I got this commission, ironically enough, because one of my other posters had gotten taken down and banned from a coffee house poster auction because it was apparently a little too provocative for some of the patrons. See, this poster is for a monthly Winona event called Fringe Friday that usually involves something left of center and challenging to the norm…thus the “fringe” part…so…they figured it would be the perfect job for me. I was actually told it was alright to make something a little controversial when I was given this project. It was kind of weird to hear. It was promoting a showing of a documentary about the transgender singer of a gothic glam band called All the Pretty Horses. The band also played afterwards and fielded questions from some of the audience. I did my best to keep the design a little racy

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This project was kind of a big deal because it happened to be for my own wedding…so…no cutting corners on this one…not that that is something I would do…it was a joke, alright? I didn’t want it to be too serious but more whimsical while still having a sense of refinement because that was the kind of event it was going to be…it wasn’t your grandma’s wedding basically. I designed the invites, RSVP cards, website, a lot of the wedding photo album(including a zombie wedding themed one from our zombie engagement and the zombie crawl the day after the wedding) and the cover of our wedding photo album trying to keep the branding or theme consistent because that’s how I do. The wedding colors were black and yellow (like the song which was also used as the our wedding song with some added lyrics, vocals, and guitars

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This was the logo I created for the 6th Winona Zombie Crawl’s website and facebook page which are the only forms of promotion for the crawl. I decided to stick with the red, white, and black color scheme that had become synonymous with the Winona Zombie Crawl…why change a good thing? This year’s theme was “feast of the beast”…a tag I came up with because it was, in fact, the sixth zombie crawl in Winona and 6 is the number of the beast.

A couple of different logos I created for an online toy company called Looney Toys. They wanted to have a logo that was both fun and “looney” and of course kid friendly…they are a toy company. They wanted a custom mascot incorporated into the logo that would be whimsical and would embody Looney Toys…the face of the company if you will. I came up with this dopey but lovable furry purple guy who seems pretty looney to me and they thought so too. I created two different logos, one suited for a vertical placement and the other for a horizontal one.

This was the poster used for Saturday’s show at the Market Street Tap venue for Mid West Music Fest 2011. It was billed as a sort of misfits of MWMF bill because of the ridiculous and controversial nature of many of the bands on the show. With that in mind, I wanted to create a flyer that would be fitting for such a bill and something memorable and a little sexually suggestive and weird. I think I succeeded with a “hot chick” with a baby’s head design…that’s always kind of off putting I think. It also had a Christmas in April theme to the show I was trying to capture. The poster was part of a poster auction to raise money for a non-profiit, but it was later taken down and banned from the coffee house that hosted the poster auction. My guess is

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I was brought back for another year of doing the Mid West Music Fest website and poster. I was very excited as it was the second year and was slated to be an even bigger success than the year before. I was definitely feeling the pressure to come through with an awesome design and functional website. After throwing ideas back and forth with Mid West Music Fest founder Sam Brown we came to an agreement on the look and feel and the rest…well…you’re looking at it. As far as the turnout for the festival…I’m pretty sure they more than doubled the attendance from the year before.
 
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I was ecstatic to be asked back to work on the Mid West Music Fest’s branding, poster, and website for 2011 after working with MWMF the year before. My band, once again, was also fortunate enough to play the festival with over 100 other bands from the midwest and it was awesome because it was happening in my own backyard. The biggest challenge with the poster wasn’t finding a catchy theme or figuring out how to further the MWMF brand that was already established, but rather finding a way to fit all the bands and sponsors on the poster…I mean…there were a lot of bands…which was a good problem to have in my book. A lot of design pre-computer work went into this poster. It featured cut fabrics, shapes, hand-lettering, and sketching that were brought together with digital design to create the final product. A

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Another faux screen printed piece for a Saturday night show at the Winona Historic Masonic Temple for Mid West Music Fest. It was rewarding doing this one because my band was playing the show and so were a bunch of other really cool bands from the Mid West. Also, the venue is amazing with a large seating capacity, great stage, and spectacular acoustics, and though I used to live in Winona, I never got a chance to play the Masonic Temple before. Each venue at the Mid West Music Fest has a flyer designed by a different local artist and they will be shown together at a Mid West Music Fest poster show and will be sold to the highest bidder. Don’t forget to come down and check out the show Saturday, July 31st.

I was very excited and more than willing to design and create this website for Mid West Music Fest. I live in Rochester, MN now, but I started out playing music in the Winona scene and have been for years and my band is playing this year’s festival. Sam Brown, director of MWMF, has done an outstanding job rallying troops to volunteer for this lofty undertaking and getting the backing of the city of Winona, MN for this first-time festival taking place July 30-31. Sam wanted a website with a user-friendly interface that would allow him to update pages himself with little knowledge of html but that would still look professional and sleek. I bet you can guess what platform I used to make this happen…yup…another wordpress blog site customized to the client…thank God for wordpress. Another usefull feature is Sam can create different users,

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So, a couple of my good friends were getting married and they wanted me to design their wedding invitations and RSVP cards. I did a a parking pass and this website for them as well. The thing is though…Laura really likes cats. I mean, a lot of people like cats and kittens and cute things like that, but Laura’s liking of them borderlines on obsession. My girlfriend Megan also contributed to this one because she had done some cat sketches that Laura really liked, so I incorporated some of Megan’s sketches into the design of the actual wedding invitation and website. The site features a blog style so they can log in and update you about the goings on of their wedding and allows them to post pictures themselves. It also features an online RSVP section where you can choose your party’s name from a drop-down menu list and

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