Charpie

Status: "Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work." Thomas Edison via Twitter

image for: Grilling Addiction

Grilling Addiction

We are so super excited to launch our up-and-coming sister site, GrillingAddiction.com, that we just have to give you a visual taste of what’s in store. Introducing the Grilling Addiction logo.

For us, it started as a love for grilling over hot coals in our trusty Weber grills with a cold beer in hand. Now, it’s an addiction. Grilling has not just become a past time or a means of preparing that which we need to survive. It’s become our life.

We want to know every tip, trick and recipe for every meat, fruit and vegetable that could possibly come in contact with a grate. And, we want to share our experiences with you through GrillingAddiction.com

The final design took a couple weeks to finish off and is vastly different than some of the first concepts. We originally went down a road of traditional western-style typefaces and used visuals such as flames and wood grain. Although nice, the designs didn’t pertain to the feel we wanted the site to have — something lighter with more modern lines and easy on the eyes.

Follow Grilling Addiction on Twitter!

image for: New Luxe Logo

New Luxe Logo

When designer denim and fashion boutique Luxe contacted me to create a new logo for them, I was faced with a challenge. The store catered to both young fashionable women from age 16 to more mature women with refined style up to age 55.

My initial designs always swayed one way or the other. I struggled to find a middle ground between young, fun and innocent and bold, sophisticated, yet not highbrow.

This is how this design was born. The custom Luxe typeface seems to have two personalities. That of a younger still emerging and developing style as depicted at the base of the word to another as you continue to scan up the logo and the initial personality becomes more defined and even refined as it appears to almost grow and lift off the surface.

Zip zing!

image for: The Crew Logo

The Crew Logo

tagged under: Logo, Portfolio, Typography

There’s a few things I love about summer: softball, beer, and design. Ok, so beer and design have nothing to do with summer. Those are kinda year round things. Regardless, my softball team, The Crew, needed something for our jerseys. Since beer drinking is as part of the sport as the game itself, to us anyway, we had to come up with some combination of the two.

My life in graphic design wouldn’t be complete without at least one creation of the standard brush script baseball logo, so this will be my offering to the logo cliché gods. Yay! Check it off the list! Now all I need is a clipart spinal chord chiropractor logo to complete my sacrifice.

All in good fun.

image for: Dandy Dwarves Logo

Dandy Dwarves Logo

We’ve revamped the logo for San Rafael based production group Dandy Dwarves! They really wanted something simple with room to add a little fun later, so I’ve initially based the logo off the Century Gothic typeface. I evened out all the stroke widths, and rounded everything off. A little nip there, a little tuck there, and that’s what you see.

image for: Redefining Redline

Redefining Redline

This week will mark the beginning of a brand overhaul for Minnesota-based Redline Performance Products. The company had been widely known in the performance vehicle industry for their snowmobiles, but they’re letting go of the snow-chained vehicles for a more dynamic, all terrain genre. They call it a Sport Terrain Vehicle (STV). Think of a dune buggy after a case of Red Bull, throw in some Fox shocks, a 72hp Weber engine and hit the trail; be it dirt, snow, or sand. These machines truly rock any terrain, and they do it right out of the box.

I got an opportunity to ride one of these devils a couple weeks ago. It’s a thrill that has to be experienced. I’m not a skilled enough writer to even attempt putting it into words. I can say that I about crapped my pants on the first jump I took at the company’s two and a half mile test track. I was not expecting to get the air that I did and was definitely not expecting such an easy landing. It was as if I shot into space and came back down on a cloud.

Getting back to business, the above type treatment utilizing the new campaign tag ‘Redefined’ is the first snippet of an all out makeover. What’s to come? New print pieces, a dealer kit, online video campaign, and a few other surprises. Stay tuned. This will be a fun one to watch.