Chelsea McKenna Design

Design for Wine…. and beer!

cmck — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 17:02:09 +0000

Before I ever had the notion that I would someday be moving to Northern Ca and the heart of wine country, I wanted to design a wine label. It’s been on my design “bucket list” of must-do’s. I love standing in front off a wall of wine and trying to decide what to get. Sometimes I pick something to compliment what we’ll be eating. Sometimes I go for what I know is good, because we’ve had it before. But more often than not, I go for the label that catches my eye. Is it flashy? Clever? Naughty? Or classy and printed on a label that takes paper to the next level? Not only do I now want to buy this wine, I want in on this. I want to leave my mark on the wine industry, and someday have my design be found, whether it’s at a boutique winery in the Russian river, or the wall of wine in Safeway.

Surprisingly, this wine country is also quite the land of beer! Even coming from MT, where ski-bums and microbrews walk hand in hand down snow-covered streets, I was impressed. Who knew that Sierra Nevada was so close? Or that these smaller, hidden away microbrews would have such fun labels, and amazing tastes? Pliny the Elder, Racer 5 IPA, ohhh man I could have some fun with those. T-shirts anyone? Did I mention custom designed beer tap pull is also on my bucket list…

Long story short, Northern CA’s lively wine and beer culture offers some amazing design opportunities that I am just beginning to tap into. No pun intended.

- Chelsea McKenna
Creative Graphic Design for Web & Print

Sticky Sticky Sticker Design

cmck — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 16:37:36 +0000

Stickers are a fun, inexpensive, and almost guerilla way of getting a name or image out in public. People love stickers, which makes them a great give-away. Plus, you can spice them up a little bit by adding a fun design or illustration, instead of having them be just a logo. Make the people want them, and then they’ll stick. (pun intended)

Here is one of the best, fun collections of sticker design I have come across. If you see anything that tickles your fancy, let me know and we can take inspiration from it for your own sticker!

http://www.youthedesigner.com/2011/06/01/custom-sticker-designs-35-creative-samples-for-inspiration/

Chelsea
Graphic Design & Sticker Guru

Innovative Printing Effects

cmck — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 21:25:10 +0000

With several of my current projects, I’ve been researching lots of cool printing & binding effects. Also, meeting with new printers around the Santa Rosa area & learning what they can offer in their shops has been so fun!

Here’s a few of the highlights:

Spot UV – UV is a clear, glossy coating used most on business cards. But the neat thing is, it can be applied to selective areas to create a design or make something pop out. Imagine a matte image with select areas glossy to accent them! Or perhaps your logo?

Clear Digital Ink – While UV coating and Spot UV is done on a traditional offset press, digital printing (much like your printer at home or copier at the office, but with better quality) has it’s own version. Clear digital ink can be printed out, along with the usual CMYK. It is a cheaper way to add a little clear, glossy POP, but since it is printed along with all the other colors, it works best on medium-light to white areas. (if you print/design an area to be 100% black, the printer has no more capacity to add the clear stuff on top! The black ink is taking all the room!)

Raised Thermography – Text or simple imagery that is printed with a slight 3-D effect. Not as deep as embossing, doesn’t leave that shadow/indent on the back that embossing does, but still creates a cool, more than your usual business card effect! Also, cheaper than embossing. Did I mention that?

Hand Binding – While a saddle staple (think magazine) or spiral binding is great and classic, I also love using stitched binding, with or without a fabric/canvas strip on the spine. Hand-done elements add a lot to a design.

Graphic Design for Getting a Job

cmck — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 17:23:22 +0000

Standing out in the job market is more important than ever right now. In the stack of resumés and business cards that employers receive, does yours stand out? Some minute changes can make a massive improvement to a resume. Careful use of text heirarchy, color, and graphical elements in small doses will take the resume from standard to special. I’m not talking about making it look like a MySpace page from 1998, but a simple, classy, professional glaze on the piece will make it shine!

Interested? It won’t cost much and could help get you that job. Call me at 406-600-3945.

Chelsea

Social Networking for Business

cmck — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 23:07:51 +0000

Social networking for your business can be intimidating. After years of being on facebook for personal use, I’ve really started enjoying the marketing aspect it offers as well. If you don’t have time to run your own facebook page for your business, let’s talk about me working with you to manage and provide valuable content for your fans and customers! Designing a custom landing page for your facebook page is a really nice touch as well. I run several successful facebook pages now, and am available now to add more clients.

DO YOU FACEBOOK FOR BUSINESS??? It’s a free medium! Why aren’t you taking advantage of that?

- Chelsea

Getting Settled

cmck — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 23:06:51 +0000

We’ve unpacked all our boxes, I’ve had some design portfolio showings, joined the Young Professionals Network of Santa Rosa, visited a BNI group up in Winsdor, and enjoyed the Wednesday Night Markets here in Santa Rosa. I also had the pleasure of visiting with several local printers and discussing print options for my clients. What more could I ask for?

Enjoying Santa Rosa!

- Chelsea, Freelance Graphic Design