The Trunk. Before + After.

Sometimes working on the computer is just too tidy. There are days I crave a tangible project. I love how all of the elements and principles of design apply to everything - not just graphic art. So, when I found this very old, nasty trunk at the Barn House sale this fall, I couldn't resist. The last thing I needed for my home was a large trunk for....well....whatever. But the price was right and I had a hankerin' for a rehab project. Once I unloaded it at home I wondered what exactly I had gotten myself into. Black mold, green mold, small bugs, large bugs, rusty metal, old stinky wood, canvas and paper. That's what. But not for long! After lots of bleach, scrubbing, power-washing, spraying, drying, peeling, scraping, painting and sealing, this is what I've got:

Now I just have to figure out where to put it. It's true - I didn't need it. But I did need something untidy to throw some creativity at. Mission accomplished.

Quote | God + Design

Reina Style Consulting | Official Launch!

As Brianna says, "Whether we like it or not, the way we dress sends a message." So true. Thank goodness she's here to help. She's officially launched Reina Style Consulting. I got the official letter in the mail today and didn't hesitate for a moment before ripping open the envelope (obviously). So snazzy! She wrote a very nice, sincere letter to her friends and family announcing her new endeavor and inviting all of us to visit the brand new website (courtesy of Creative Pants, run by her husband and designer extraordinaire, Michael Showell).

More from Brianna:

"If you are wondering what a 'style consultant' does, you're not the only one. I begin with someone's personal style and teach them what looks good on their body type. We put together outfits from pieces they already have, add some key items and build a wardrobe that is appropriate for their lifestyle and preferences. Ta-da! Style slump averted."

To advert your own daily style slumps, be sure to follow Brianna on her blog or get a hold of her using the contact below.

To read more about the process leading up to the launch, read this previous post.

You can also follow both Brianna (@barstar12) and Michael(@showtimeisback) on Twitter.

And if you're not already, you can also follow me (@megjoyclark)!

Alumni Art Show at George Fox University

'Voices', the Alumni Art Show closing reception was last night. It was really great to be back at George Fox, catch up with friends and faculty, and soak up some art in the meantime.

This was my bay in the gallery. It featured a Portland Advertising Federation event poster (yes, that's Steve Sandstrom staring you down), a promotional snowboard, six business card layouts and two French Press wall art pieces. Quite the variety, but all the pieces seemed to blend together well. Showing design work in what is typically a studio art format proved to be a bit of a challenge, but with a little ingenuity, a few trips to Home Depot and Ikea and some X-acto knife action, I pulled it off.

My girlfriends Bari (super style consultant) and Winnie surprised me and popped in to the gallery! Thanks, ladies. You make me feel loved. P.S. Bari, did you realize the top I was wearing was one of your hand-me-downs!? Love it.

During the reception I got to catch up with my dear friend and classmate, Jessica Brittell. She featured a body of work she did for a local wine bar called Crush. Sadly, the establishment has closed, so Jessica recreated the atmosphere with her work and some props as a sort of tribute.

Adieu! Thanks for having me...until next time, GFU!

Alumni Art Show | You're Invited

Tomorrow is the closing reception for 'Voices', an alumni art show at George Fox University in Newberg, OR. Although I was asked to participate, gratefully accepted, prepped my work and delivered several pieces for the show, I still have not seen the show officially up in the Lindgren Gallery. Shame on me! I am planning to remedy this and will certainly be showing my face at the closing show tomorrow. I'd like to see your faces, too, so you're all invited to join me.

Meanwhile, to feed our imaginations of what the show holds, I've posted an article written by a dear friend, Leah Rupp. She works with her husband, Bryan of Bryan Rupp Photography and is taking classes at GFU, including a journalism class. Hence, the article:

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Alumni Artists Exhibit Work
by Leah Rupp

Newberg- On Sep 1, six George Fox Art Department graduates returned to their alma mater to show their work in the annual alumni art exhibit. An artist’s statement accompanies displays that hang on the walls of the Lindgren gallery beside Bauman Auditorium. The title of this year’s exhibit is “Voices.”

Artists include painters Olga Ceballos, Kathleen Jones, Chelsea Carbonell and Elizabeth Kuzmovick, as well as graphic designers Jessica Brittell and Megan Clark. Brittell and Clark faced the challenge of showing design work, which according to Clark “isn’t typically found in a gallery setting.”

In her artist’s statement, 2006 alumni Jessica Brittell said, “Design is complicated. It’s not easy to portray in exhibit fashion.” Her solution was to re-create a life sized model of the graphic and interior design work she did at “Crush,” a wine bar in Newberg. Viewers can flip through the menu, wine list, and other printed materials in the setting of a real dining room with place settings.

Clark chose to exhibit one of her favorite pieces, a promotional poster created probono for the Portland Advertising Federation. “I really like the strong concept behind it,” she said. “The creative director proposed a boxing theme and we all really got into it. We did a whole photoshoot - Rocky music and all. That’s why it’s a favorite of mine, because of the memories made in the process.”

Painter Elizabeth Kuzmovich said, “since graduating from George Fox in 2008 I have been experimenting with visual ways to illustrate displacement, replacement and ambiguity in
relationships.” Kuzmovich’s work includes acrylic, gouache, and watercolor paintings that she said are, “an approach to the human figure done less objectively.”

One goal of “Voices” is to inspire current George Fox art students about what the future holds. “I remember how much I revered those who traversed before me,” said Megan Clark. “My desire is to do for current students what viewing alumni work did for me.”

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Hope to see you there!

Sincerely,

Megan

Happy National Bosses Day!

Thanks to Patricia Bays Haroski, today is National Bosses Day. In 1958 she registered October 16th with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. She did so because she had forgotten her boss-slash-dad's birthday (which was October 16th, go figure). According to Wikipedia, it's a day for 'employees to thank their boss for being kind and fair throughout the year'.

But here's my dilemma: I am my boss. So any sort of thank you gift I give my boss, I give myself. Okay, so maybe that's not a dilemma. Maybe it's self-employment deviously masquerading as self-centeredness. And maybe that's the perfect excuse to give myself a gift!? I asked my boss-slash-self, "How can I honor you for the holiday?" And I got the perfect idea. It just so happens that my boss-slash-self's birthday falls on Friday, October 30. I always hoped to work somewhere that would give their employees their birthday off as a paid holiday. So my boss-slash-self and I had a little meeting and decided that yes, in fact, that is the perfect gift for all bosses who are also their own employees. In the spirit of Patricia Bays Haroski, I, Megan Joy Clark, give my boss, Megan Joy Clark her birthday officially off work from this point forward. (It might not be a paid holiday, but that doesn't mean it won't be a fun one.)

What won't be on the Bakery D'Amour coffee bags

Just like the last declined design post I shared, this work was done for Bakery D'Amour. And it's not that they're not going to sell whole bean coffee anymore or not put labels on their whole bean coffee bags....it's just that we have something else in the works that will do the trick. So for now, these are being archived into the StudioM declined design digital vault. But not before I send them out to blogger-land to be enjoyed. They need at least 15 seconds of fame.Stay tuned to see what we do end up slappin' on the coffee bags. It's going to be delicious.

Windlab Website Design Revamp

Windlab, the global wind energy development company, has undergone a digital facelift. With the help of Agileware out of Australia, the site's been lightened up and brought into alignment with the official Windlab style. And I think it's turned out quite lovely. The previous site design can be seen below.

Kudos to Skype for enabling all of us to communicate across countries, oceans and time zones. Without you, all this international business would be a lot harder to do.

My brain is like the Ford factory. Part II: The process.

As promised, here is James Webb Young's outline of what idea-making looks like, exactly. He says, "...the production of ideas is just as definite a process as the production of Fords; that the production of ideas, too, runs on an assembly line..."

And this is what the assembly line looks like:

"First, the gathering of raw materials - both the materials of your immediate problem and the materials which come from a constant enrichment of your store of general knowledge. Second, the working over of these materials in your mind. Third, the incubating stage, where you let something beside the conscious mind do the work of synthesis. Fourth, the actual birth of the Idea - the 'Eureka! I have it!' stage. And fifth, the final shaping and development of the idea to practical usefulness."

Really? That's it?

He addresses scoffing of simplicity in his book: "...the formula is so simple to state that few who hear it really believe it in...while simple to state, it actually requires the hardest kind of intellectual work to follow, so that not all who accept it use it."

I want to be one who accepts and uses it. It seems the reward will be amply worth the work.

If you want to know more about each of the above stages, I highly encourage you to buy and/or read more about his book, A Technique for Producing Ideas.

Just Because Website | Launched!

Thanks to Jill and Lonnie at Just Because and Matt Johnson of Imagination Graphics, the Just Because website has been successfully launched! If you'd like to know what Just Because is like and how I came to work with them, read up on this previous post.

The Just Because ladies now have a website as hip as they are. They're even tweeting! If you visit the site, be sure to take note of the upcoming events and specials. I'm planning on trekking out to Newport, WA for the Who Let The Girls Out event next month. Anybody want to carpool? I can't wait! Last time was a blast.

Amy + Colin | Finally married!

Amy and I started working on her printed wedding pieces way back in September of last year. At the time, it seemed her and Colin's wedding day would never come. But, as always, time files and they're finally living with wedded bliss! They got married last month at Zenith Vineyard in the Willamette Valley, just northwest of Salem, Oregon. The event was classy and beautiful - just as planned.

We created the printed pieces (program seen above) with scrolls in bronze metallic and gorgeous script type with fabulous flourishes to convey what was to come. If you want to see the stunning photos of the wedding day, visit Soul Mates Photo's blog.

You can see their invites and things featured in this post from earlier this year.

Photo credit to Melissa Tomeoni of Soul Mates Photography.

Bakery D'Amour Gift Cards

The chosen design - Now you can gift the bakery experience to family and friends!

Some preliminary layouts

My brain is like the Ford factory.

According to James Webb Young, that is. The following excerpt is from the McGraw-Hill Advertising Classic, A Technique for Producing Ideas. I've found myself thinking of his theory over and over since I read the book last week. I think he's right.

"An idea, I thought, has some of that mysterious quality which romance lends to tales of the sudden appearance of the islands in the South Seas. There, according to ancient mariners, in spots where charts showed only deep blue sea, there would suddenly appear a lovely atoll above the surface of the waters. An air of magic hung above it. And so it is, I thought, with Ideas. They appear just as suddenly above the surface of the mind - and with that same air of magic and unaccountability.

But the scientist knows that the South Sea atoll is the work of countless, unseen coral builders, working below the surface of the sea.

And so I asked myself: 'Is an idea, too, like this? Is it only the final result of a long series of unseen idea-building processes which go on beneath the surface of the conscious mind?

'If so, can these processes be identified, so that they can consciously be followed and utilized? In short, can a formula or technique be developed in answer to the question: How do you get ideas?'

What I now propose to you is the result of a long-time pondering of these questions and of close observation of the work of idea-producing men with whom I have had associations.

This has brought me to the conclusion that the production of ideas is just as definite a process as the production of Fords; that the production of ideas, too, runs on an assembly line; that in this production the mind follows an operative technique which can be learned and controlled; and that its effective use is just as much a matter of practice in the technique as is the effective use of any tool."

I'll share his outline of the process later this week.

SNEAK PEEK! French Press Coffee Labels

Well, it's been a year since I started working with French Press. They've made quite a name for themselves in the Salem area and are ready to start looking as legitimate as they are....with official coffee bag labels. Their whole bean coffee blends come in (approx.) 1-pound bags. To date, they've used a large custom rubber stamp to indicate the dark, medium and light roasts (as seen in the background of this image). And it's worked well, but as they expand their whole bean blend selection (and offer online shopping in the near future), they will need a better way to market their beans. Enter: StudioM. Below are the first round comps I presented to the team earlier this week. We're working on a hybrid, so sit tight and you'll see the final design when it's done. The goal is to visually portray the fine craft and fabulous flavors French Press has to offer...and get the coffee to fly off the shop's shelves! There's no reason it shouldn't. It's really, really good.

Reina Style Consulting | Logo + Business Cards

Brianna Showell's day job is being a Footwear Product Line Manager at Nike at the World Headquarters Campus in Beaverton, Oregon where she orchestrates all sorts of amazing things (you may just be wearing a pair of shoes she helped bring into existence). On top of this, Brianna, who goes by 'Bari', just got her MBA from University of Oregon, Executive Program. But get this: She's always argued that she has no real marketable skills. Ha! I beg to differ.

She's more amazing than she realizes. Whether it's figuring out what works best for a particular body type, making the hippest trends work in everyday wear, rehabbing drab hand-me-downs into fab garments, shopping for the perfect black dress pants or assembling the ideal event ensemble, she's got it down. We've all known this about Bari for years. She's entertained the idea of creating a small side business out of her style skills, but always felt like it was something she should just do for fun. Finally (thank goodness!) one of her girlfriend scheduled a consulting session and refused to let Bari do it for free. "Oh, and by the way", she said, "I've already lined up like three other clients for you. So kick it in gear." (Love her!)

Bari took her seriously and really did kick it in gear. She decided to call her company Reina Style Consulting. Reina is her maiden name and means 'queen' in Spanish. How cool is that!? We developed a very regal logo and some pretty business cards last month and Michael, her husband is developing the Reina Style Consulting website as we speak.

I was at a ladies' event earlier this week and overhead someone say, "I just need someone to pick out my outfits for me." Of course I had to interject, "Bari just started a company doing just that! It's called Reina Style Consulting and she'll come to your house, go through your closet with you and lay out outfits for you to wear...and tell you what you should never wear again. And she'll tell you what works for your body type and make a little cheat sheet for you and shop with you and...and...and..." You get the picture. I heart Bari...and her very marketable style services.

Side note: If you were wondering, yes, this Brianna is the same as the baby shower Brianna. Her baby boy will be THE most stylish kid on the face of the planet.