Lost and Negated

I have gone more than a year without creating anything. I feel like I have lost a huge part of myself. 

Question: What makes you special?

The career counselor asked that dreaded question the other day. "What makes you special in your job?"

I freeze on this question because I feel I always go above and beyond for most jobs. But to talk about it feels uncomfortable and embarrassing.

 

After a couple of uhs and ahs, it did dawn on me. I am the go-to person to get something special done in a hurry, under a budget restraint, for the head honcho of some company (but don't spend too much), for a 100th anniversary gift for a family Fred Hutchinson's family members, a very, special thank you gift for a donor. Those sort of gifts. Those moments always get me going in a fun way.

I don't know why but if you give me that kind of challenge, I am ALL IN. 

I decided that a science flask ($12.00), engraved to a donor ($50) was a good idea. And we made many of them. We also used this gift idea for fellow employees, each of us writing a personal little note, wrap it up with thread, put them in the flask. Something for them to read for years to come.

When Madame Peng Liyuan, first lady of China visited, I quickly found a beautiful crystal trophy 3-D laser etched with a DNA strand that was stunning and appropriate. It arrived in time for the visit.

I also found a source in New York for a Fred Hutch vessel to be 3-D lasered-etched in a trophy for special Board Members thank yous, or employee going-away gift. A little expensive, but worth it!

When Fred Hutchinson turned 100, We decided a personal, hand-made book/card signed by the entire campus would be a nice gift and we made it happen. Sitting at a table, getting people to sign blank pages of the card that would later be sewn together. It was a hit. Practically free. Except for some printing and vellum paper. With the help of an excellent writer!

And of course, there are the going-away Hutch Magazine covers for each departing employee. Although I have yet to create mine ... working on it!

A fun project was when Biden decided to visit Fred Hutch and we needed to put together a booklet with a days notice. I came up with the idea of having the cover printed, on black heavy card stock and another cover printed on vellum with white ink and our logo. I had a great relationship with one printer and begged them to print these covers in one day and they agreed! (That is the advantage of having good, personal relationships with printers) ... while we were waiting for the guts to be written, edited and printed in our own little copy center. I decided we could print, fold the book, fold the two cover pieces and use a green large rubber band I found at Office Depot (not very expensive) to hold it all together. Copy center printed, the entire art department trimmed, folded and assembled these adorable books. HIT! Inexpensive. Done. Biden came. The art department made special backdrops for his visit and posters for labs. It was all a hit.

 

I found an incredible, generous local artist who worked on making a vessel lamp prototype. So these are a few of the projects that makes me special. ;) 

Turning tears into magazine covers

I hate when we lose coworkers but we have this fun tradition of making them a departing gift of a Hutch Magazine cover. Here are just a few I have made lately. Saying good bye is a hard thing to do!

The Blue Girl and her microbiomes

This week the winter addition of Hutch Magazine arrived at our door. I was so lucky to illustrate the cover, inside spread and lots of other details on pages. Like I have said before, I have a @dreamjob and work with so many talented people. It covered everything you ever wanted to know about microbiomes.
 

 

Also did a little gif animation for the website ... it is never about just the printed piece anymore. We also do all the the web graphics ... and get to have a little fun.

Lost logos

We create many logos in the graphic arts! Some they love, most are rejected and redone and redone ... but here is one that was rejected that I personally thought was right on. 

Thomas Legacy Society, a tradition of innovation exemplified by the Society’s namesakes, Don and Dottie Thomas. Their profiles in the logo were spot one! Even Dottie's famous curls. 

And you know what they said? How will people know who they are? Really? The Legacy Society is named after them! Oh well.

It is still going to put it in my portfolio. ;)

Golden moment

It always seems weird to win awards, like, oh, are they talking about me? And it is even stranger writing about it. There are so many talented artist, graphic designers out there ... but I will brag for a minute. I work with the most amazing, talented graphic designers, developers, writers and creative director. We call ourselves the #dreamteam and I truly believe that. We are all ages. It is fun the see the youngest of us, just soar with talent.

We won 19 MarCom 2015 Awards, including 7 Platinum Awards and 5 Gold Awards (and a couple of honorable mentions). Our team won for Hutch Magazine. I was awarded a gold for "I speak computer: Making medical information Big Data-ready"

 

Kim Westphal and I awarded gold for Hutch Holiday Gala invitation. Lasercut invitation by Avis of Avie Designs.

 

 

Gold for my DNA Birthday card (that should have been bedazzled with glitter but we could not afford it - so I bedazzle them myself) and illustration for The diet dilemma

Honorable mention for illustration "How cells put themselves to sleep". I want to make a soft toy from the yeast image! With blanket! And one for Science Spectrum. I have to shoot that invitation image (to come).

2014 - A very busy year!

I have had quite an exciting first (+) year at Fred Hutch, designing invitations for Hutch Award Luncheon, Premier Chefs Dinner, 2014 Hutch Holiday Gala (that was intense), our rebranding and all that encompasses that process. Keeping Fred Hutch fresh on Pinterest, my favorite board, Science is Art. Here is just a little round up of the larger projects, I am forgetting a few things.

I have to say, I can't hold a candle to my predecessor, Barbara. I admire her work sooo much. Her work is elegant and simple, where I am loud and sometimes disjointed. She just had the chops for this, and I am learning everyday. I think about her at the beginning of each project and hope I can catch up to her talent for this kind of work.

Hutch Award Luncheon. My first day at Fred Hutch assignment. Learned a lot! My art will never be seen on such a large scale. ;)

Premier Chefs Dinner

Got to delve into embossing to make the stitching have a little relief. And also made some die-cut wine glass tags. It was all good!

2014 Hutch Holiday Gala.

This is our big holiday event so the invitation should be spectacular. No pressure there! My co-worker and I brainstormed our brains out ;) and everyone decided on a lasercut invitation. Thankfully I found Avis of Avie Designs, who did an incredible job AND it fit into our budget. We also used silver foil AND embossing ... it all was over-the-top, really beautiful and within budget.

Our new look! Fred Hutch - Cures Start Here.

I also had a vision driving to work one day of doing an holographic foil, embossed blank card of our beautiful "vessel" sculpture. I could not believe when it was approved, but we took out the embossing option to save money. Honestly, I never, ever thought I would even think of having something made with a holographic foil. ;0 I am more a "rock and moss" kind of girl. After months of looking for the perfect foil, and a vender, we were off.

One weekend I made some "cell-fies" ;) for an event on the campus. Here are a couple.

Did some fun work for our quarterly magazine, Quest.

 

We did many hours of brainstorming for Project Violet's trip to SxSW Festival in Austin. Lots of moo cards, and hip t-shirt design ideas. That was fun, stressful, we were really under the gun for time. My co-worker, Kim, put together a beautiful presentation for them to take around to events.

 

When our team went to Chicago for ONA, we jumped into action creating lots of handouts, posters, sign systems for our booth for the rebrand. It was really beautiful and a true team effort.