After two leading non-profits merged into the organization FamilyForward, a completely new website was needed. In working with web design agency, Thoughtprocess Interactive, Meghan Robinson and I provided art direction throughout the project. We identified three target audiences and prioritized structure and content for those groups. I produced design comps to highlight the compelling brand visuals, utilizing current web trends. I selected images and helped with messaging and UI testing. The site is built with Wordpress modules for fast and easy manipulation. Once the site design was completed, I provided ongoing maintenance including new page builds, page reorganization, and content updates.

FamilyForward had an exciting opportunity to bring one of the leading experts in developmental trauma, Dr. Brucy Perry, to speak to the public and I was able to help promote the event through a new webpage design, email marketing, social media marketing, and digital ads. I also created an inexpensive invitation that fits in a #10 envelope so it’s easy to print and assemble. We were only supplied two low-res images of Dr. Perry so I had to be creative with how to incorporate his image. The event promotion was so successful we had to find a new venue to fit more than 500 registrants (and then sadly, postpone due to Covid-19).

A project I am notably fond of is a company’s annual report. I love the challenge of condensing an entire year into a short book in a way that tells the company’s story both dynamically and succinctly. In the examples shown, I worked closely with the copywriter to develop a theme that informed the rest of our decisions about content and style.

One content piece I am particularly proud of is the infographic featured, titled Better Insights, Better Outcomes. FamilyForward’s methodology is very complex due to the nature of evidence-based treatment for childhood trauma, so I set out to create a concise visual that depicted how this actually translates for clients in a way that donors and stakeholders could understand. The resulting infographic was so well received that the organization started using it on the website and in presentations developed to educate the greater public about the work of FamilyForward.

You can see view the four FamilyForward annual reports I produced here:

FamilyForward 2021 Annual Report
FamilyForward 2019 Annual Report
FamilyForward 2018 Annual Report
FamilyForward 2017 Annual Report
FamilyForward 2016-2017 Annual Report

I also produced the 2013 DART Annual Report.

I partnered with Sustainable Corn, a research team at Iowa State University to create materials that highlight and distill the five years of research conducted under the grant project. Data-heavy, dense research was translated into accessible and understandable information for distribution to the general public, including handouts, booklets, and presentations. I developed a fresh and nimble brand for Sustainable Corn that could guide both my designs and also the researchers as they distributed their findings.

Athene Ascent is an annuity insurance product that needed a unique identity that still fit within the framework of the larger Athene brand. I chose visuals that play off of the word ascent in unexpected ways. The logo features an abstract mountaintop that a climber ascends to the top of, and the imagery is of hot air balloons that ascend into the air. This identity was applied to numerous marketing materials, including 8-12 page brochures, sales concepts, emails, web graphics and a microsite.

Art direction: Kathy Downing

Des Moines Area Transit System's tagline is "Ride for a Reason" and the company needed engaging signage to promote their services. I played off of the brand's bold colors and incorporated icons and graphic scenes to show playful but practical examples of why people choose to take public transportation. DART customers are diverse and the icons served to remain accessible and identifieable to everyone. The signs were displayed out in the community and on the sides of the buses. 
Art direction: Jennifer Greiner and Kirstin Baer-Harding

While working at FamilyForward, I had the pleasure of creating the event design for The Rocket Ball, the agency’s annual gala, for three years. While the gala is the agency’s biggest fundraising event, we chose to prioritize a fun experience above all else - and found that when guests have fun, they are more likely to give and return the next year.

The event has been named The Rocket Ball since 2016, but each year there is a theme within a theme that I was tasked with developing. For the 2020 Rocket Ball (luckily held in February before everything changed), I was inspired by the glamor of the 1920s so I created a theme melding space and art deco. Every detail was considered, from print and digital communications to on-site decor and audience experience, all while working within a tight non-profit budget. The 2020 event was wildly successful, bringing more than 550 guests and raising a record-breaking $640,000 for the agency.

Event was done in collaboration with Jessica Dederer, Chief Development Officer; Tina Nelson, Event Manager; Meghan Robinson, Marketing and Communications Manager; Emily Phelps, Resource Development Coordinator; and event-planning agency Switch.

While I was employed at DART (Des Moines Area Regional Transit Authority,) the company's site was rebranded by a local design agency. I, along with Jennifer Greiner and Kirstin Baer-Harding, provided art direction for this project. A once clunky and hard-to-use website was transformed into a clean, robust, straightforward site. Every detail was thought of, from site structure, to accessibility for non-English speaking and/or handicapped users, to ease-of-use on a variety of devices, to reaching the various demographic groups and stakeholders. We also emphasized efficiency from a maintenance standpoint on the backend as the data-heavy site is rapidly updating. 

I love showing data-heavy content in fresh, visually-pleasing ways. Here are some examples of the information graphics I have created.

Logos are foundational for a company's identity and I seek to design logos that are clean and memorable. 

An assortment of illustrations I have done, some for work and some for fun.

Being behind the camera helps me see the world in new ways and never fails to drum up new inspiration. I sell some of my favorite photos on Creative Market.