News Category: Illustration

Animal Fact Guide Website Redesign

Role: Web Designer / Web Developer / Illustrator

Awards: American Library Association Great Website for Kids

Animal Fact Guide Website RedesignAnimal Fact Guide, an educational website about animals, had expanded its offerings since its launch in 2008. Brown Bear Creative revamped the site by giving it a modern facelift and streamlining user experience.

The new site carries forward the fun feel of the original website, retaining the cute animal illustrations and bright color palette. But the new layout has a more open, less “boxed-in” design. Sleek details like gradients, drop shadows, and rounded corners were coded using the latest technology (HTML5 and CSS3) to enhance the design on modern browsers.

Using an approach called responsive web design, the site gracefully accommodates a wide ranges of screen sizes. This translates to an improved experience on tablets and smart phones.

Several improvements were made to how the site functions on both the front and back end. Brown Bear added a better search feature so visitors can easily locate animal fact articles, blog posts, and printable activity sheets. The site is also completely search-engine optimized, coming up on the first page of Google for keywords like “animal facts.” On the back end, the whole site is powered by WordPress, which simplifies the process of adding articles and blog posts.

The site was recognized by the American Library Association as a Great Web Site for Kids. According to Karen Lemmons, co-chair of the Great Web Sites for Kids committee, “Great Web Sites for Kids are those considered the best web sites for ages birth to 14, outstanding in both content and conception.”

Launch Animal Fact Guide >

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:

Abi and Pete's wedding website

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.

wedding invitation and poster

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.

cards-schedule

Can labels

Can labels

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

Mini pies with sign/labels

 

Melissa’s Bridal Shower Invitations, Thank You Cards, and Recipe Cards

Role: Graphic Designer / Illustrator

For Melissa’s spring bridal shower, Brown Bear created invitations, thank you cards, and recipe cards with a garden party flavor.  The cards all featured a tranquil illustration of daisies set amidst a palette of blue, gold, and white.

Sister-of-the-bride Michelle embellished the invitation design by mounting the front and inside panels on peacock blue cards.

Bridal shower invitations, thank you cards, and recipe cards

 

Nursery Art: Animals Playing Sports

Role: Illustrator

A capybara glides around the ice rink; a fox lifts her body into a handstand; a turtle dives for the football; and a bear slides into second base.  These are just some of the playful  scenes illustrated by Abi of Brown Bear as a baby shower gift for parents-to-be Sara and Colleen.

To create the artwork, Abi drew the scenes in Adobe Illustrator and digitally colored the backgrounds.  Printing the illustrations onto watercolor paper, Abi then hand-colored the animals with colored pencils to create a more textured look.

Nursery art: Animals playing sports

Kara’s Bridal Shower Invitations, Thank You Cards, & Recipe Cards

Role: Graphic Designer / Illustrator

For Kara’s bridal shower, Brown Bear Creative designed fun, brightly-colored invitations and thank you cards that reflected the spring wedding theme. Both cards incorporate imagery of yellow tulips, a prominent flower in the wedding.

Brown Bear also designed recipe cards for shower guests to write down their favorite recipes. The cards feature an illustration of Merlin, the bride-to-be’s pet dog, wearing a chef hat.

Bridal Shower Invitations, Thank You Cards, and Recipe Cards

Niantic’s Streetscape Enhancement Project Promotional Materials

Role: Graphic Designer / Illustrator

Niantic Main Street needed print materials to showcase their new revitalization project for downtown Niantic, CT: Niantic’s Streetscape Enhancement Project. The project consisted of adding new trees, street lights, benches, potted plants, and crosswalks to beautify the downtown area.

To reflect the vibrant new streetscape and generate excitement about the project, Brown Bear created brightly-colored brochures and posters with a fun streetscape illustration to signify the revitalization tone. Wave graphics helped tie together the overarching theme of “creating a splash” — making a difference in the beautification of the seaside town. Building on that idea further, Brown Bear designed a fundraising goal chart in the shape of a wave.

Niantic's Streetscape Enhancement Project Promotional Materials

Wildcat Stamp Series

Role: Illustrator

Awards: Merit Award in the 1st Annual PCom /CreativeShake Awards Show

The aim of the project was to produce a series of stamps based around a central theme. Using wildcats as a focus, broad areas of color illustrate each cat so when the image is reduced down to the size of a stamp, it maintains its integrity.

Brown Bear Creative was presented with a Merit Award in the 1st Annual PCom /CreativeShake Awards Show for this design piece.

Wildcat Stamp Series