Photographic food feature for American Girl Magazine. Role: art direction and design. ©MATTEL, 2016

This preschool game was born out of a trip to Tokyo, where I saw a multitude of training chopsticks for children. The idea of using chopsticks as the centerpiece of a game grew into the Squirrel Squeezers, which encourage children to harvest acorns while practicing their fine motor skills. I sketched a tree-shaped box and worked with the factory to develop this hand-wrapped, fully illustrated package that doubles as the game board.

Art direction, styling, and graphic design for American Girl Magazine. ©Mattel 2015

Book cover design.

Shelby's Snack Shack Game is the sequel to The Sneaky, Snacky Squirrel Game from Educational Insights. This project was illustrated by Lucia Gaggiotti and nests into "Sneaky" as a duo on shelf. The game is based on a real dog named Shelby from Seal Beach, California.

National Maker Faire launch site in collaboration with the White House. Role: copywriting, design, and creative direction.

Integrated art and design direction across product, social, eCommerce, and retail channels. The Chet the Cat™ and Friends line of preschool toy play sets marries quirky, playful illustrations with beautiful melamine. Inspired by a magazine cover Michael illustrated, my vision of a cafe run by animals came to life. Each piece features characters engaging in various food-themed activities, and they're appropriate for both boys and girls. Graphic designer Jessica Short collaborated with Michael and me to bring the line to life.

Fabrication, styling, and photographic illustration for The Maker's Manual book cover.

Illustration, design, and packaging for KaBAM! word game.

This preschool game was a blast to conceive and design. I hired artist Tascha Parkinson to paint 26 letters of the alphabet traditionally on canvas for the cards that make up the game. She also hand painted straps, buckles, and country "stickers" for the packaging, which added such charm to the finished illustrations. The packaging, when complete, looked like it had been hand painted by Tascha, as I specified a canvas-textured paper substrate for printing. She even painted her own cat Lily on the inside of the trunk...so adorable. We opted to go with a minimal cardboard bellyband as the final on-shelf consumer packaging, so that the entire trunk could be seen at retail. What a delight this project was to design!

Video advertisement for the Dino Construction Company. Responsible for scriptwriting, audio and on-screen talent casting, and art direction.

The Learn to Solder Pins are simple soldering activity kits that teach basic soldering skills, awarding the consumer with a working, blinking, wearable pin once complete. John Viet-Triet Nguyen illustrated these based on sketches for our launch at Maker Faire Bay Area in 2014. It was such a treat to see kids and adults alike wearing their proud badges of accomplishment!

Creative direction, design direction, photography, and copywriting. Over the first half of 2014, I revamped the branded presence of Makershed.com while engaging with developers and front end designers to overhaul the commerce site. We launched a responsive commerce platform and nearly tripled our email campaigns in 2014. New photography, spirited headlines, and a DIY-inspired branded presence were chief among my goals with this project, along with revenue goals.

Art direction, writing, photography, and prop making using the FLORA wearable electronic platform to advertise a new DIY book about the board.

Design direction, photo and video art direction, copywriting, and creative marketing strategy for integrated digital campaign.

App concept and design direction.

Art direction, design, and copywriting of various toy catalog covers.

Creative direction, photography art direction, copywriting, and graphic design of 2014 new products catalog for Educational Insights.

Art direction, product concept, design, and naming for PipSqueak Squeezers.

Toy product design direction, packaging art and design direction, photography art direction, and creative direction for Nancy B's Science Club line of educational science toys for girls. - industrial/product design management - factory coordination and coloration guidance - materials and deco spec - packaging and branding design direction - web and eCommerce writing and creative direction

Branded takeaway cards designed to address the specific category interests of various customer segments. Design and copywriting.

Direction and writing for Hot Dots product line video. Our goal was to inform parents that our educational cards typically used in the classroom were also perfect for home use.

Make: Magazine print advertisements and collateral for Maker Shed. Art direction, photography, design and copywriting.

This great book of essays by beginning and pro makers was in need of a cover. The brief required that I somehow convey the breadth of experience levels represented within the book, while focusing on "beginnings." I styled and shot tools and materials reminiscent of the making process and used a woodburner to inscribe a very rough-hewn "MAKER" in caps. I then composited the typography after some minor retouching.

Photography and art direction for Intel Edison launch and eCommerce campaign.

Animated GIFs for email marketing campaigns for Maker Shed

Product design direction for classroom compost container.

Email marketing campaign art direction, photography, and copywriting

Photography, design, and copywriting for preschool game advertisements.

As part of the merchandise assortment for Maker Faire's flagship California event, I designed shirt graphics for the Make: shirt.

Packaging concept and design for Sony's Jeopardy! Home DVD System. This SKU sold in major mass market retailers across the U.S.

Tabletop product photography, styling, and retouching for holiday email campaigns.