CREATIVE STRATEGY & BRAND DIRECTION | Designing for the real-world.
I lead creative strategy and design at Bent Paddle Brewing Co., which basically means I make sure everything we put out, from our core identity, taproom identity and signage, and new product drops, actually hits the mark. My day to day covers the whole creative ecosystem: physical packaging, sales and on prem for our retail partners, social ads, and the event design that keeps us tight with our community. When I have the bandwidth, I also take on select freelance projects to bring that same hands-on, strategic focus to custom logos and illustration. At the end of the day, I’m just obsessed with making stuff that works in the real world, not just on a slick computer screen.
AWARD WINNING BRAND BUILDS & DESIGN | Great design has to live out in the wild.
Sitting on store shelves, resting in hands, and cutting through the noise on crowded backbars. That practical, get your hands dirty focus drives everything I do at the brewery, and it's pretty rad to see that commitment pay off with some hardware. Two of my comprehensive brand builds have taken home American Packaging Design Awards, which is an awesome nod to the creative ecosystems I've built from the ground up. Both projects feature custom, hand vector illustrated backgrounds, sales assets and fully integrated marketing campaigns that blend traditional craft with sharp retail strategy to stand out right where it counts.
CUSTOM ILLUSTRATION & EVENT DESIGN | Pushing Style, Color, & Technique
I'm lucky enough to handle custom illustration and design for all our taproom events, which gives me an excuse to play in totally different sandboxes. It’s an awesome playground where I get to mess with a massive juxtaposition of styles and color schemes for every single show or event. Concentrating on the poster look first, I build out full social media assets to match. More than anything it keeps me sharp, letting me test out new techniques and find fresh ways to push Adobe Illustrator while making sure every event has its own distinct pulse.
LOGO DESIGN
Built for Production from Day One. When I design a logo, I don't just hand over a pretty vector on a white artboard and call it a day. My decades long background in production design means I build every identity with the real-world manufacturing headache in mind. I make sure you get fully finalized logos in multiple layouts and color variations so it's guaranteed to look sharp and function cleanly, whether it's getting embroidered on a hat, printed on a textured box, stamped on merch, or rendered digitally on a screen.
