New Site!

I have a new portfolio site that I designed and developed myself. Check it out –> aaronswork.com

St. Paul’s ink drawing

St. Paul's close up

We recently finished an addition to our church. I was asked to create an ink drawing of the new building in the style of a drawing done in the 1950’s of the church. I used a nibbed pen to help create the classic style.

Here is the whole drawing.

Ink drawing of St. Paul's

Cornhole boards

Husker Cornhole Boards

Recently I’ve been having some fun making and selling Cornhole boards. This is my first set of Husker boards. I am pretty happy with how the logos turned out. I am still trying to find an easier way of transferring my stencil to the board for painting.

Right now I am covering a cutting board with high-quality painter’s tape, there is a reason you use the high-quality stuff I learned. Then I hand cut out the logo with an exacto knife. I then use a layer of cheap masking tape to transfer the whole thing onto my board for painting. The main problem is I haven’t figured out a way to reuse the stencils, which would be great.

Anyways, if you know anyone interested in some custom designed boards give me a holler. I’m up for some cool original designs.

Husker Board - Helmet logo

Husker Board - N logo

Here is an older set I did. I love the look of the natural/stained wood. I think my next set will have husker logos stained in the wood.

Stained Cornhole Board

Stained Cornhole Board 2

Camp Wannatailgate – T-shirt design

Camp Wannatailgate t-shirt

This t-shirt design accompanied an invitation we sent to clients inviting them to our College World Series tailgate. The shirt was rolled up and tied, stuck in a hot dog bun and placed in a brown paper bag with the invitation.

Camp Wannatailgate Invitation

Bryan Mohr and I concepted the idea and Matt Urlaub, one of our fantastic interns, designed the printed invitation. Below is a larger image of the t-shirt artwork.

T-shirt artwork

Two Rivers Saloon

Two Rivers Saloon

I just finished a side project for a family member. My sister in law and her fiance are the proud new owners of a bar, restuarant and hotel in Niobrara, Nebraska named the Two Rivers Saloon. The bar itself has a fantastic old western fascade that made designing a logo and menu for it great with so much to work with from the start.

I designed a logo and menu. This is my first hand drawn logo/lettering, which makes me a little extra proud of it. More projects will be coming soon, definitely a website and business cards.

Two Rivers Saloon Logo

Menu Cover for Two Rivers Saloon

Two Rivers Saloon Menu - Inside

Sausage Factory – Branding a Seminar Series

Sausage Factory. Huh, that’s the name? Of a Marketing and Branding Seminar Series? Alright.

With this description it all starts to make sense,

“The fairly easy world of branding and marketing is no longer easy or fair. The game has changed. When it comes to strategy and messaging mix, it used to be like making a nice, simple soup. Not anymore. Now you have to throw everything into a bowl, grind it together, and make sausage. It’s messy. But at the end of the day, it’s much tastier and is more popular at parties.”

Sausage Factory it is! I started off with a logo. As you can imagine, ideas for the “Sausage Factory” came a lot easier than “Marketing 101 Seminar Series” would have. Here are a few of my sketches for the logo.

Sausage Factory Logo Sketches

Here is the final logo. For inspiration I spent time checking out old machinery nameplates. Thanks to our friends at Barnhart Press I was able to check out some awesome old printing presses.

Sausage Factory Final Logo

I also worked on a direct mail piece and website.

Sausage Factory Direct Mail

Sausage Factory Seminars - Home

2009 Catholic Charities Campaign

In 2008 we reintroduced Catholic Charities to Omaha with our “Changing The Landscape” campaign. The campaign was received well and Catholic Charities gained a lot of new donors. In 2009 we are highlighting the actual programs that are making the difference in Omaha. Here are the first four billboards.

Catholic Charities Billboard - Pregnancy Counseling & Adoption

Catholic Charities Billboard - Addiction Recovery Services

Catholic Charities Billboard - After School Programs

Catholic Charities Billboard - Domestic Violence Shelter

Homeless Logos

Logos are wonderful and painstaking projects to work on. As a designer, there is a relationship formed with every logo I create, some good, some not. But no matter what terms the logo and myself are on, it always hurts to have them rejected by the client. Here is a small gallery of logos that didn’t make it past that all important client approval.

Majinola logo

Accuquilt logo

T logo 1

T logo 2

CWS logo 1

CWS logo 2

2009 Intern Poster

Poster created for Bozell’s 2009 Summer Internship program. The poster directed students to a fun website where they can download the application.

2009 Bozell Internship Poster

Changing Omaha’s Landscape

Cover of direct mail piece

The direct mail piece kicked off the Catholic Charities Annual Appeal. The design uses words that describe everyone to build Omaha’s landscape. I referenced buildings in Omaha, including the First National tower, the Woodmen tower, St. Cecilia church, Omaha Central to non specific houses, trees and swingsets.

Inside spread of the direct mailer.

The campaign also included billboards and a TV spot.

Billboard for the Catholic Charities Annual Appeal