illustration Archives - Brown Bear Creative

Robert L. Edmonstone, DDS Responsive Website

Role: Web Designer / Web Developer / Illustrator

Brown Bear Creative designed and developed a bright, welcoming website for Dr. Robert L. Edmonstone, a children’s dentist in Old Saybrook.

The colorful site reflects the friendly atmosphere of the office. Parents of new and existing patients can easily navigate the site and download forms. The site is responsive, which means the layout adapts to smaller screen sizes such as tablets and smartphones. In this way, the site is easy to read across all devices.

Powered by WordPress, the site can be easily updated by Dr. Edmonstone and his staff. The site includes a blog, which Dr. Edmonstone can use to share oral hygiene tips and news updates.

Launch Robert L. Edmonstone, DDS website >

Animal Fact Guide Website Redesign

Role: Web Designer / Web Developer / Illustrator

Awards: American Library Association Great Website for Kids

Animal 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:

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.

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.

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

Beach-Themed Onesie & Card Illustrations

Role: Illlustrator

For Michelle and Ryan’s baby shower, Abi from Brown Bear created beach-themed illustrations for a onesie and the accompanying card as a tribute to the couple’s love of the seashore.

Website of Dr. Stephanie Torlone, DVM, CVA

Role: Web Designer / Web Developer

Dr. Stephanie Torlone, a licensed veterinarian in Niantic, needed a website to showcase her specialized skills. Certified in veterinary acupuncture with a special interest in geriatrics, Dr. Torlone manages chronic pain in companion animals.

Brown Bear worked with the theme of ancient Chinese traditions to create the graphics and calming color scheme of the website. Developed upon the WordPress platform, the website is fully editable using an easy-to-use administrator interface.

Launch the website of Dr. Stephanie Torlone, DVM, CVA »

Lyme Shores Tennis & Conditioning Center Website & Posters

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

Lyme Shores Tennis and Conditioning Center in East Lyme needed a website that showcased their tennis and fitness services to the general public while providing the latest news and upcoming events to their current members.

Brown Bear designed a custom WordPress theme that captures the fun and friendly atmosphere at Lyme Shores. Customizing the WordPress platform to function as a Content Management System (CMS), Brown Bear developed the site so the general manager could easily update the information and photos sitewide. In this way, the content on the website will remain accurate and up-to-date.

To help visitors navigate through the site, Brown Bear organized the club’s offerings into four main categories: tennis, fitness, pool/swimming, and general club information. The right sidebar highlights featured events, latest news, and other tidbits of information for easy access.

Launch Lyme Shores Website »

Brown Bear Creative also designed posters to publicize various events hosted and organized by Lyme Shores.

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.

Jog New London County Website

Role: Web Designer / Web Developer

Jog New London County is an online resource that offers descriptions, photos, and custom-drawn maps of running routes in Southeastern Connecticut. Panorama shots of scenic places to run are showcased in the masthead, invoking a “local” feel.

Aside from running routes, the site also provides upcoming local race information. All the race listings are housed in a database and editable via a Content Management System (CMS). Outdated races automatically disappear from the website. In this way, race listings stay fresh, current, and easily accessible.

Brown Bear also improved the site’s usability by including a search function at the top of every page.

Launch Jog New London County Website »

***

Brown Bear was honored by the Connecticut Art Directors Club (CADC) at their 34th Annual Awards Show with a Silver Award for the design, development, and photography for the Jog New London County website. Read the full press release here.

In May 2010, Jog New London was featured on Fox61’s Daytrippers. Learn more and watch the video here.

***

To help promote the website, Brown Bear Creative created fun illustrations for a turkey trot t-shirt.