After overwhelmingly positive response, we pitched and secured budget to roll these amazing screens out company-wide – 56 locations in 2012.

Better photos of this project coming soon.

This personal project is a multi-channel strategy to reconnect with athletes and athletes at heart. Original photography by Bryan Tebbenkamp.

This series is based on the split-second action required in many competitive sports. One action, or hesitation can be the deciding factor of victory or defeat. These can be viewed from two angles; depending on the point of view of the action. The point of view is what tells the story and sets the stage for drama.

These would obviously work as print ads, or even billboards due to the simplicity of the message and composition, but being an Interactive Art Director, my thoughts moved toward creating an interactive environment, or a captivating motion piece.

One implementation might be to have users vote on what they think is the “most dramatic moment in sports,” I would  recreate this composition as I have above. Also, we could pit legendary athletes from all over sports history that never faced one another and create these compositions. In effect, creating the “ultimate dramatic moment in sports” based on user votes (voting via twitter, facebook etc).

Another application of the split second decision making could utilize YouTube and the link capabilities of videos. Multiple sports videos can be hot-linked to tell a story.

The Dogwood tree has strong Christian symbolism.

• - The four leaves represent the cross.
• - Each petal has a hole in the tip to represent nail marks.
• - The center often resembles thorns.

The Dogwood is also the official Missouri State tree. I felt this to be a great place to start when developing the logo. You can see the logotype, as well as a few of the graphic pieces I designed for this service.

These light pole banners were created to line the streets around campus. I decided to crop and rotate the logos slightly to increase visual interest. In this case, the brand doesn’t need to hit you over the head, because… well, you know you’re on campus.

Being subtle can go a long way. In my opinion, the cropped logo causes visitors to notice the banners more than a traditional centered-logo approach. It shifts the focus from the logo as a whole, and concentrates the eye on specific elements.

This is my newest attempt at creating a personal identity package, and one I am pleased with. I’m currently deciding on stocks and inks. These mock-ups were done on 32lb cotton stock.

Having this Flash piece display properly on the website has been tricky. First off, the size was larger than my current project gallery would allow. After a quick re-size, I slapped it in here, but you’ll notice a bit of a quality bump. Don’t hold that against me, this is just to show you the kind of projects I routinely design, develop and art direct.

The piece starts with a ‘self-drawing’ vector map which shows viewers at their exact location. This panned to the location of the University’s Summit Center less than a mile away. I then pulled out to a state map, then world map, closing with the tagline – “UCM: You’re here. So are we.”

I was asked to come to the theater to approve the piece’s debut, which was amazing to see on such a large screen. I didn’t however, stay to watch “High School Musical 3″.

Today Online is released before the print version is mailed and has a Read It and Rate It feature allowing readers to give instant feedback on stories, suggest future topics and communicate more effectively with the alumni office.

I felt a need to push past the previous design direction, and create something a little more fresh. The animated snow often creates a disconnect when using outdoor photography, so I used this as an opportunity to create a series of juxtaposed campus’ which would end up helping the message of the piece all-the-more. This piece was sent to all alumni, which encompasses numerous generations. Since the UCM campus grows and changes each year, I used this progress as the focus of the piece. The message was “Though we may all remember UCM differently, we can never forget what it has given us.”

The screen shots don’t capture the animation sequencing or masking of elements very well, but the objects in each scene build, then move out. Please see see the link to the right to view the live piece.

After looking at numerous other football fields, I noticed the fields that really stood out had mascots or logos at the 50 yard line, and accent marks in other areas. I saw this as an opportunity for them to really outshine other teams in their conference.  They liked the idea, however, they had no standard logo. In fact, the Knob Noster Panthers had 3-4 iterations of  ‘panthers’ grabbed from various sources. My suggestion was to create a new identity for their sports teams that could be used on fields,  uniforms,  signage, online, and everywhere else.

For the next few weeks I researched and drew panthers trying to find the best pose, expression and level of detail. After a few rounds of revisions and meetings with the board, this is the result. I provided a standards guide to help ensure that the logo looked its best in multiple applications.

The school board, district and community all rallied behind the logo and started to implement the new marks everywhere; from the football field to coffee mugs. One of the faculty purchased custom car seat-covers with the logo on them as a Christmas gift.

I was honored to be asked to attend the field dedication ceremony where I helped pull the tarp back to unveil the new logo and field to the public.

The Save the Date cards were very simple.  Holly and I were in Europe after speaking at a conference in Paris, and decided to travel down to the south of France for a little vacation since we were already overseas. I proposed in the Pope’s Garden in Avignon. After she accepted, she took a picture of the bench we were sitting on and, voilà! Save the Date: check.

We decided on an outdoor wedding a little over a year from the date I proposed which put the ceremony in July. We knew July to be pretty dry in MO. but unbearably hot. This drove our decision to make the programs functional.  In an outdoor Missouri wedding in July, you’ll need a fan. I created a template for a die, sent off to have it made, and an awesome friend from Chicago took care of our printing needs. Thanks again Dave!

Useless Trivia: Three years later I would teach this course and hand out an updated version of this project to my students. So that students’ project’s are not inadvertantely influenced,  I never show my work until after a project has been completed.

I was pleased with how they turned out, and the company that hired me to create the concepts loved them; however, they couldn’t persuade the board to go in this direction. I wish I could have presented these concepts in person. Live and learn.

My idea was to create a container that could be played with instead of simply discarded.  This package can be used as a full-pipe, or placed on its side and used as a table top, or grinded on around the edge.

I took a piece of 6-inch PVC pipe and some plexi-glass to create the package.  Interior highlights include a 360º panorama picture of a cityscape.

They needed galleries of each room, as well as a featured gallery showing off all Gelbach Manor has to offer. A professional photographer, and friend of mine, Brian Goodman, was hired to shoot the home and grounds, which really set the site apart from a typical bed and breakfast website.

The galleries were put together using Slideshow Pro, allowing the client to update photos as needed.  I added a dynamic comment/testimonial page that guests can fill out, which, upon approval rotate throughout the site.

This piece measures approx 9″ x 7″. If anyone is interested, I have 10-15 of each I’d be willing to sell/trade.  Please contact me.

This piece measures approx 7.5″ x 9″. If anyone is interested, I have 10-15 of each I’d be willing to sell/trade.  Please contact me.

This piece measures approx 6.5″ x 7.5″. If anyone is interested, I have 10-15 of each I’d be willing to sell/trade.  Please contact me.

Special Note: This imagery may look familiar… it was also used in a self-released Kosher Album

The look and feel was tricky. I wanted to use the animated snow, but felt there was a disconnect when it was placed in front of a photograph.  I solved this issue by using live trace in Adobe Illustrator to give it a more illustrative effect.  This also allowed me to make the dreary sky of a few of the frames more vibrant.

Useless Trivia: This piece won a Grand Gold Award at the national CASE Conference.

A friend and I were brainstorming ideas for the CD package when he mentioned having a contact at Hammerpress. I have always admired their work and was thrilled to receive the plates after printing. They make fantastic wall art themselves.

I was hired to create site mock-ups based on their suggestions and examples. The site I came up with had a contemporary feel while still not feeling ‘too stuffy’ or cluttered. This XML-driven flash site had loads of interactivity while still having a small loading footprint.

The concept behind this site was to have a more youthful appearance and utilize video that I asked our production department to create. I had all of the students who were interviewed for this project simply look at the camera for about 30 seconds. Instead of having a static photo on the homepage, it would be a looping video clip. The idea was based on one of the elements from the Harry Potter movies in which all photographs are animated.

The problem I ran into was duration. In the Harry Potter movies, there’s a finite time the image is in frame.  On a website however, the viewer could have the page open indefinitely;  so the video would repeat… and repeat.  The video clip looked slightly creepy. I personally liked it.