I had a supervisor at the Pentagon that promoted this type of scattered exploration. Mr. French’s message was essentially this: it’s great to be considered an expert and dedicate a lot of focus [...]]]> I love all things creative.

• Design. Check.
• Illustration. Check.
• Photography. Check.
• Interactive media. Check.
• The occasional Play-Doh sculpture for my daughter. Check.

I had a supervisor at the Pentagon that promoted this type of scattered exploration. Mr. French’s message was essentially this: it’s great to be considered an expert and dedicate a lot of focus to one or two things, but in this age of design, it’s equally important to gain as much experience as possible in as many different media and tools as possible.

It’s been a good lesson and one that has helped me tremendously in my freelance business. While a large percentage of my clients come to me for web design or print design, they are often pleasantly surprised that I am  capable of helping them with their photography needs, illustration accents to the larger pieces I’m creating, creative video pieces, product design, ect. Two examples are Canfield Brothers and Wishon Golf:

Canfield Brothers:

1. Website (includes e-commerce)
2. Printed Owner’s Manuals
3. Marketing programs
4. Product Photography
5. Writing/Copy Creation

Wishon Golf:

1. Website (includes e-commerce)
2. Yearly Catalog
3. Product Design
4. Product Photography
5. Photo Editing
6. Brochures
7. Posters
8. Product Specific Logos
9. Video

As you can see, this mentality is obviously a benefit in freelance design. So in the spirit of inclusion, get out there and explore your other talents!

The Video:
I showed up (upon request of course) at the [...]]]> I had the opportunity recently to put my Canon 7d and some of my fun video training to work for a client. It had been a while since I had a chance to do video and it was fun to get back into.

The Video:
I showed up (upon request of course) at the latest photo shoot for Hermosa by Christina as they were taking shots of the clothing for their new Spring 2012 line. The shoot corresponded with the redesign of their website, which I also had the privilege of working on. I just shot a bunch of short clips during the shoot, edited them all together and dropped a music track from my friend Erickson Foster on top. I think it turned out pretty well and can’t wait for more video work to pop up!

Lesson Learned:
get an off camera mic. The audio on the interviews is less than stellar.

Equipment:

• Canon 7d w/ Canon 17-40 L Lens
• 27″ Apple iMac
• Final Cut Express
• Adobe Illustrator
• Adobe Photoshop

Let me know what you think!

2012 Photo Shoot for Hermosa by Christina E. from Hermosa Creek on Vimeo.

Year two of the Wishon Golf catalog is in the books. As with most things that you get the opportunity to do twice, the second time seems to go a bit smoother and that was certainly the case this year. While the whole process is certainly still a ton of work, I was able [...]]]>

Year two of the Wishon Golf catalog is in the books. As with most things that you get the opportunity to do twice, the second time seems to go a bit smoother and that was certainly the case this year. While the whole process is certainly still a ton of work, I was able to start integrating certain visual elements this year that I didn’t want to jump right into last year for my first time on the job.

About the Design:
This year I was pretty sold on a dark background right off of the bat. There had been a history of light backgrounds for the pages in the years past with the TWGT Catalog and I wanted to break out of that. When I presented the idea to Tom, he said he was hoping I would consider a dark background for this year alread, so that was an easy sell. I was able to spend a morning at the Dalton Ranch Golf Club in Durango, Colorado and got some, what I thought were, great background shots. It was nice this year to go out and take shots based on already designed layouts for the different sections of the catalog instead of working backwards and trying to use shots that were already taken and trying to work them into the design. I then took my favorites, turned them to black & white, blurred the entire image (to create less distraction in the background) and darkened them considerably.

For the content I wanted to create an element that I could use throughout the catalog that would divide different content on the pages and still accomplish the goal of having as much “floating” content as possible. I really wanted to try and stay away from putting content in boxes as much as possible to give the impression that the content was just sitting on top of the background image. I decided to use a bracket from the Eurostile font and re-size it as needed for each block of content. I think I accomplished my goal of having an “airy” design while still creating clear content divisions and I was really happy with the resulting aesthetic.

One visual element that I carried through from my design last year was using different colors to identify the different sections of the catalog (red=drivers, grey=irons, ect.). The guys in the sales department had received some comments that it made it easier to find different content when having section colors on the edges of each page (which was, of course, the goal). I thought it was a little more successful this year and it is probably a design element I’ll continue to use.

I had the opportunity to get a bit more involved with the photography this year. Not only did I take all of the background shots, but I filled in for Matt Mohi (lead sales/photographer/videographer) and did some of the new product photography as he suffered through a month long vacation in Hawaii in the middle of the catalog production. It was a learning process for sure as it had been a while since I had done any product photography, but I was pleased with the resulting images.

All in all I thought this year’s catalog was a pretty successful product. I am already thinking of ways to improve next year’s. Here is a link to the digital version of the catalog. Feel free to comment with your thoughts. We graphic designers should always put ourselves in a position to invite constructive criticism of our work

Click Here for Digital Version of the 2012 TWGT Catalog.

The Yelli Screamy is fun. That’s the best way to describe it. It’s my first 29er so I don’t have a ton of comparison there, but as far as mountain bikes go, it’s just fun.

The Build:

I’ve delved into the golf world before with the Tehama and Izod G brands, but this experience was wholly different. For the past six months I’ve been working on a rather large project, the 2011 Tom Wishon Golf Technology Catalog. It’s almost 100 pages filled with a golf nut’s [...]]]>

I’ve delved into the golf world before with the Tehama and Izod G brands, but this experience was wholly different. For the past six months I’ve been working on a rather large project, the 2011 Tom Wishon Golf Technology Catalog. It’s almost 100 pages filled with a golf nut’s dream content; beautifully designed clubheads, shafts and other golf accessories. As a very bad (but still trying) golfer myself, it was great to work in a field I am truly interested in and with the TWGT team in creating this catalog. Because TWGT is a small company, each of the employees pulls several rolls; like Matt Mohi, Director of Business Development and Sales who also doubles as the product photographer. At one time or another, throughout the six month development, I was able to work with most the team and it was indeed a pleasure.

After the catalog was off to press, I was asked to help out with other ongoing projects. I’m truly excited to continue work with Tom Wishon Golf Technology.

To see the digital version of the catalog, click here

I built this bike for my fiancee. I wanted to create a comfortable (5-6″ travel), light weight (weighs in at about 25lbs) and easy pedaling machine in the hopes that she would join me on the trails from [...]]]> I’ve had the opportunity to build up two more Canfield Brothers Bikes. I’ll start with the Sauce.

I built this bike for my fiancee. I wanted to create a comfortable (5-6″ travel), light weight (weighs in at about 25lbs) and easy pedaling machine in the hopes that she would join me on the trails from time to time. I was able to use mostly top level XC race components that I acquired from a friend after of season of racing use a fork that I had been using with a Santa Cruz Chameleon build. With the exception of some scuffing on the mostly used components, this bike looks great. The weight is truly amazing for a bike with this much travel.

The Build:

• Small Canfield Brothers Sauce frame w Fox RP23 shock
• Fox Vanilla R fork
• Ritchy WCS Stem
• Truvative XC-AM Carbon Risers
• Avid Juicy Ultimate Brakes
• Truvative Noir 3-ring Crankset
• Shimano SLX Front and Rear Derailleurs and Shifters
• Thompson Elite Seatpost
• WTB Saddle
• WTB Laserdisc Lite hubs laced to Stans ZTR Rims

The Ride:

Better than expected. Not only is this bike light and a pleasure to pedal uphill (especially with the ProPedal on the Fox shock),  but it descends like a Canfield would be expected to descend. It really rallies the twisty downhill sections, is great in the air and the 6″ of parallel link suspension really sucks op the landings. The only thing I would possibly change is the fork. I think a bit more rigidity in the front (a 15mm through axle would probably take care of this) would be nice in some of the tight downhill sections. Other than that, I love the bike and more importantly, my fiancee does as well.

I had previously enjoyed owning a medium sized One with a great build (see this post) and even though this build is different, I expect the bike to perform just as well. The only reason I ended up selling the other bike and getting this one, is I came to realize that I needed a small frame. I haven’t had a chance to ride this bike yet, but it looks like a good time! My only complaint remains that the crown of the fork hits the downtube (Canfield Brothers is now sending these frames out with the Acros Block Lock headset, but with the over-sized crown on this fork, it still happens) and the excessive chain slap which also makes a scene on the Sauce frame. I have, however, figured out how to protect the frame at these problem areas and it’s a small price for the ride you get to enjoy on these bikes.

The Build:

• Small Canfield Brothers One frame w Fox RC4 shock
• Marzocchi 66 RC3 fork
• Azonic Stem
• Race Face Evolve Riser Bars
• Avid Juicy Ultimate Brakes w/ 8″ front rotor and 6″ rear
• Shimano SLX Crankset w/ E-thirteen bash guard
• Sram x.9 shifters
• Shimano XT front derailleur
• Sram XO rear derailleur
• Easton Seatpost
• WTB Saddle
• Azonic Outlaw wheelset
• Salsa Seatpost Clamp

The set-up:

The Ride:

Horse Gulch on a hot [...]]]> I just took the virgin ride on my new 2010 Orbea Rallon. Amazing.

The set-up:

• Fox Talas 32 fork
• Formula brakes
• Truvative AM Hammerschmidt
• XO shifters and rear Derailleur
• Fox RP23 Shock
• Mavic Crossmax SL Wheelset
• Orbea AM Stem and Carbon Fiber Riser Bars
• Crank Brothers Joplin Seatpost

The Ride:

Horse Gulch on a hot day is quite the baker. There is little shade for large portions of the trail, and when it’s approaching 90 degrees it saps the life out of you quick. You want to make sure you’re on an efficient climbing bike or you’re going to be hating life. The Rallon did not disappoint. It looks more like a downhill eating monster, but it performed very nicely on the ups. The Hammerschmidt shifted flawlessly as advertised, even under duress and when not pedaling. The rear shocks ProPedal and the bikes suspension design and geometry also assisted in efficient uphill pedaling.

The downhills were incredible. The Fox Talas with the 15mm through axle, the Crank Bros Joplin seatpost and the amazing suspension made for a heck of a ride going down. The bike felt very agile and railed the corners. Again, the Hammerschmidt made shifting quickly a dream on the quick down and ups. The bike just sucked up bumps and smaller drops and made you want to go faster (and the brakes had no problem slowing you down when you had to).

Although only one ride in, I think this bike is going to catch on quick.

Update:

I’ve taken the bike on a couple of more rides, including some lift access terrain in Telluride. It continues to impress. From XC to light freeride riding, this bike is amazing!