Graphic Design Archives - Brown Bear Creative

Northeastern Connecticut Council of Governments (NECCOG) Logo and Responsive Website

Role: Graphic Designer / Web Designer / Web Developer

The Northeastern Connecticut Council of Governments (NECCOG) provides a wide array of services for its sixteen member towns. NECCOG contracted with Brown Bear Creative to design and develop an all-encompassing website and a new logo.

NECCOG’s new logo is simple and sleek, using a modern color palette of grays and burgundies. The graphic alludes to the type of towns the council serves without being completely literal and overly cluttered.

NECCOG’s new website is powered by WordPress, an open-source content management system. In this way, staff can easily update the site to provide the latest information and photos using an intuitive, browser-based admin panel.

Brown Bear designed and developed the website theme to be responsive, which means the layout adapts gracefully depending on the screen size. This allows the information to be easily readable and accessible on desktops, laptops, tablets, and smartphones alike.

According to John Filchak, NECCOG Executive Director, “This web site will enable NECCOG to better communicate with the public in northeastern Connecticut – allowing them more informed opportunities to comment on our activities and the future of the region.”

Brown Bear has also designed and developed a standalone site and logo for NECCOG’s bus system, the Northeastern Connecticut Transit District (NECTD), which provides schedules, maps, fare information, and more.

Launch the Northeastern Connecticut Council of Governments Website »

Lyme Shores 2014 Summer Tennis Brochures

Role: Graphic Designer / Photographer

Lyme Shores Tennis & Conditioning Center in East Lyme offers a summer tennis program for kids called the University of Tennis.

Brown Bear designed a fun, bright tri-fold brochure that provides information about the program as well as an application form. A mix of stock photography and photos of the campers taken by Abi of Brown Bear during the 2013 season add visual appeal.

Verdure Bay Logo Design

Role: Graphic Designer

Verdure Bay is a new pharma/biotechnology consulting firm based here in the Northeast as well as the Bay Area. Dave, the principal of Verdure Bay, approached Brown Bear Creative for a professional brand identity.

Brown Bear developed a clean logo with elements of growth/lushness and water. The sleek logo works well on their website as well as their print materials.

Midsummer Festival 2013 Brochure & Responsive Website

Role: Graphic Designer / Web Designer / Web Developer

The Midsummer Festival is a celebration of arts and culture that has taken place every summer in Old Lyme for over twenty years. 2013’s event is bigger than ever, with seven sites along Lyme Street from the Village Shoppes all the way up to the Florence Griswold Museum.

To showcase the festival’s expansion, Brown Bear created a vibrant brochure that lists all the events over two days plus a custom-drawn map of the festival sites, parking areas, and shuttle bus route.

Brown Bear also made improvements to the website, which was originally developed in 2008, to optimize the site across all devices. Now people accessing the site on their smartphones will have an enhanced experience when looking for festival information. The layout is simplified, text is readable, and side scrolling is eliminated when viewing the site on smaller devices.

This type of website is called a responsive website. The layout and other elements change automatically based on the screen width in order to create an optimum viewing experience for all devices.

Launch the Midsummer Festival website >

2013 Discover East Lyme Brochure

Role: Graphic Designer

The 2013 Discover East Lyme brochures are out! These brightly colored brochures promote the attractions and businesses in the villages of Niantic and Flanders. The inside folds out to a business directory and custom-drawn map of the area so visitors and residents can easily locate restaurants, shops, art venues, and more!

Look for the new brochures in local storefronts and check out Discover East Lyme online for town news and events.

Visit Old Lyme Brochure

Role: Graphic Designer

Brown Bear Creative designed bright and welcoming brochures for the Lyme-Old Lyme Chamber of Commerce. These trifolds showcase information and photos about Old Lyme’s scenic and cultural hotspots. The inside provides a custom-drawn map and business directory of all the chamber’s members.

The brochure ties in well with the chamber’s website, Visit Old Lyme, which Brown Bear Creative also designed and developed. Read more about the web design project here >

Attorney Randall A. Ortega Website and Business Cards

Role: Photographer / Web Designer / Web Developer / Graphic Designer

Norwich-based attorney Randall A. Ortega approached Brown Bear Creative for a website to showcase his legal services.

After taking photos of the office and the nearby courthouse, Brown Bear designed an elegant, professional-looking website in a dark green, gold, and grey color palette.

The site puts prospective clients at ease by providing information about each of Attorney Ortega’s areas of practice, his biography and credentials, and testimonials from previous/current clients.

Launch Attorney Ortega’s Website >

Brown Bear also designed new business cards that complement the look of the website and a poster to advertise Attorney Ortega’s services.

Difesa Security, LLC Logo and Business Cards

Role: Graphic Designer

When Steve and John, two veterans in the locksmith industry, recently launched their own business called Difesa Security, LLC, they were in need of a fresh look. They wanted to steer clear of old-fashioned skeleton key imagery that dominated the field, so they approached Brown Bear Creative for a bold, contemporary style.

Brown Bear developed a clean logo in a red, white, and black that instantly communicated what their business was about. John and Steve’s business cards continue the sleek look and color palette, creating a unified identity and professional first impression.

Abi and Pete’s Wedding Materials

Role: Illustrator / Graphic Designer / Web Designer / Web Developer

Abi of Brown Bear Creative had some fun creating materials for her summer wedding. Here are the results:

For the website (AbiandPete.com), Abi created a brightly illustrated website to set the tone for the low-key backyard event.

The invitation continued with the laidback tone of the website. Pictured below are the invitation, envelope with return address label, and blown-up poster version of the invitation which welcomed guests to the venue.

A welcome area at the wedding featured an illustrated schedule of events and colorful escort cards. The color and imagery on the cards corresponded to the flower cans at the tables.

For dessert, Abi, Pete, and family made mini pies. Pictured below are the pies with a sign and flavor labels.

CT Pet Guide Website Redesign

Role: Graphic Designer / Web Designer / Web Developer

CT Pet Guide is a website that features information about pet-related businesses, animal rescues, and adoptable pets throughout Connecticut. It helps Connecticut residents shop locally and find nearby animal rescues.

It was first launched in 2006 with a password-protected members area where people could update their shelter or featured business pages themselves. Animal rescues could also post details and photos of their available animals. However, this setup was prone to user-error and outdated information.

Brown Bear Creative revamped the website by updating the logo and design as well as streamlining the user experience.

Instead of having shelter volunteers post their animals directly on CT Pet Guide, Brown Bear used data from Petfinder’s vast database of homeless pets. This eliminated the need for rescue workers to duplicate their posts and ensured the information stayed current and comprehensive.

Similar to the previous design, Brown Bear randomly showcased a Connecticut animal rescue on the site’s homepage. To make the organizations easier to find, Brown Bear added a function to narrow down the rescues by the type of animal they take in.

Brown Bear also improved the business directory. Listings can by filtered by category as well as by keyword. Each entry can display contact information, social media links, a photo/logo, a description, and a map of their location. Submissions to the directory are free.

Launch CT Pet Guide website »