Small Business Partnerships

The unique challenge of working with smaller businesses is to provide them with the same creative and powerful designs I conceive for corporations-but to do that within a much smaller budget. I love collaborating with a small business owner to learn about their goals, their business, and to earn their friendships. The resulting creative effort is a shared process, the refreshing variety of small business projects keeps me challenged, and tests my problem-solving skills. Sometimes these businesses have not worked with a designer, so part of my job is to educate and be a strong intuitive listener.

Annie Miracle
Annie Miracle, writer and writing coach, came to me through a Solopreneur coaching program we both attended that was run by Cheri Britton and Elizabeth Barbour. She asked me to develop her identity. The results: her new business has taken off.

BB Barns
Linda Brandt, marketing guru, asked me to design the seasonal promotional brochures for BB Barns nursery and garden supply store.

Carolina HR Partners
Melissa Stanz, talented writer and marketing pro, asked me to work with her client, Steve Murphy, to develop a series of ads based on a nautical theme. We had fun brainstorming the visuals. I love working in collaboration with her to create exciting ads.

Cheri Britton
Cheri, coach and public speaker, asked me to develop her identity. The challenge of developing a logo that explained “BOOM Thinking” was resolved to both our satisfaction when I suggested a design that expressed its four-step process. Also shown are her marketing and promotional materials that came from this rewarding collaboration.

Cottage of Compassionate Hands
Another client of mine, Aldona Shea, recommended me to Catherine Classen, who was developing a massage center in Montford. Catherine was clear on what she wanted which helped me create a logo for her new business.

Centers for Christian Studies
This logo is the latest in a series of projects that I have done for the Episcopal Diocese of Western North Carolina.

Horse Sense
Shannon Knapp, founder and president of this equine-assisted therapy business hired me to create a series of brochures and new stationery for her company. She is inspiring to work with, as are her therapy programs. Through working first hand with her horses, I got a clear sense of how this mode of therapy offers new opportunities for healing.

Julia Monet
Julia Monet designs wonderful clothes that enhance a woman’s beauty. I redesigned her logo to convey this and her grounding in Ayurvedic principles.

Odyssey
When I came to Odyssey Center for Ceramic Arts to sign up for a sculpting workshop, Cynthia Lee, Odyssey’s Director, asked me to redesign their course brochures and ads. What a treat it is to create using such beautiful images.

BabyLoveTalk
Elise Orman found me through my website and hired me to create a logo for her business, which develops CDs of music for pregnant women to play for each of the three trimesters to deepen their connection with their growing baby.

Puja Thomson
My friend, Puja Thomson, asked if I would design the cover for her book, AfterShock, about her journey through breast cancer. AfterShock gives other women a practical framework for navigating the confusing options and decisions they have to face. As a counsellor and healer, she offers much-needed support on the journeys.

Doug Silsbee
I worked with Totsie Marine, who asked me to create a logo/identity for this life and business coach, who also brings spirituality to his business model. The image that we used was a photograph he took in the Southwest, which expresses the growth he offers his clients.

Vie de la Maison
Nathalie Gray, interior designer, came recommended by my colleague, Alan Moss. After seeing her classy, colorful designs, I had many creative ideas for her logo, and she chose this one.

Your Secret Kitchen
Melissa Stanz and I again collaborated to develop marketing materials for Lorri Wooding and her mother Marsha Gantt who were starting up a “Make and Take” meal preparation business. We had the opportunity to participate in a typical food preparation session and enjoy their delicious meals.

Kim English
I had such fun designing a logo for Kim English, master teacher and minister. He wanted a logo that would be an umbrella for his commitment to ongoing growth and exploration in order to develop new techniques to assist his clients in their transformation.

Garnet Mountain
Sandra Huie is a creative powerhouse who is developing a film production company and other ventures under the umbrella name of Garnet Mountain. I worked with Rick Aguar in an enjoyable collaboration on the fast-paced turnaround to produce all the collateral pieces. I created a unique business card and stationery, based on a beautiful watercolor by local artist, Jane Voorhees.

Spirals
Lisa Greenspan, a dear friend, asked me to design the logo and look for the new natural body care and day spa, Spirals, she was opening in Black Mountain. She envisioned it as a spiritual and transformational space where people could come to be nurtured and receive information and herbal advice for their healing. I felt deeply connected to her ideas and developing the graphics was a joyful and satisfying experience. Her products are great!

Insitu Hair Salon
When my hair stylist Paula Casano opened her own salon in the Gramercy Park area of Manhattan, she asked me to develop a logo and look that reflected her love of nature and natural materials. She created a restful environment in the midst of the hectic energy of New York and I translated that feeling into brochures, menus, gift certificates and other printed collateral. Plus I got to experience that calmness and nurturance when I came for her great haircuts.

De Legge Salon
When I decided to leave New York for Asheville, I asked Paula if she could recommend a new hair stylist. It's important to find the right person to work with your hair, especially in a new city. She sent me to Jola DeLegge. I knew I was in the right place. Her salon is creative, full of positive energy and up-to-the-minute international style. She also runs a salon in Poland and commutes there a few times a year, also to see her family. She brings a unique European flair to Asheville. Eventually, she asked me to create a brochure, menus and business cards for her. It was a creative challenge to express her essence. We combined two of the ideas I presented into her brochure and her salon in Poland has incorporated it too.

Pazzo
The owner of Pazzo restaurant wanted an eye-catching logo that brought together the delicious pizza and pasta dishes they were known for. I created a playful type solution in a circle that was used on menus, labels, and signage.

Quality of Life
I met Elizabeth Trezise through Totsie Marine and what a delightful meeting that was! She asked me to develop a logo and stationery package for Quality of Life Coaching, a consortium of personal coaches, feng shui practioners, therapists and other healing professionals located around the country. Our meetings were phone conferences, which acquainted me with the long-distance nature of their business. Developing a logo for such a diverse group was a challenge, until I came up with the leaf which suggests growth, the common theme that was the foundation of their work.

Kel Bergan
Kelle Olwyler asked me to create a new logo for her management consulting and executive coaching firm. It needed to have a corporate feeling, in keeping with her client base, yet also be upbeat and unique. She settled on a type solution, two colors with the second color being metallic copper ink.

10/10 Optics
10/10 Optics is an eyewear firm with four locations in Manhattan. Ruth hired me to update her look and to create ads and brochures. I worked with an illustrator to develop ads that ran in Manhattan magazines, greatly increasing her traffic.

Sacred Summits
Beth Turner from the Episcopal Diocese of Western North Carolina retained me to create a series of printed pieces for their leadership conferences and also for a two-day bike race called Sacred Summits in September 2004, for which I developed a logo, brochure and poster. Beth is a high-energy, intuitive, and intelligent person, which made my work with her a pleasure.