacific Camp, they wanted to both harken back to a golden legacy of quality camping while advertising the exciting and new activities offered at their various summer camps. To accomplish this, my associate Spencer and I came up with a colour scheme that took the traditional Pioneer Pacific blue and highlighted it with a golden yellow, while incorporating sepia-tone images to attain that very classic feel.


PIONEER PACIFIC CAMP Summer Program Brochure Inside Panel

The key with the inside was to feature the different camps with only a few important photos, showing the reader exactly what each week would hold at a quick glance. For instance, if you go to "Adventure Camp" you can expect face painting and awkwardly paddling kayaks (it's a little kids camp), while choosing "The Edge" means giant pits of mud (it's a teenage camp).


PIONEER PACIFIC CAMP Summer Program Brochure Detail

As Pioneer Pacific prides itself on its proximity to the ocean and many waterfront activities, the background of the entire brochure uses a water theme throughout, while the areas of text are brought forward on a natural wood-textured backdrop.

Tugboat Annie's

TUGBOAT ANNIE'S PUB & GRILLE Logo

You know, I've always liked how this logo turned out, especially with the vintage illustration my boss and I came up with. However, for some reason they're still using the old logo they hired us to redo in the first place, and to me it just looks like a funky shoe...

ODG Holiday Card

OPACITY DESIGN GROUP Holiday e-card

Instead of sending out a physical card, for Christmas we sent a special e-card to our clients with an animated wish from all of us at the office.

After doing caricatures of the four of us and Chance, the office dog (and then after "fixing" the caricatures once everyone saw them for the first time, Chance excluded), I drew approximately one million separate frames of animated mayhem, which my coworker Kelly then painstakingly animated in Flash to the tune of Jingle Bells.

Click here to see the result of our work while enjoying the song Kelly probably still has stuck in her head.

Christmas Tag

CHRISTMAS TAG Illustration

Every year I do a tag for the presents my family gives out at Christmas. Back then my family only consisted of me, my wife and our Vespa.


CHRISTMAS TAG Illustration Closeup

Zoomed in to show some of the friendly textured bits.

BCREA No Vote No Voice

BRITISH COLUMBIA REAL ESTATE ASSOCIATION Campaign

This campaign was intended to promote political activism among realtors, encouraging them to take part in the electoral process while wowing them with my logo design skills.

Opacity Icons

OPACITY DESIGN GROUP Internal Communications Icons

When preparing quotes based on client needs and specs, Opacity needed some icons to serve as visual representations of the different services and materials used in any given project. I created these icons to have a uniform visual look while still making them individual and even a little bit fun. The services shown in this set are search, documents, databases, servers and mailing.


OPACITY DESIGN GROUP Internal Communications Icons

Using the same angle, printer-friendly colour palette, and rectangucircular shape, they are all instantly identifiable as being from the same place. In this set, the themes are more web-based, such as credit card processing, web portfolios, information pages, tools/utilities, and online shopping.

Celayix

CELAYIX SOFTWARE Time Management Icons

Some of the more detailed icons I did for Celayix's time management and employee scheduling software.

Also, they're completely vector, which might really impress you if you were a design nerd like me.

Wood Real Estate Ads

STARWOOD Newspaper/Magazine Ads

The first in a series of developments I designed advertising for that all ending in the word "wood" (the marketing firm's choice, not mine). This is for the family-friendly development Starwood, for which I worked on the real estate campaign as well, which can be viewed here.


SAGEWOOD Newspaper/Magazine Ads

The next real estate development for them was named Sagewood, and was aimed more at modern couples seeking a trendy home without a downtown price. I also worked on the entire campaign for them, as seen here.


SUMMERWOOD Newspaper/Magazine Ads

Lastly, Summerwood was targeted to small families as well as young-to-middle-aged couples, with an emphasis on nature and conservation. Once again, see the rest of the campaign here.

Summerwood

SUMMERWOOD DEVELOPMENT Logo

The people behind this townhouse development specifically requested whimsy in their logo, and it's whimsy they got. Funny story, the idea for this logo started with a pencil sketch on a napkin that my father did. Thanks Dad, your cheque is in the mail...


SUMMERWOOD DEVELOPMENT Stationery

The stationery package for Summerwood included a survey card, as well as the always fun vertical business card.


SUMMERWOOD DEVELOPMENT Brochure Spread


SUMMERWOOD DEVELOPMENT Brochure Spread

This brochure had a curved pocket in the back to hold all the floorplans and price lists, which were printed on longer paper but folded into thirds to fit into the package nicely.


SUMMERWOOD DEVELOPMENT Brochure Cover and Sales Centre Detail

Themes and colours from the print materials were brought into all aspects of the sales centre design, which was basically a 3-dimensional representation of the brochure. We used the cover of the brochure, seen here on the left, later on inside the project headquarters.


SUMMERWOOD DEVELOPMENT Directional Signage

A sandwich board that was used to direct customers to the sale centre. Unfortunately, not the kind of sandwich board someone wears and stands on the street corner with.


SUMMERWOOD DEVELOPMENT Sales Centre

Here's that brochure cover I was telling you about; it became quite a large Photoshop file for this sliding door, which was able to cover an unsightly water heater without creating an immovable fire hazard. We also got to choose those paint colours for the wall, which was nice.


SUMMERWOOD DEVELOPMENT Sales Centre and Site Plan Table

Some more details of the wall signage: floorplans, the builder story, and the site plan table, complete with units that were eventually covered in SOLD stickers.

BCREA Banff Postcard

BRITISH COLUMBIA REAL ESTATE ASSOCIATION Banff Postcard

The theme for this annual realtor conference and trade show, the Banff Western Conference, was "Take Control of Tomorrow", and they wanted the theme of their marketing materials to match the directional signage they would have at the event.

Anyway, the conference was at the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel, so I added the sign post to the image with some photos I took and some type I created, and there it is.

Bulldog Tech

BULLDOG TECHNOLOGIES Tradeshow Booth Illustrations

Two technical illustrations used in a tradeshow booth to illustrate the security and satellite tracking systems Bulldog offers, specifically for big 'ol trucks.


BULLDOG TECHNOLOGIES Tradeshow Booth Illustrations

The final tradeshow booth with the illustrations in place (the truck is there behind the words, to the left of the satellite dish illustration, which I also did, by the way).

Sagewood

SAGEWOOD REAL ESTATE DEVELOPMENT Brochure Cover

With a goal to target young, active and ethnically diverse couples, the Sagewood development was built for homebuyers who wanted a downtown feel without the associated price. They wanted a clean, funky and sophisticated look: I don't know how I feel about the word "funky", but I like to think that I achieved that with the cover of this brochure, which ended up setting the tone for the rest of the campaign.


SAGEWOOD REAL ESTATE DEVELOPMENT Brochure Inside Panel

On this inside panel from the brochure, you can see how those organic shapes were put to good use throughout. As well, note the skillful use of an attractive couple cuddling a cute cat.


SAGEWOOD REAL ESTATE DEVELOPMENT Stationery Package

You can see from the stationery that I brought that bright and open look to the rest of the printed pieces too. The letterhead was specifically designed with the floorplans in mind, so that it could be printed in colour beforehand and the client could then imprint individual floorplans on their own, whenever they needed to.

YVR Golf for Kids

YVR Golf for Kids Charity Event Program Icons

These are the icons I designed for the annual YVR Golf for Kids gala dinner and auction, an event hosted by the Vancouver International Airport to raise money for the Canuck Place Children's Hospice. Every year they have a large auction with so many auction prizes that they need to sort them into categories. These icons have been used for over 2 years now, and they continue to request new ones each year to use in the auction booklet, on posters in the auction hall, and on their website.

Have you figured out what the icons represent? From left to right and top to bottom they are: Arts & Entertainment; Golf; Kids Corner; Balloon Pop; Sports & Entertainment; Discover BC; Appliances, Electronics & Tools; and Raffle. If you got all eight, good job.

Starwood

STARWOOD Real Estate Development Stationery

This development targeted young families with its wonder/wishes/stars kind-of-theme. I think the clean orange back of that business card was real nice with that one lone star.


STARWOOD Real Estate Development Brochure

For the cover I combined a photo of a happy family with this starry sky backdrop, which gave us an eye-catching image we were able to use throughout the whole project.


STARWOOD Real Estate Development Site Map

Using just the developer's floorplan as reference, I concocted the textures and colours for this site map. Each type of vegetation has a different look and feel, and because of this level of detail we were able to use it at a super big size on the floorplan table of the sales centre.


STARWOOD Real Estate Development Site Map

Here's a close up.


STARWOOD Real Estate Development Signage

This is the technical drawing from the signage plans. I take full credit for drawing that wonderfully detailed typical size person there.

BCREA Government Briefs

BRITSH COLUMBIA REAL ESTATE ASSOCIATION Government Briefs

These two needed to communicate the values of the BC Real Estate Association to government officials while keeping things very clean and in two colours. Gotta love that halftone pattern: it makes an otherwise boring monotone image look so nifty.

Principle Endeavors

PRINCIPLE ENDEAVORS Stationery Package

Diecut curved edges = cool.

Chamber Icons

RICHMOND CHAMBER OF COMMERCE Website Navigation Icons

A set of icons used to navigate the various member and non-member areas of the Richmond Chamber website. They're designed to get really small and still be usable.

Spaghetti Factory

THE OLD SPAGHETTI FACTORY Drink Menu Design

Already one of my favourite restaurants, I really designed and illustrated this drink menu for the free spaghetti.


THE OLD SPAGHETTI FACTORY Drink Menu Illustration

Handed out with every menu, the initial run has since been reprinted, laminated, and expanded to multiple factories.


THE OLD SPAGHETTI FACTORY Drink Menu Illustration

The Bellini is really good, like a Slurpee for grown-ups.

The Reef

THE REEF Real Estate Development Brochure

A brochure to advertise a new waterfront apartment complex in Victoria. Because the architecture of the not-yet-built structure was meant to suggest a cruise ship, nautical themes like porthole-shaped photos and fish patterns are seen throughout the project.


THE REEF Signage Diagram & Specs

Carrying through to the signage, we incorporated an actual ship illustration into the top and designed the porthole photos to light up at night.


THE REEF Finished Signage

Because the building housed both residential and commercial live-work spaces, we divided the sign to highlight both options while making use of artist renderings to aid buyers who were investing without seeing the finished product.

Hayer Homes

HAYER HOMES Stationery Package

The cool thing about the letterhead for this construction company is how it is designed as a notepad that could actually be used for planning and on-the-spot blueprints. I thought of that!

Craik Creative

CRAIK CREATIVE Logo Concepts

I really liked this approach to an interior design company's logo, with the C & C of the name echoed in the compass curves, but we went with an all type treatment in the end.


CRAIK CREATIVE Business Card Concepts

Thus, these business cards never saw the light of day either, although I still think that colour palette is swell.

Alexatech

ALEXATECH INNOVATIONS Stationery Package

In case you didn't know, the typical stationery package includes: a letterhead, an envelope, a business card, and in this case, a note pad as well.

Pentel

PENTEL CANADA Ballpoint Pen Packaging & Advertising

Of all the packaging we did for Pentel, this make of pens was my favourite to actually use. I highly recommend the Energel if you are looking for a nicer-ink-than-average ballpoint pen.


PENTEL CANADA Pen Photo Before & After

Rather than go to the expense of custom product photography, we went to the expense of getting me to put an image of the Energel into the hand of this stock photography model.

Powell Dorian

POWELL DORIAN Stationery Package

This stationery package for a law firm took cues from the lines in the logo's column, using them to divide the page and make up the layout of the mailing label as well.

Physics of Living

PHYSICS OF LIVING Book Cover Design

The Physics of Living is a book that compares life to a series of metaphors involving principles of physics, but in an approachable and unassuming way.


PHYSICS OF LIVING Book Cover Design

I chose to take some of the imagery usually associated with physics and combine it with one of the metaphors presented in the book; billiard balls. This is then presented it in a kind of classic textbook feel, as the book is equal parts physics lesson as it is a manual for a balanced life.


PHYSICS OF LIVING Back Cover

All throughout the book there are illustrations of the author participating in the metaphors which, while unconventional for books of this type, helps convey the personable tone in which it is written. I art directed these, the illustrations were done by my brother, and I included one that also involves the billiard balls on the back cover. This hopefully helps bring in people who might have been scared off by the word "physics" in the title.

Mahoney Print

MAHONEY PRINT SERVICES Direct Mail Postcard

This piece was sent out to clients with their own name printed directly in the text on the front. On the back, their names were mentioned a few more times in the copy to really catch their attention upon receiving it.

And yes, I know, I used the stock-curly-haired-urban-professional-computer-techno-savvy-glasses guy. Back then he wasn't as ubiquitous as he is now...

Murphy Beds

MURPHY WALL-BEDS HARDWARE Logo

An identity for one of those companies that makes beds that fold up and away, like the one Uncle Jesse and Aunt Becky had on Full House.


MURPHY WALL-BEDS HARDWARE Stationery

For the back of the business card we were able to use the logo blown up and cropped to show the details, which was fun.

Parklane Mews

PARKLANE MEWS Direct Mail Newsletters

A series of newsletters sent out to the community surrounding this new townhome development, Parklane Mews.

I thought it would be funny to call it the "Mewsletter", but not everyone agreed.

Lone Pine

LONE PINE EQUIPMENT Logo

Hand drawn in the computer because the original drawn illustration for this logo was just a tad complicated for scanning and automatically converting to vector. It has a real cowboy feel.


LONE PINE EQUIPMENT Stationery Package

This particular stationery package included a notepad as well as a windowed envelope.

Unified Flow

UNIFIED FLOW Stationery Package

This was the first project I ever did for Opacity.

Because Unified Flow is a film and video production company, we initially presented the idea of a more traditional television. However, they wanted something that was more computery and yet still plausible as a TV, so I did the monitor illustration as well.

Wonka's Fizzy Lifting Drinks

WONKA'S FIZZY LIFTING DRINKS Bottle Design

For this fictional project, I designed a whole packaging scheme for the infamous drink from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory that, while not yet fully tested, makes you fly.


WONKA'S FIZZY LIFTING DRINKS Bottle Label Closeup

Using bubbles built right into the bottle, jumbled lettering reminiscent of the both the product and its inventor, and topped with a cork to suggest the experimental nature of the drink, I aimed to make the drink graphic, eye-catching, and most of all, fun.


WONKA'S FIZZY LIFTING DRINKS Bottle Packaging & End-of-aisle Display

In keeping with the theme, the cases for a 4-pack resembles a thousand-pound weight, useful if the drinker of the beverage decides they don't want to completely fly away. For supermarkets, I designed the end-of-aisle display to be Willy Wonka's bottling factory, wacky gears and wonky conveyor belts producing bottles by the dozen, with shelving for the aforementioned cases underneath.


WONKA'S FIZZY LIFTING DRINKS Promotional CD Package

Lastly, as part of the marketing push for the "launch" of the product, a cardboard case resembling the weight was to be given out beforehand. This case easily unfolds into a brochure containing more info and a CD with games for the kiddies.