Morning Star Kids Logo

My church is rebranding it's children's ministry and asked me to do a simple logo for it. The basic idea was communicated to me and I went to work. They wanted an "M" and a star that could be used separately from but also with a version where the name of the ministry was spelled out. I wanted to create a mark that was clean and simple but also had a fun flair to it. I incorporated the same font that I used years ago to design the main corporate church logo for the spelled-out version so it would tie-in with the overall church branding. It was important to the Children's Ministry Director that she be able to use the "M" and star without text for some applications. Below is the final approved version that we came up with.

MAIN FINAL LOGO

MAIN FINAL LOGO

The director also wanted to signify the different age groups within the ministry with different color schemes so I needed to create a mark that was easily modified for each color variation.

SOME OF THE FINAL COLOR VARIATIONS FOR DIFFERENT AGE GROUPS.

SOME OF THE FINAL COLOR VARIATIONS FOR DIFFERENT AGE GROUPS.

I'm happy with how the logo turned out and how it's beginning to be used.

FINAL COLOR VARIATIONS REPRESENTING THE DIFFERENT AGE GROUPS WITHOUT TEXT.

FINAL COLOR VARIATIONS REPRESENTING THE DIFFERENT AGE GROUPS WITHOUT TEXT.

Why I'm An Artist - part 1

My parents recently were de-cluttering their house and came across a pile of my art that they had saved from my youth. They gave it to me a few weeks ago and it was a nostalgia trip for me to look through it all. Some of the pieces I remembered but thought they were lost forever so having them now is really fun.

A school art project from 1973

A school art project from 1973

The piece above is one I did when I was about five years old. I guess in school each of us was given a single feather and some black paint and could do whatever we wanted with it. The teacher told my mom that I was going to be an artist some day. I'm not sure exactly what she saw in me or my art projects that made her believe that but it has always amazed us how she could predict such a thing way back then. Picasso once said, "Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up." I give my parents so much credit for never discouraging my artistic endeavors no matter how silly they must of seemed. It would of been so easy for someone to squelch my artistic expressions with criticism and it might of made me self-conscious and soured my excitement to create. It must of taken some faith to encourage me to go to art school and pursue a career in design not knowing how I would actually make a living. I think after 25 years of getting paid to do design I can officially thank them for their support of my dream.

A drawing from second grade.

A drawing from second grade.

Another drawing from second grade. This one was mounted on a blue piece of craft paper and my name stapled to it from when the teacher displayed it in the classroom.

Another drawing from second grade. This one was mounted on a blue piece of craft paper and my name stapled to it from when the teacher displayed it in the classroom.

New Custom Typography

I just completed a new typography piece that is being used by SKIT Theatre to promote their next shows. They will perform two short and unrelated plays each night and the evening is geared toward families with young children. When I heard the title I immediately thought of a sign for a theatre so I went to work. Little did I know how time consuming it would be to evenly place all the lights within the sign and make sure the pieces of the sign had a uniform thickness so that the lights would look right inside every piece. It was challenging but I think it was worth the extra effort.

Family Night at the Theatre title

Family Night at the Theatre title

I also just added this to the Typography portfolio on my main site.