New Work
New Photo Gallery
I’ve just posted a gallery of some my best photography work. I immensely enjoyed taking and editing all of them and they represent many memorable experiences. So I hope you will stop by and take a peek.
Photography by Steve Mitchell
Logo Design Resources
Wow! The title below speaks for itself. I’ve only just begun to go through this list.
The Wind and the Pitch
I love to work on graphic themes that are incongruous with the company and service they are promoting. This baseball themed logo I designed last year promoted a fantasy baseball event played on Palm Treos. Participants gathered at an actual baseball stadium and played their fantasy game based on players in the actual game. Fun stuff. So what business sponsored the event? An IT services company. And why not? If you’re going to pitch your services why not let your potential customers have a blast while its happening?
Start Clean, Sta-Clean
Thats the slogan of a small local pool cleaning business I recently designed this logo for. Its also a good axiom for design. There aren’t enough smart, clean, brand identities with good visual impact in the small local business sector. While working on assignments for large companies is cool and profitable, its always fun to bring a little more graphic sophistication to a traditionally image-poor segment of the business world.
Lets Build A New World
I’m a sucker for fantasy assignments. I don’t get too many and after all, you just never know what might turn into the next Lord of the Rings. Well I can dream can’t I? Its gobs of fun to be involved in building a world that didn’t heretofore exist. Imaginary worlds need logos too, right? Of course they do, especially if you’re going to market them to anyone. I recently completed this logo for a group developing a Christian based fantasy role-playing game. They hope to extend the fantasy world into Christian fiction and computer gaming as well. I’ve been asked to do some character concept sketches for the computer game at some point in the future. I will eagerly look forward to exploring that world again. And after that, maybe some concept work for a major motion picture? Yeah I know…still dreaming. Thats fantasy!
Old South Meets New Technology
If you know anything about South Carolina you know that you can find the Palmetto Tree symbol literally everywhere. It’s on our state flag after all, and is one of the most recognizable symbols in the US. Its no surprise then that thousands of businesses in the state use the word “Palmetto” in their name. So I must confess to being a bit disappointed when a client we were assigned to do a whole range of graphic work for set out to rename their business “Palmetto Technology Group”. No cool, technically savvy, forward looking, 21st century name for these guys. But now that we’ve done that work, which included a logo, brochure, event promotion and web site, I think they might have made a good choice, despite the common place nature of the name. The “Palmetto” name is deeply embedded in South Carolina culture. The streets of Charleston, for example, are lined with the iconic tree and it has an interesting historical story attached to it. The word “Palmetto” exudes “Old South” hospitality and tradition. What better way to bring an element of stability and comfort to the minefield of technology services. Most of this client’s customers will know little or nothing about the services he provides but will need them performed with expertise and excellence just the same. Attempting to establish confidence and comfort through a popular, traditional name may turn out to be a decent corporate identity strategy for a technology business based in the good old south.
This is the logo and brochure cover design I recently did for them and The Beacon Company, their marketing firm.
Its Grillin’ Time
Just for fun I did this design for a grilling apron. If you’re interested in picking one up hop over to my Café Press shop.
Although I personally like to grill nearly year round, we’re in what is traditionally the heart of the grilling season and I love it. My theory on grilling involves much more than just applying flame to food. For me, taste is king. I like to serve up something special and tastier than the norm to the people I’m grilling for. To accomplish this here are several hints that I’ve discovered can make grilled food a real treat for the partakers:
- Use charcoal if possible. The lovely wood-smoked flavor simply cannot be matched by gas grilling. But if you don’t have a charcoal grill consider using Mesquite or Hickory wood chips in your gas grill and allow the food to cook with the lid closed between turns and checks.
- Marinate. There are plenty of great bottled versions available now and the difference they can make in the taste of grilled food is huge. Even vegetables can benefit from marinating. 2-4 hours, refrigerated in a ziplock style bag is usually good enough but I will often marinate meats overnight. More than that is usually not recommended. Some of my favorites are garlic and herb marinades for porkchops and teriyaki for chicken or steak. Zesty italian dressing also works very well for vegetables, pork or chicken.
- For burgers, try a packet of dry onion soup mix in the meat and make the patties yourself from a good quality lean ground beef rather than buying prepattied burgers. Form the patties as flat as possible because they shrink in and bulge up. Resist the urge to flatten them constantly with your spatula as they cook. This squeezes all the juices out and makes for a much dryer burger.
- Don’t overcook. This comes with practice and experience with your particular grill. One of the most frequent mistakes I see is overcooked meat. This is usually due to a “play it safe” mentality and a fear of undercooking the food. But taste suffers as a result, often producing dry, charred food. Instead aim for “just right”. Until you get to know your grill and the proper cooking times by heart keep a knife handy to cut into the meat to visually inspect it. Make sure you don’t apply barbecue sauce to chicken or ribs before you grill. Instead, apply room temperature barbecue sauce to the meat on the grill only within the last 15 minutes of cooking time and turn the meat often. Its only at this point that you can really slather it on thick. Otherwise you will have a black, charred, burnt tasting mess.
Onward, Keepers of the Flame. Lets do some grilling this weekend!
New Apparel Design
I finally completed this Semper Fidelis t-shirt design I’ve wanted to do for some time. I thought it might be a cool, classy way to show support and create awareness for our troops (Marines specifically).
I am experimenting with a Café Press shop for the fun of it. Check it out and pick yourself up a new shirt or mug if the design strikes your fancy. The base price of their products is a bit higher than I would like. But they assume all the risk of store and printing set up with no minimums, so its really no surprise that feature comes with a premium. Their shop concept is an interesting business model and fun to play around with at absolutely no risk to the user (unless you pay for a premium store front). Its seems like a great way to get one-off custom-designed items for yourself, for a gift or for small groups without minimum print runs, but we’ll see.
Printing rights are available for this design. If interested please contact me.