The Just Ducky Spring 2012 catalog is full of bright and cheery prints and great new styles such as the Peasant Dress shown in French Blue Paisley print on the cover.

Our photo shoot was at a great country farm facility that hosts weddings and parties throughout the year. There were lots of fun things to explore – hedge mazes, a spring house, flower gardens, stone walls, grass courtyards, and a big wrap around porch. The location also came complete with a large black/white cat that was happy to be in photos in exchange for some scratching behind the ears. Photos for the catalog were taken by John Warner.

Some sample pages from the catalog are shown here.

Visit Just Ducky Originals online to browse the full catalog and place orders. You can also find a home show near you, which I recommend. Seeing the fabrics and trims in person is sure to inspire you to design your own Just Ducky original.

As I mentioned in a previous post, this series of pieces all work together, yet each piece needs to reflect the personality of the individual subject matter – in this case arts and culture of the Asheville region. We needed to pack a lot of content into eight pages but still keep it vibrant. I had lots of fun using graphic elements and color blocks to separate copy, highlight stories, quotes and data points. With only space for a few images it was key that those images be compelling and fit closely with the content to enhance the story of arts in our area. Fortunately in an area so strong in the arts I had great images to select from.

Below you can preview the Arts & Culture focus report.
Please note: on iPads you will need to scroll down and select the “Open publication” link to view example. (We hope this technical glitch is remedied soon. Thanks for understanding.)

View posts on other reports in this series: Advanced Manufacturing, Workforce

For more information on the work of the EDC, please visit their website.

For this piece there were quite a few data points and lists of facts needed to communicate the strength of our Asheville area workforce. As with all the pieces in this series it was extremely important that it be visually appealing, not just column of numbers. We placed all the data points on the inside spread for easy reference and I used bright colors on the graphs and varied the text styling to set each grouping of information apart. Pulling that spread together was accomplished through use of a beautiful mountain photo that runs across the top of both pages.

Below you can preview the Workforce focus report.
Please note: on iPads you will need to scroll down and select the “Open publication” link to view example. (We hope this technical glitch is remedied soon. Thanks for understanding.)

View posts on other reports in this series: Advanced Manufacturing, Arts & Culture

For more information on the work of the EDC, please visit their website.

This project is an expansion of past work with the EDC where I developed their updated logo and brand style. At that time an overview booklet was created which has served the staff well, but as more focus has been needed on specific target areas individualized pieces were called for. Focus reports in this series include: Incentives, Advanced Manufacturing, Workforce, Arts & Culture, Healthcare and Education.

Each piece in the series is designed to have it’s own personality in keeping with the focus topic while maintaining enough common layout elements and style to work together as a set. Focus area icons I developed for the EDC as part of the Asheville 5×5 plan are used as graphic elements on corresponding reports, along with strong photos and breakout boxes to ensure clarity of information.

Below you can preview the Advanced Manufacturing focus report.
Please note: on iPads you will need to scroll down and select the “Open publication” link to view example. (We hope this technical glitch is remedied soon. Thanks for understanding.)

For more information on the work of the EDC, please visit their website.

But the goals for the guide went beyond that. We needed to create a piece that spoke of Asheville as an unique place to hold a wedding, a piece that evoked the beauty of our area and the wide variety of activities that make it a wonderful place to ask friends and family to gather. It also needed to tie in to existing CVB branding, which includes a fun, bold color logo, while maintaining a romanic feel generally associated with softer colors.

I am please to say that the initial edition won the 2010 North Carolina Destination Marketing Achievement Award: Gold for Best Niche Marketing piece. And brides-to-be have blogged enthusiastically about the piece, as well as the excellent service from CVB staff they have received with it. Always nice to know a design has hit the mark!

Why is the piece one of my favorites? Because it merged illustration so nicely with the layout of a lot of detailed information. There were lists and tables a plenty, but throughout I wove delicate vine illustrations and enhanced pages with photos and quotes. We also chose to print on a natural soft white uncoated paper. The end result is a piece that is very beautiful, extremely functional and has a warm welcoming feel.

To request a copy of the wedding guide, please visit www.exploreasheville.com

When Drag’n SlayHer told me the theme was “Frosted Skates” my mind thought of punning off Frosted Flakes, but Celeste had done an excellent “Lucky Charms” poster not too long ago so it seemed a little too soon to do another. Frosty the Snowman seemed kinda clunky. Then I thought of the Hans Christian Anderson tale The Snow Queen – perfect, I thought – combined with sort of a Narnia White Witch image. I set about sketching, but it just wasn’t working. I couldn’t get the roller derby energy into an ice queen.

To make a long story short, after digging around the internet and thumbing through lots of books at the library, I came around to the X-Men character, Emma Frost. Now that is PERFECT. She is tough, icy, and well, her name is Frost so we end up with a pun after all.

The illustration came together nicely and I got to use some of my cool Alien Skin Photoshop filters to create icicles on the type.

Seems to me Emma Frost would make an excellent rollergirl. I’d get out of her way.

Roly Poly Sandwich Bags come in fun prints and are dishwasher safe and machine washable.

Roly Poly Crafts creates “Reusable Solutions for an In-disposable World” including really cool alternatives to plastic bags for taking snacks and lunches on the go. In our household, Hugh uses these everyday to take lunch to work, and I have found they are super handy for keeping toiletries and small essentials from being loose all over the bottom of your bag.

Roly Poly Crafts is the brainchild of Ruth Gavin who started making reusable diapers and diaper covers for her first son. Since then she has expanded her line to include snack bags, wraps, blankies and fun shirts (more on these in another post). Visit her website or Etsy page for more details and online ordering.

So how am I involved? I created her logo and support materials which include business cards, product hang tags and sales displays.

The most recent item I worked on for her was a school fundraiser flyer. Ruth thought that perhaps schools would like to have a fundraiser option for really useful items – items that would be economical, environmentally responsible and support a small business. So she is offering Snack Bags, Sandwich Bags and Wraps in a variety of fun fabrics where 30% of the sale is retuned to the school – cool!

Download the fundraiser pdf form here: RolyPoly-SchoolFundraiser
Posted September 2011. Connect with Roly Poly directly to see if this offer is still in effect.

Thanks, Bill Rhodes, for this excellent photo of the West Asheville Garden Stroll Map brochure in use!

So often I complete a project and off it goes to the client – I never get to see the piece “in action” so to speak, so it is really great to be able to include a photo of a piece being used.

Besides, this is a darn cool photo.

So what is the West Asheville Garden Stroll? It is an annual event (2011 was the third year) where members of our community open their gardens to the public to stroll through. It is an all volunteer run event (yes, including my design work) to celebrate not only gardens, but the community connections and well-being that they promote.

This year there were 15 locations ranging from a school to business to shaded lots, tiny spaces and public parks. I didn’t make it to all of them, but fully enjoyed the ones I got to visit. For additional info, check out the West Asheville Garden Stroll’s facebook page.

The Fall 2011 catalog is packed with great ideas for pairing items as well as showcasing the styles that are available to “Design Your Own.” New throughout this catalog are icons to help customers identify which are NEW ITEMS, REVERSIBLE GARMENTS, and DYO: DESIGN YOUR OWN JUST DUCKY ORIGINAL styles.

Two pages at the front of the catalog are dedicated to giving customers all they need to design a truly unique garment. On these pages we were able to feature larger swatches, all the designs offered and show buttons, thread colors, piping options, ribbons and rick rack colors! At the back of the catalog are pages showing all the great colors and styles available in knits from turtlenecks, tunics and leggings to baseball tees and personalized t-shirts.

For ordering information, visit the Just Ducky website at http://justduckyoriginals.com/

Asheville Swiss Chalets rental cottages are located close to downtown Asheville, but on a small road that doesn’t show up in many online mapping programs. Among the rental cottages on this loop road are some private residences as well as guest amenities. A clearly laid out map was an efficient way to communicate these elements and could easily be distributed to guests via e-mail prior to their arrival.

Color, along with clear numbering, was used to clarify which cottages are rentals. (The map shown was updated Spring of 2011 as additional cottages were added including two that are about 1/4 mile from the main grouping.)

For more information on the cottages, visit their website: www.ashevilleswisschalets.com