freelance – Kristin Joiner

Marhaba Vintage Rugs logo

February 4, 2019March 12, 2019 Bess Paper Goods & GiftsLeave a comment

Ali and I have worked together for years on various projects, so when she started a brand new business, she knew just who to turn to! The company sells vintage Moroccan rugs, but with a decidedly modern aesthetic, so I needed to find a way to combine those ideas. She sent me inspiration photos of traditional doors, buildings and streets filled with earthy tones and mentioned calling attention to the company’s initials: MVR.

I loved the way sunlight and shadow created a thousand shades of terra cotta, which inspired me to overlap transparent letterforms (and solved the problem of the awkward spacing around the “V”!). Incorporating the Moroccan door shape into the “M” added a touch of whimsy, and setting the name of the business in deep teal lettering made it stand out from the imposing initials.

The logo is one of my favorites so far, and I know it will set her on the path to success with her new business!

Echo the Owl

September 20, 2017March 12, 2019 Bess Paper Goods & GiftsLeave a comment

I’m so excited to finally reveal my latest project for PCHA! Earlier this year, they asked if I could come up with a child-friendly mascot for the organization—and they had settled on the idea of an owl. They wanted him to be cute and soft, restricted to just a few colors, and include the PCHA logo. I illustrated a few options, incorporating the logo of course, but also using the curves of the heart to inform the forms of the owl’s body, you’ll notice it in the beak and wings especially. After a few tweaks, we had this little guy finalized! After a contest was held to name him, I’d like to introduce: Echo!

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While he’s being used in various collateral (I even added sneakers in one iteration, so he could represent a 5k!), the most exciting version of Echo is that he now exists in 3D! A company took my illustration and brought it to life as a squishy stuffed animal. Several thousand of them have been distributed to children affected by CHD to comfort them while undergoing the barrage of surgeries and treatments that typically follow a diagnosis.

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Pediatric Congenital Heart Foundation Collateral

April 30, 2016March 12, 2019 Bess Paper Goods & GiftsLeave a comment

Did you know 40,000 children are born with heart defects every year in America? The Pediatric Congenital Heart Foundation (PCHA) works to raise awareness about the most common birth defect and provide support to parents and patients.

Although they already had a logo and style guide, they needed someone to build out their branding and create a variety of collateral. The first project we worked on was a way to explain all the facets of the work they were doing in an easy to understand, visual format for both print and digital.

After interviewing staff in person and via email, I came up with the idea of a “choose your own adventure” map that breaks down the three main facets of the organization into smaller objectives and then shows their accomplishments in each area, and how they interact to accomplish bigger goals. In addition to statistics, they also wanted to incorporate anecdotal evidence in the form of patient quotes and personal stories.

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It was a lot to include and organize, but I think this visual web is a great solution! This piece was printed as a fold-out poster and then translated into an interactive PDF as well.

Photo Editing for a Lifestyle Photographer

February 14, 2016October 30, 2017 Bess Paper Goods & GiftsLeave a comment

Emily Colbert is a Missouri-based lifestyle photographer who sends me sessions that need a bit of extra love—in the form of photoshop work.

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The images from this sweet little newborn session were just about perfect—except for the textured background. Because of transparency of the cheesecloth, Emily just couldn’t quite fix it in a way that looked natural. Working at extreme magnification, I was able to do so and get the entire session back to her in just two days!

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The background was the issue once again in a portrait session for a personal trainer. Emily had shot the photos with strong directional lighting to highlight the trainer’s muscle tone, but unfortunately that resulted in a muddy gray background. The client wanted a clean white background for her website but the wispy tendrils of her hair presented a challenge. Using a variety of techniques, I was able to pull the color from the background without losing her hair.

Saving Wedding Photos With Photoshop

June 26, 2013October 30, 2017 Bess Paper Goods & GiftsLeave a comment

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Jill came to me a few weeks after her destination wedding hoping I could save the photos from the big day she hoped to cherish for years to come. The day before her wedding, she had accidentally gotten a pretty significant sunburn and was hoping I could remove the redness from her chest and shoulders along with a well-defined line across her back.

I removed the magenta tones from her skin on each image individually, taking care to preserve the integrity and quality of the photos so they could be professionally printed at a large size.

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Fashion Feature Photoshop Fix

April 4, 2012October 30, 2017 Bess Paper Goods & GiftsLeave a comment

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On a busy fashion shoot day, sometimes the perfect pose and the perfect outfit just don’t happen at the same time. This month, our model struck a killer pose in blue pants, but in layout we discovered we didn’t have any good shots of her in a gorgeous poppy red pair of the same style. Art Director to the rescue! I was able to change the blue to red and match the actual shade of the garment so the retailer was happy too.