Client Work
In my work with clients, both nonprofit and commercial, I utilize as highly a collaborative approach as is appropriate and sought by the people I serve. I believe that my job as an illustrator and designer is to meet clients where they are in terms of design experience, language, and comfort level. I bring my educational background into meetings, both as a leader and a participant, in order to communicate my process as effectively as possible.
Free Finance Magazine
Editorial IllustrationsIllustrator
November 2023 - January 2024
I was commissioned to create two illustrations to accompany articles in an internal publication for American Portfolios called “Free Finance.”
The full page illustration accompanied an article detailing the experience and career of an American Finance advisor, including protecting elderly clients from scams and identity theft. The advisor asked that her face or images of her not be featured in the article or illustrations.
The spot illustration was featured with an article titled “The Boundless Journey” in which the author discusses future plans for American Portfolios and upcoming changes.
The full page illustration accompanied an article detailing the experience and career of an American Finance advisor, including protecting elderly clients from scams and identity theft. The advisor asked that her face or images of her not be featured in the article or illustrations.
The spot illustration was featured with an article titled “The Boundless Journey” in which the author discusses future plans for American Portfolios and upcoming changes.
YWCA Western New York
Promotional MaterialsLead Designer
November 2022 - Current
I have been working closely with YWCA WNY CEO Jill Robbins-Jabine for years; writing copy, creating promotional materials, annual appeals, brochures, and more. I have had to work within the YWCA national brand guidelines while also catering to the specific personality of YWCA WNY, which has been a unique challenge for me as a designer.
Annual Appeal 2024 Mailer Inside
Annual Appeal 2024 Mailer Backside
Annual Appeal 2023 Digital Format
YWCA Children and Youth Services Folded Brochure
YWCA Children and Youth Services Folded Brochure
Annual Appeal 2023 Double-Sided Mailer
Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing (APAH)
Children’s MuralLead Designer, Workshop Facilitator
May 2023 - July 2023
APAH is an affordable housing organization that hosts summer camps for residents of their buildings. I was asked to create a mural design that could be collaboratively painted by the children attending the camp.
I worked with the APAH camp team to design a mural that reflected their community-centric values and would be simple enough for children as young as 10 to paint. I bought, prepped, and designed all the materials used in a two-day workshop as well as facilitated the workshop with the children, including an additional day where they designed their own murals in small groups.
Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation
50th Anniversary LogoLead Designer
February 2023 - March 2023
To celebrate 50 years of Shalem, I was brought in to create a new logo that represented a transition into the future. I was given a Vision Statement as well as a poem written to capture the hopes Shalem had for their next 50 years.
I worked closely with their team starting from the most broad directions a new logo could move in and over a few weeks together we came to a logo that we all felt celebrated the work Shalem had done and the work they will do.
Original Logo
Logo we developed
Buffalo/Western New York Children,
Youth, and Family Task Force
From-Scratch Branding Design and Presentation MaterialsLead Designer
May 2022 - August 2022
I was hired to do a from-scratch brand build for a new initiative in the Buffalo, NY whose goal was to invite and engage community members, funders, policy-makers, and advocates to join a task force which would work using collective impact to enact positive change in the systems that serve children, youth, and families in the community.
My goals as lead designer were to create a cohesive brand and visual language that would effectively communicate the values and personality of this initiative; progressive, accessible, forward-thinking, and inclusive.
The team and I discussed issues facing various systems in the Buffalo community and the idea of a fabric whose threads are unwoven and tangled and that a properly woven fabric needs all threads to work together to create a strong, functional cloth.
We created an invitation email which included a video that would be sent to community members in order to spark interest:
Software used: Adobe Photoshop and AfterEffects
Stationery Design
Social Media Flier for Event
Stationery Design
La Cocina VA
(now Kitchen of Purpose)Mural in Cafe Space
Lead Designer
May 2021 - July 2021
I was tasked with creating a mural that would liven up the space in a new restaurant that also housed an incubator kitchen and culinary education nonprofit. There were also smaller parts of the space that presented opportunities to make architecture like support pillars or short walls more interesting. The space had opened during the pandemic and did not show patrons the amazing work happening behind the scenes of the modest-seeming cafe.
I led the creative team (the CEO, the Director of Operations, and myself) through the creative process by collaboratively sifting through themes, color, and image until we agreed on a united vision. Then I got to work creating sketches and drafts of imagery in the space before finally we decided on a final layout.
In addition to designing this mural, I also executed it in the space. This included supply orders, budgets, and paintchip matching. The painting took over 24 work hours to complete.
Basic Concept Sketch
Proposed Designs (design below eventually chosen)
Mock-up of Final Design
Final Mural
Final Mural
Pillar Design
Arlington Presbyterian Church
New Logo, IllustrationsIllustrator/ Design Consultant
June 2014 - June 2020
Over the course of several years, I’ve created various social media imagery for Arlington Presbyterian Church, including formatting for Facebook and Instagram.
During a transitional period, I also redesigned their logo, shown below:
Logo and branding design for a record of APC’s story
Chapter spot illustrations
Social Media Graphics
Womanly Magazine
IllustrationsIllustrator
Spring 2021
As part of a partnership with the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) Womanly Magazine commissioned my classmates and I to create illustrations to accompany educational articles about hypertension (high blood pressure).