OTHER PROJECTS

 

Social Media

Pennsylvania School Press Association

Since 2017, I’ve managed the Twitter and Facebook feeds for Pennsylvania School Press Association (PSPA), where I’m a Board Member. I’ve used lists to stay updated on our member schools’ content, as well as national and state organizations that support student journalism.

I also collaborate in design and features for the all-volunteer organization’s website, where I launched a news blog in summer 2017.

Social Media Advising & Coaching

While I advised the student newspaper, The Friar’s Lantern, the publication added Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat to help reach student readers on the platforms where they spent most of their time. I learned social media management alongside student editors—making mistakes, asking questions, attending conferences, and celebrating successes.

Click the link below to see what The Friar’s Lantern’s social media looked like during the 2017-2018 school year.

Advising Social Media

Publication Design

It’s been said that the best way to learn something is to teach it.

When I accepted the role of newspaper adviser, I had no idea that student journalism would turn into the adventure that it has been. Prior to this point, I had coached my Graphic Design students to design the school’s literary magazine. I naively saw the adviser role simply as a way I could support design students towards more publication opportunities. There were fewer than ten students on staff at the time, and the newspaper was published only occasionally.

To become an effective newspaper coach, I had to learn to be a designer, journalist, and content creator. I sought out every training and mentorship opportunity I could find—and alongside students, I learned how to lay out a publication in InDesign, create a website from scratch in WordPress, manage content and social media, and so much more. Learning was on-the-fly and by necessity. I’m accustomed to doing whatever it takes (try again, find a tutorial, seek out a mentor, contact support, sweat it out, etc.), with whatever tools are at-hand (smartphones, tablets, DSL cameras, pen and paper, extra chargers and adapters, string and duct tape, etc.) to make sure content is effective.

The four print issues included here represent some of my favorites that we produced, although it was hard to choose. Click on the images to see the full issues. Most of the design work was done by students— yet I’m incredibly proud to have been their teacher, coach, cheerleader, and support.

Hope Springs Newsletter

 

Since 2016, I have volunteered to designed this newsletter for Hope Springs Equestrian Therapy, based in Chester Springs, PA. My connection to the organization came through a student and his family who have been involved with the organization for over a decade – and also from my lifelong interest in horses. When I was a teenager, I volunteered at an equestrian therapy organization in western PA, and had the chance to see the benefits first-hand.

I was able to visit Hope Springs several times to take photographs and speak with staff and volunteers. It’s a vibrant and thriving organization with a committed volunteer base, enthusiastic staff, and very sweet horses. Click the images to see PDFs. (You can see where this newsletter started by viewing the 2015 and previous versions here.)

Wedding: Nichole + Eric

 
Designing the invitations, program, and favors for my sister Nichole’s wedding to her hipster partner-in-crime Eric was a lot of fun. They both are musicians, so the theme was easy, and Nichole was fabulous with offering feedback so we could get the designs just right. I loved seeing guests walk away from the reception with several blue pots each – and in the years since, I see these pots on shelves and in use whenever I visit friends and family.
The intersecting music staff rings represented the intersecting lives of two musicians. Click to view wedding RSVP cards.
Intersecting rings on shower cake
Images of pottery created for reception
Wedding invitation. Click to view PDF.
The wedding program was especially fun to create, as it featured lots of fun information about the couple. Click to view PDF.

Wedding: Heather + John

 
For my college friend Heather’s wedding, I created a program and cup favors for the reception. The couple found each other through shared work in film production and a mutual love of music, so the program, designed like a script and score, reflected their passions.

There wasn’t anything too fancy about the porcelain tumblers, but wedding guests were able to use them for refills at the bar!

Wedding: Ann + Gabe

 
Ann and Gabe wanted a wedding program that reflected their mutual love of the outdoors, and especially of the Pine Barrens of New Jersey. The front page illustration is hand-drawn, with selected quotes from the couple. They loved my design of Gabe’s CD, so I tried to carry some of that style into the program. This was a joy to design and produce.

The Pines of My Past CD

 
The opportunity design a debut CD for a talented musician is nothing short of a gift. Gabe Coia is the husband of a good friend, and his music is hauntingly beautiful. The album is based on stories and locations in the New Jersey Pine Barrens. One highlight of completing this design was preparing a map that had been hand-drawn by another of Coia’s good friends so it could be printed as a foldable insert. The other highlight? Seeing my first start-to-finish CD design in its beautiful matte finish.

I love this project so much, and I treasure my copy of the album.

You can listen to the album here.

CD Front
CD Back
CD Sleeve
Map. Click to view full res.

Sick Pilgrim

 

This little Sick Pilgrim is one of my favorite projects ever. He’s based off a drawing by Charlotte Griffith, the incredibly talented and precocious daughter of my friend, author Jessica Mesman Griffith. Jessica and some collaborators created the Sick Pilgrim blog with the following mission:

We’re Catholic, but we write for those who are here in the church with us and those who are attracted to Catholicism but can’t find their way in; for those who have Catholic minds or Catholic aesthetics or Catholic hearts but remain, for whatever reason, outside the church; and for those who feel they must seek outside Catholicism to meet their spiritual needs. We want to invite people in, encourage them to look around, raid the church for treasures, and claim what’s theirs. 

The project featured extraordinary reflections on what it means to be Catholic and human. 

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