It's a Dance

Book cover for Barclay Press for It's a Dance, a book about the theology of the Holy Spirit. Pretty much the entire book is in the form of a conversation in a coffeeshop/pub/church.

Vancouver Peace and Justice Fair

Logo for Vancouver, Washington's annual Peace and Justice Fair. Sure, it uses the cliché of a dove, but I still like it.

The news is not good

Self-promotional illustration. Anne Lamott writes that one of her friends calls himself a cheerful pessimist. That may be the best we can do these days.

Print Vol. X, No. 3

I have some vintage Print magazines; this one from 1956 has my favorite cover. It depicts a high contrast reproduction of a section of graffiti-covered New York subway wall. This issue also has the winners of the 2nd annual Type Directors Club awards, featuring such names as Herb Lubalin, Lou Dorfsman, George Nelson, Bradbury Thompson, Alexey Brodovitch, Alvin Lustig, Lester Beal, Bob Gill, Saul Bass ... the golden age of graphic design.

Shed wine

These wine label designs are for some friends of mine who make wine here in the Willamette Valley. They ended up not naming their wine Shed (imagined dialog: How is it? - To tell you the truth, it tastes like shed), but I liked the designs anyway.

Accessible Asceticism

Geez issue 2 includes one of my favorite Geez articles, by publisher Aiden Enns, called Accessible Asceticism (you can read it here). I later reprinted it in this little book to give away.

Geez issue 2

The cover of Geez issue 2, the asceticism issue, was designed by my friend Eric Kass of Funnel Design. You can check out Eric's new work at his blog.

This cover uses Dirty Ego, a typeface by artist, illustrator and type designer Eduardo Recife at Misprinted Type; I used another of his typefaces, Shortcut, on my blog header.

George Fox University Theatre

This logo for the George Fox University theatre department uses hands to express the range of human emotion in theatre. The logo was used as the central element of the Theatre's home page navigation (since redesigned).

Free People

My book cover design for Free People by writer and musician Tricia Gates Brown. Free People is a Christian view of global economics, including practical ways we can resist the negative aspects of globalization.

Back alley beauty

I like urban grit, the beauty of decay, and typography. When they all come together it makes me happy. Photo taken today in an alley in downtown Newberg.

First Things First

I read the First Things First manifesto in Emigre magazine in 1999. It started me thinking critically about what I did, and about how I'd feel looking back on my life’s work. It led me down a path to where I am now, doing design work only for organizations and people that are consciously trying to make the world a better place. For me, that means education, human rights, environment, organic, fair trade, non-profit, holistic health and the arts.

Another Emigre article that was influencial was Saving Advertising by Jelly Helm. He talked about overconsumption (“If everyone consumed the way Americans do, we would need four more earths to support it”) and advertising and design’s role in that. Advertising’s goal is to create desire, to make you unhappy until you buy something. And as Jelly points out, the danger of materialism is one of the things every major religion agrees on.

Cool stamps

I am a fan of old printed ephemera, including postage stamps. These stamps from 1942 are perforated diagonally so you can make a 2 centavo stamp into two 1 centavo stamps. Smart design.

The header for my blog features another piece of ephemera close to my heart: my identity card as a child (I was born overseas).

Restoring Eden

This logo I designed for Restoring Eden, a non-profit Christian environmental group, was inspired by their tagline: "Restoring Eden makes hearts bigger, hands dirtier and voices stronger by learning to love, serve and protect God’s creation."

Geez issue 1

I design Geez magazine, which is based in Winnipeg, Canada. This is the cover and a page from issue 1. Click the page to see it bigger.

What is Geez? To quote from the website, "Geez has set up camp in the outback of the spiritual commons. A bustling spot for the over-churched, out-churched, un-churched and maybe even the un-churchable. A location just beyond boring bitterness. A place for wannabe contemplatives, front-line world-changers and restless cranks. A place where the moon shines quiet, instinct runs mythic and belief rides a bike (or at least sits on the couch entertaining the possibility)."