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"How do we raise $500,000 to help rebuild the Lowell Library? Oh, and by the way, we've never done anything this massive before..." Actually TBH, $500,000 is not a large amount when it comes to capital campaigns. But the Lowell Alumni Association hadn't fund-raised at that scale before, so they asked for my expertise [...]

"We need to update our brand and brand materials. While you're at it, it would be great to get a style guide so that everything looks consistent. And, can you design a brochure too? Oh, also a presentation folder to hold everything. And, of course, our show announcements and gallery artist cards." Why yes, [...]

Building excitement and energy for your brand always begins from the inside. Your people are your brand ambassadors. When they're excited to be at your company, they communicate that to everyone they come in contact with. So you have to keep your employees engaged and enthusiastic. CSAA Insurance Group does that by supporting their [...]

A commitment to quality is more than just marketing words with McCutcheon Construction. "Paint the back of the fence because you'll know it." The saying, attributed to Steve Jobs' dad, is an object lesson about doing complete work and having pride in craft. McCutcheon Construction has a reputation of doing the best design and [...]

Yes, working for this software company really IS as fun as people think! For a designer, Autodesk was a golden opportunity to do lots and lots of great work. The people were terrific to work with. Management was brilliant and totally supportive. We worked with every department. The size and scope of projects that [...]

"Kern, you're like an automatic profit center. When you work on a project, we always make money." That's one of my funniest memories of working with Alterpop. One day, the bookkeeper said that to me in passing and I still remember it to this day. Alterpop is an award winning design agency run by [...]

Working with top professionals makes design so much better. David Duncan Livingston is one of the best architectural photographers in the Bay Area. His work regularly appears in all the top local and national architectural and home publications. He's won many awards for his work and he's published many books on beautiful homes and [...]

Designing for the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco was a highlight for me. Most people don't know this, but the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco has one of the largest collections of Asian art in the world. They only show about 7-10% of the entire collection though. That's primarily due to limited [...]

Helping families who have children going through chemotherapy Koret Family House provides temporary housing to families who have children going through chemotherapy at UCSF. Since they're right next door to UCSF, the families stay at Family House for as long as the treatments last. This takes away the stress of having to travel to and [...]

Some of us would rather forget our high school experiences, letting them fade into oblivion, but not me, I have some fond memories of my time there. So when the Lowell Class of 1981's 20th Reunion event came up, I wanted to design something with humor and nostalgia for the event.Humor and nostalgia are very [...]

Designing a showcase portfolio website for a designer friend, whom I deeply admire and respect, is both rewarding and terrifying. As a very young designer, I interned for Sandra McHenry when she worked at Pentagram. She was always very supportive but she also took every opportunity to torment me... in a fun way, of course. [...]

Can you design a brochure about a topic that is totally theoretical??? Sure... how am I going to do that??? I worked with Goodby, Silverstein & Partners to produce this brochure for MTV EngineRoom. MTV wanted to use their EngineRoom channel to teach high school students about different career paths. This particular one was about [...]

What does it mean to create space for people? For Laura Martin Bovard Interiors, it means using interior design to give people an opportunity to become the best versions of themselves. When your home environment is restful and re-energizing, you can focus on the things that really matter. Designing a showcase brochure for Laura Martin [...]

Even a very successful business networking group needs great branding. Branding that's done really well is like a bespoke suit. It's made only for you and fits you perfectly. And when you're wearing an outfit that's tailor made for you, you're brimming with confidence, ready to land that account or go on that date. [...]

Changing the company name was a chance to rebrand and make the new logo more thoughtful. Automated Environments changed its name from Automated Electric. It's a small change, but it reflects how the company grew from being electricians to designing and installing complete automated systems for homes and businesses. Think automated lighting, shades, security [...]

Rebranding one of San Francisco's premiere home care services means identifying the real users and marketing to that audience. Who's the real audience for senior home care services? Is it the seniors using the service? Their children? Their partners? For anyone who understands marketing, the adult children and partners are the real audience. Because [...]

"What could we give to the ladies of the M-t-F transgender community that could be carried around easily; be fun, beautiful and functional; provide important health information; and be produced inexpensively?" No small order... Well, for the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, I suggested creating an expanding fan. It could have several panels and be held [...]

How do you design a set of trade show banners that can be used individually or together as a group? Embarcadero Technologies, a database software company, wanted some trade show banners that they could use in a couple of different ways. They wanted a simple single banner that could be used by itself behind a [...]

How do you design a furniture catalog that shows off a new lineup of wood finishes and textures? Of course, you start with beautiful photography. Luckily, Brownstone Furniture had David Duncan Livingston shoot all the images, so I knew the photography would be fantastic from the beginning. The front section shows the furniture in [...]

Walk a mile in my 6-inch stiletto heels! Madison Young's one woman show, Reveal All Fear Nothing, is a 90 minute exploration of her experiences in the porn industry. She covers topics such as what performers get paid for a scene, gender pay equity, and what drives her. Reveal: she supports local artists and [...]

What if we related to the earth as our lover and not as our mother? That's the basic premise of ecosexual activists Annie Sprinkle and Beth Stephens. Just think about how that changes our relationship to the earth, from parent/child to loving partner. This experimental ecosexual performance with a summer camp theme explores that [...]

How do you design an attention getting poster for a new music CD using the existing cover art that is all sepia tones?Framing is important because the CD is the subject. For Australian artist Deborah Dicembre, I chose a background image that contrasted the color of the CD package and also functioned as a frame [...]

Any client who's open to having fun with their own logo is a graphic designer's dream! Nancy Van Natta + Associates wanted to create a greeting card to send out to clients. Nancy also wanted use the company logo as the main image but do something fun with it. I suggested that we cut the [...]