FilmJabber.com: Website redesign and rebranding

My friend Erik came to me one day with a new name for his movie review site, and needed a logo to make this new brand come to life. I was very honored that he had come to me with this request. 'Film Jabber' was a fun name that had a lot of options as far as logo creation goes, much more than you could think of if you were given the name of the old brand: 'Movie-Source'. I kept the logo simple and the colors fun and lively, as he is a very colorful character. Part of the reasoning behind the name 'Film Jabber' relates to how Erik takes 'jabs' at movies and really critiques the hell out of them. It's quite entertaining. So in the same instance Erik has conflicts with a lot of movies he sees, the 'm' and the 'j' are also conflicting and merging to create a little tension within the logo. I also would say that they help tie the logo together. All right, that was my attempt to explain my creation as best as possible. Sometimes it's hard to do so, and sometimes it just works and feels right.

Erik also requested me to design his newly renovated and re-branded website. I was happy to oblige.

Old design (Movie-Source.com):

New design (FilmJabber.com):

Quick plug: Erik and his entertaining (and sometimes explicit) movie reviews can be read at Film Jabber: http://www.filmjabber.com

(Design created: 2007)

Broken Glass Ceiling logo

Broken Glass Ceiling was a logo creation that never materialized into anything, unfortunately. It was enjoyable to do, and I tried to make it fun. Also, looks like I took a very literal interpretation of the brand name :)

(Designs created: 2004)

Justin Klump Album Art

I had the pleasure of working on the album artwork for Justin's EP 'Something For September'.

And a poster:


Did I mention Justin is amazing, both as an artist and an individual? Find him on iTunes! Support this guy...if you get the chance.

JustinKlump.com website redesign

Justin Klump is a very good friend of mine, has been since I was a freshman at PLU. I will take the time to claim that I was his friend before I realized he was such a talented musician. Whew! Ok, now that I have got that off my chest, let me continue...I volunteered to create Justin's website in order to both build my portfolio and help him out at the same time.

First, let me introduce you to what Justin's site looked like to begin with:

I point the earlier version out only to offer a comparison. Here is the site I built for Justin:


At the time I created this site design, Justin was just beginning to make a dent in the industry and was just beginning to get his name out there. I therefore wanted to incorporate a 'Starving Artist' theme, and this was my reasoning behind the crinkled-up paper, cardboard, tape, etc. I also thought it gave him a sense of mystery and underground, too. And the spotlight you see within the design was just that, a spotlight... used to signify that although he was a 'starving artist' in many ways, he was on the verge of making a breakthrough. (Design created: 2004)

A couple quick plugs for Justin:

Justin is a great musician and I've really come to enjoy listening to his creations. He's also a great friend and incredibly gifted individual. Check out Justin's new site design (very nice!): http://www.justinklump.com. Also check out Justin on MySpace (http://www.myspace.com/justinklump) - listen to a few of his tracks and I think you'll be hooked!

Voss Farms logo

A co-worker asked me to create a logo for her father's farm in Eastern Washington. There were no restrictions for the most part, but it had to be a logo that could easily transcribe to a wooden farm sign...so simplicity was key. Working backward (from winning design to my mocks) here are the logos...

Winning logo: This was actually done by my girlfriend, Jaime. Very nicely done - simple, nice colors, easy to read, authentic, nice pattern to it. I also think it's very vintage in it's presence and has that small town, Eastern Washington feel to it.


Here are some of my mock ups:




(Designs created: 2007)

Chef Boydardee!

I had some fun this last Halloween, creating my own last minute costume from something I had in my own cupboard, and a name I had sometimes joked about in the past. 'Chef Boydardee' was the identity, and it was a blast. I took the legitimate Chef Boyardee logo, and simply Photoshopped in the 'D', to provide me the ultimate name for a magnificent night. Then the only fixin's to get were the chef hat and the stache'...how do you think it turned out?



(Design created: 2008)

The Boyd Massie Rookie Card!

One of my senior projects during my final collegiate classes was to create a website that would act as an online portfolio, and also increase my knowledge of HTML, CSS and even some PHP. Once the website was successfully launched, I started working on ways to promote it, but something a little different than just a business card. I have always had a love for baseball cards, so I decided to create a trading card for myself. Check out my stats:




If you got your hands on the Boyd Massie Rookie Card, I'm afraid it's Beckett value hasn't gone up too much over the years :) If you are wondering about my site, I don't maintain http://www.bnmdesign.net anymore - sorry.

(Designs created: 2005)

'Oil' political posters

My senior year of college I created a three part poster series involving the political issues of oil, or more specifically, the U.S. dependency on foreign oil. I will provide a brief explanation for what each poster describes and then explain some things you may not have seen as you viewed each one...

#1 of 3 - SP'OIL'ED?: Started out the series by just representing some facts about oil that I had researched surrounding oil consumption within the U.S. and how it compared to other nations.

#2 of 3 - TERM'OIL': Things start getting a little more interesting now, as I present some controversial facts surrounding the idea that the war in Iraq is/isn't not a "war over oil".

#3 of 3 - B'OIL'ING POINT.: Projections of our use of oil in the future produce some scary numbers.

You will notice that as the posters progress, the hand (which once started out as a clean and nearly perfect print) smears more and more until in poster #3 there lacks any resemblance of a hand. Look closely in poster #2...you will even see some evil faces (in the left and right palm), which surprisingly wasn't manipulated manually by me. It was just how the filter operated, but I think it's a nice touch, despite how evil it looks.

All handprints and oil production was done by yours truly! I had a fun time smearing oil on my hands and making prints on paper. It reminded me of finger painting in grade school, for sure! After much experimentation, I then photographed the prints and then manipulated everything digitally after that point.

(Designs created: 2005)

Uncle Bob's BBQ logo and collateral creation

As a group our task was to select a cuisine of choice and restaurant name that would belong in a mall food court. Our group decided on BBQ food, then we chose the name Uncle Bob's BBQ. We then started to design individually, only to collaborate later and share our mock ups and then collaborate on a logo we could all agree upon and have a hand in creating.

Here are my mocks:



As a group, we decided that each member had incorporated great pieces to the overall puzzle we would call our final logo. We all wanted some sort of flame within the logo. We also soon discovered that the charred looking text, or branded text was very appealing and great indicator of barbecue.

So our logo evolved into the following:

In addition to the logo, we had to also create some collateral: A teaser advertisement that would fold and stand on the tables in the food court, and a children's hat (like the BK king hat). Here's a look at both:


(Designs created: 2004)

The face behind the waterfall

This was one of my favorite creations. Two separate photos created to become one. A gigantic Mt. Rainier waterfall used in conjunction with my own tormented face. My face was applied to a layer above the waterfall picture, and then a simple opacity reduction was applied, so the two separate features would blend. And blend they did. I think this picture worked out so beautifully and easily, and I think that's why it's one of my favorites I've ever done. Everyone feels enormous frustration at times, or wants to cry out with foolish anger from time to time - and I think this image is my release of those emotions - or what it would look like if I did.

Looking at the contours of my face and the reaction of the water within the waterfall - it matches up quite nicely. Take a look at my left eye. Take a look how the water rushes down the bridge of my nose. And look at how the water encapsulates and traces the outside of my head. I just like how the composition looks as a whole. Hope you enjoy too, and aren't afraid - that's definitely not the intention :)

Energy Drink logo creation (Part 2)

The answer from the previous post is: No, 'Pulse' was not the energy drink chosen from my group. The energy drink in it's stead was one called 'Summit':


I do enjoy the work a classmate did on this - I think it was very well done. I love how the double M's interact with the mountain - carving it out and becoming a part of it, as if you will become a part of the mountain too if you drink Summit. I find the logo to be encouraging and very professional, and was excited to work with it as a group.

One of our first tasks as a group was to create labels and actually place them on a real life bottle. Luckily for us, there was already an energy drink out there called 'Trek', I believe...so we bought the actual bottles as you see them below, but inserted our own logo and flavors (Cool Rapids Blueberry & Sunrise Cherry).

Here's how it turned out:

The next step as a group was to create a billboard, or print advertisement:

(Design created: 2004)

Energy Drink logo creation

With the saturation of energy drinks in the industry, our class decided to muddy the waters even more - by creating a uniquely named and branded logo of our own. This was intended to be a group project in the end, but our first step was to work independently, and then come together for a collaborative effort and choose one of the group members logos to proceed with...

I chose: Pulse - The Motion Potion. No, this isn't a sexual product, but it does have that sort of double meaning where one could think sexually. But the main intention was to mean motion, as in sports, or just keep moving through the day without tiring out. I think Pulse is a very short name, easy to remember, very masculine and has very strong ties with what an energy drink should do for you --- provide you with an adrenaline rush and increase blood flow.

Here was my progressions throughout the logo creation process of Pulse:

#1 - Started out really emphasizing the 'echo' lines/water ripple effect and having just a 'P' and then spelling out 'Pulse' underneath, then followed by the tagline. Found out much too soon that there was too much going on.

#2 - Played with some color change, but the blue just didn't do it for me --- pulse reminded me too much of blood flow, and so I had to stick with the red - plus red is a color that has a lot more pop to it. I think the blue just made it look dead, literally.

#3 - Stuck with the 'echo' lines like the above example, but intensified them a bit. Switched color back from blue to red. Added italics to 'Motion' within tagline.

#4 - Reduced the 'echo' lines to just the left-hand side of the logo - I think it creates a much stronger visual presence because of the fact it's not symmetrical. I liked how the 'echo' lines connected to the word 'Pulse': Gave the logo a sense of flow.

#5 - Not sure why I went away from what was working before, but I think I lost my way a bit here - see #6 below for my redemption period.

#6 - I incorporated all the features I liked from previous versions to help lead me to a logo that was very simple, but visual stimulating and powerful.

Did our group choose 'Pulse' as the energy drink of choice? (Design created: 2004)

How do you make a graph look interesting?

The objective of this project was to create a graph detailing the topic of new housing projects started in Pierce County from 2000-2003. This graph couldn't be any ordinary graph, because ordinary graphs are very plain and clear cut. No, this graph had to be something that would grab a reader's attention and also get the pertinent information across to them. I chose having a hammer and increased nail height to represent the increase in housing starts year upon year. And the text for the title was a very hard edged font, which I didn't hesitate to use because it tied in nicely with the shape of the hammer. (Design created: 2003)

Old Navy logo recreation

Our duty as a class was to collectively select a logo we didn't necessary find appealing, and to then recreate that logo. The logo we chose was Old Navy.

Here's a couple of the preliminary logos I came up with:

My finalized logo:

I think the reason I redesigned the logo in such a manner is because I have always thought of their line of clothing and advertising schemes as retro. So I incorporated the basic shape and the color scheme you see. now that I look back at it, it's probably a little hard to read and recognize right away, but I don't think it's a bad visual overall, and somewhat of a friendly logo.

That wasn't the end of the project. With our finalized logo, we then had to incorporate it with a print advertisement, using our own unique text. I created the text 'Make a closet deposit' - as in come to Old Navy and buy our clothes to fill your closet, but in a more trendy way of saying it. (Design created: 2004)

Cloud 9 Ice Cream kiosk simulation

Ordering from a kiosk can either be the most simplistic process you have ever been through, or sometimes it can be like pulling teeth. We see kiosks being used regularly, such as the express checkout at your local Fred Meyer store.

The group project you are about to see screenshots of dealt with kiosks as a means for ordering food, instead of traditional ordering techniques. We were able to choose our own food - and we chose ice cream. So our job was to imagine a group of people coming into a ice cream parlor, sitting at a table, and having a kiosk available for them to order from, instead of a human being. The process had to be very efficient and fun.

The original project required creating a clickable example of a full order - from first choice to thank you screen. So this required my experience in web design and programming - creating essentially a website of the process from beginning to end. Here are some images from the would-be kiosk...screenshots that will take you through the order process as best as they can (without a live demo).

#1 - Entry screen: I selet 'Cones'

#2 - 'Cones' screen: I choose Waffle, Love It! (taking after Cold Stone's naming scheme)

#3 - Ice Cream landing page: I choose 'Cloud Nine Favorites'

#4 - 'Cloud Nine favorites' page: I choose Brownie Bliss

#5 - Toppings screen: I select Yellow Cake

#6 - Taken to the Check Out page: I select Credit Card

#7 - After paying, I'm taken to a Thank you confirmation page - then I await my ice cream (this time, from a human)

(Designs created: 2004)