Imago Dei Ministries logo

A logo I designed for Imago Dei Ministries.

Rather than me explain the rationale behind this design,here's quote from the client about it:

"We love the sense of movement, transformation, hope, life, energy ... and the paradoxical element of being able to see it as going either direction - in one sense it moves from the tight spiral out into something new/alive, in another sense it can be seen as "parts" (of a person, a community, etc.) coming together and finding united focus/meaning in the center of the spiral. ... It leaves room for people to bring their own experience to it (see it as a tree/blossom, water, fire, or something else entirely - I can even see "dancers" in the leaves/flames), which is awesome. It is simple and bold, yet with lots of interesting details. It feels like "us," for sure."

Imago Dei also published Paradox Lost, for which I designed the cover.

George Fox honors program logo

Another logo design for George Fox, for the new William Penn Honors Program (top). We wanted to do a crest referencing William Penn's family coat-of-arms (a couple of variants, middle). I decided to use a book as the holding shape, instead of a shield, since Penn was a peaceful non-arms-bearing Quaker and the honors program is a "great books" program (see book list). I retained the distinctive three circles on the Penn family crest, and designed a handful of icons as options to consider for the crest (bottom). We settled on using a crest-styled Bruin head, crown and field of crosses.

George Fox Bruins logo redesign

When I started working on some new projects featuring the George Fox University Bruins logo, I noticed its weaknesses: the right half is fairly realistic, while the left side is extremely stylized; the thin gold outline was too dark, making the face blunted and indistinct. So I got to redesign it, keeping the general form similar overall so that uniforms and other items with the old logo could continue to be used.

I made the logo more stylized overall, as well as more angular and aggressive. A lighter gold color and thicker outline doesn't obscure the bear's features.

One of the first applications I designed using the new Bruin logo is this team bus, a rolling billboard for George Fox athletics. (Click to enlarge.)

High Hopes

I designed this mailer/poster for the upcoming Welcome Weekend orientation for new students at George Fox University. I'm hoping they'll use the design on a t-shirt as well.

Northwest Yearly Meeting 2012

This is a logotype/illustration I did for the upcoming Northwest Yearly Meeting of Friends. The theme this year comes from Hebrews 4 verse 16: "Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need." I used some ink roller images and hand-drawn lettering for this.

Joel Bock cards win FPO Award

I don't normally enter design contests, but these business cards I designed for for Joel Bock Photography fit well with the FPO Awards, which are judged on both design and print production. The cards are offset printed, then laser diecut.

Logos in limbo

This is an unused logo design for Bruin Gold, an organization that supports athletic excellence at George Fox University (home of the Bruins). I especially like how the cut gold type turned out.



And this is a logo for a software company that I don't believe they ever used. It was an attempt to do a very abstracted pine tree that didn't just look like a triangle or a Christmas tree; I felt like it was a pretty original solution.

Fundraising campaigns

Some promotional materials I've been working on for a couple of capital campaigns at George Fox University. The first is for our new physical therapy program that'll begin next year.

The second is for the football program, which is slated to begin in 2013. George Fox has had a football team for the majority of its 115 year history, but we haven't had a football program for over 40 years (which is why the bookstore sells "GFU Football - Undefeated since 1969" t-shirts).

Northwest Yearly Meeting sessions image

This is a logo/illustration I did for the annual sessions of the Northwest Yearly Meeting, which has a theme this year of In Christ - One People, Growing Together; it'll appear on posters, etc.

Joel Bock photography cards

New logo and business cards I designed for Joel Bock photography. The cards are printed on iridescent paper, diecut, with four different backs.

Empty bowls for Haiti

I had fun doing this hand-lettered logotype for the Empty Bowls event at George Fox University. The art department had a marathon bowl-throwing session, and there will be a fundraising meal where you get to choose and keep the handmade bowl you eat out of.

Geez logo exploration

For the newest issue of Geez magazine, I designed some modified logos for the cover. Previous issues have had a rough woodtype logo based on a bold Egyptian expanded font I scanned from an old type catalog. The angular version above was somewhat influenced by the typeface Meran, which we are using in the new issue.

This second version retains the wideness of the original, and is an attempt at an expanded blackletter type, with a swash at the end of the z.


We ended up with a cleaned-up version of the original that I redrew, shown above. I'm guessing we will occasionally do physical versions of it like we've done before, here and here.

Tigard Community Friends

This is a logo I recently designed for Tigard Community Friends Church. The woven tree represents several things (their theme of "belonging, believing, becoming," the Trinity, etc.). Trees have been used in lots of church logos, so I was excited to come up with an interesting twist on that tired theme. The original sketch looked a bit too much like a tribal tatoo, so I redrew it to be more angular and I think it works better.

I was on the Tonight Show

Okay, not really, but this shirt I originally designed back in 2004 was; Conan O'Brien makes fun of it here at the 7:45 mark.



It's nice to see they are still using the design. Thanks to Eric, who originally came up with the "go for the Au" idea, for spotting this.

Design ethics

I gave a talk to George Fox University art and design students on how my path has been shaped by ethical considerations. I handed out these cards with a link to my blog and how to find a couple of essays online that were meaningful milestones for me regarding design ethics.


I also talk about projects at my previous job that I found troubling ethically. This logo was one such project: an identity design for a company that created interactive tv, a way for people to connect with brands in ways that "will create a true relationship between viewer and product and may even encourage them to internalize brands as an element of personal culture and self-expression." In other words, encourage people to watch more tv, buy stuff through their tvs, and ultimately define themselves through the brands they consume. Needless to say, I was thankful to switch jobs shortly thereafter.

Updated George Fox logo

The oval George Fox University logo (bottom) had some problems. It featured a stylized rendering of the Centennial clocktower, a landmark on campus, but many thought it looked like a bishop's mitre or a sailboat. The detailed shading lines and the tiny gold cross made reproduction problematic at small sizes and in low resolution applications (embroidery, website).

The logo had symbolic value in the tower with two sections joined by a cross, representing mind and spirit connected and centered around Christianity. So rather than design a new logo, we updated it to correct its flaws.

The updated logo (top) has started to appear online and on signage, and will gradually replace the old version.

Staccato business cards

I designed business cards for Staccato Design that had four different backs, each saying something about the company. I like the one with the sponge + sifter + pencil, since people would ask what it meant and we could explain that it showed our process: absorb information, sift through it to get to the essence of what we wanted to communicate, and only then start writing/designing.

Staccato is currently rebranding themselves as Staccato Creative Communications Agency, a name that better fits the range of work they do.

Vision PDX logo

Vision PDX was a project by the city of Portland, Ore. to engage community members in creating a 20-year vision for the city. It has now morphed into Vision Into Action. The logo is based on Portlandia, the huge statue in front of Michael Graves' Portland Building. In the logo she is reaching down to the people while holding aloft the ideals of the long-range vision. Portlandia trivia: it is the second-largest hammered-copper sculpture in the U.S. (after the statue of liberty). I designed this logo while at Staccato Design.

Genesis orientation

A new look I designed for Genesis, George Fox University's orientation event for new students.

Journal news icons

For the George Fox Journal redesign I created these symbols for the university news and alumni news sections.