Category: Freelance & Personal Projects

My neighborhood in Durham runs a home tour promotion every two years to raise money for neighborhood projects and events. As a member of the neighborhood association I provided design and promotion assistance for the 2018 event.

Despite a slightly rainy day we met the fundraising goal for the event!

Below is a summary of my contributions:

Social Media Posts & Ads

A quick video made with Adobe Spark helped showcase the homes in a visual way and was shared on social media including paid ads on Facebook and Instagram.

The video ad had a reach of 2,371 with 3,046 impressions and 153 link clicks ($40 total spent with $0.26 cost per click).

Theme Graphics & Booklet Design

I created the look and feel for the tour graphics including social graphics, posters, tickets, and the home tour booklet. Below is a quick snapshot.

It’s always nice to give a gift with a personal touch. When I learned my little brother was getting married I knew I didn’t want to just order from his registry. I wanted to do something special.

This led me to the idea of a photo book – a combination family album and recipe book. With enough advanced planning I contacted family to contribute favorite photos and recipes. It was rewarding to combine special memories and meals into a welcome to the family book for Jackson & Stephanie.

Check out a few of the spreads below as well as some tips if you want to give it a try.

Tips for Creating a Photo Book:

• Identify a theme. This will help spark ideas around color palettes, book title, organization, etc. My brother spent over a decade working in a tattoo shop and both he and his wife have many colorful tattoos. I knew this would give it a personal touch, and it instantly sparked ideas for color and font selection, icons, and cover ideas.
• Create an outline. Yes this is a photo book, but it’s helpful to identify a storyline or chapters for direction and organization. In my case I had different types of content so I went with chapters – Welcome, Photos, Recipes.
• Find your print vendor and specs. Before you go too far decide what service you will use to print the book. I’ve used Shutterfly for a lot of photo projects, but for this one I went with Blurb. I like their paper and size options and was sold on their InDesign plug-in so I could have complete control of the design. No matter what you choose, it’s good to decide early so you know the template and specs you are working with.
• Look for inspiration online. Need some layout ideas? Use Google, Pinterest, and online tools to get ideas from others. There’s nothing wrong with borrowing ideas, but make sure to give it a personal touch.
• Find an editor. When you have a final draft, get a friend or family to flip through your book. It’s always smart to get another set of eyes on it. My mom and dad both helped review the book and shared suggestions (and a few typos).

Dillard Guide to Life Preview (see full book online):

 

P.S. The wedding was amazing and resulted in tons of beautiful photography. So, naturally I followed the first book with a wedding photo album. The photos were so strong that the design is minimal to give them full impact.

A Decade to Dillard Preview (see full book online):

//*More recent work coming soon*//

Preservation Durham Annual Fundraiser

Preservation Durham, a historic preservation non-profit, puts on The Preservation Party each year as a fundraiser and holiday gathering. Several promotional pieces were designed around a provided historic photograph of downtown Durham including the following poster, invitation, and newspaper advertorial.

Africa Unplugged Concert

The Africa Unplugged poster was custom designed to promote a traditional African music performance in Greensboro, NC. The design was also used on event t-shirts.