yes.I.blog
This graphic design blog by Dan Mohr details miscellany, ephemera, and behind-the-scenes perspectives on various projects on which yes.I.said has collaborated—including graphic design, website design, and branding case studies that discuss procedural, aesthetic, and technical challenges that arose during the work; products and resources for others working in graphic arts; and exercises, doodles, and other side-projects that might be of interest.
Long-term client Goethe-Institut recently hired me to create an illustration for the 2022 International German Olympics (IDO), a biennial international scholastic competition and cultural exchange for students studying German. I took the opportunity to create an isometric design that depicts familiar landmarks in Chicago and Hamburg, Germany.
My contact at Bandy Ranch Floral reached out to me recently, asking me to redesign a logo for their sister farm in Carlsbad, California called Baja Flowers. In this blog post, I discuss the development and revision process for the logo.
I’ve been enjoying collaborating with psychoanalysis group practice Depth Counseling on developing original illustrations for their blog. In this case study, I discuss the branding benefits of creating original artwork for a blog, quick and dirty methodologies for doing so, and offer commentary on the origins, intent, and execution of each of the featured images.
During of the course of my work with Bandy Ranch Floral—a family-run, sustainable flower farm that supplies flowers and greenery to markets and professional designers across the US—I had the opportunity to create a 3-minute marketing video that tells the story of the company, its staff, and its products.
Faced with the onset of COVID-19, longtime client and award-winning floral designer Adam Havrilla AIFD PFCI ICPF of Artistic Blooms had to do some emergency adaptation of his business model to face our new uncertain future. He came to me to help him create a logo, website, and business card for his new venture, Havrilla Designs.
Deep in the winter and at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, I labored over these "low poly" illustrations of common North American bird types. Birds featured: American Robin, Blue Jay, Canada Goose, Comon Barn Owl, Common Raven, Eastern Meadowlark, Great Blue Heron, Herring Gull, Great Blue Heron, Herring Gull, Northern Cardinal, Purple Finch, Rock Dove (pigeon).
Based the response to some comments and advice I offered on an Instagram post last night, I’m making my Client Agreement available for anyone to copy and adapt for their own business. PLUS: two essential book recommendations.
Introducing yes.I.said’s first font design! I’m offering it for free to use in your own projects - please read on for more information.
This year, the Goethe-Institut has provided me the opportunity to create two editorial illustrations for their quarterly program brochures. Check them out!
Recently, Goethe-Institut Chicago tapped me to design a brochure for a large performance festival going on in various locations around Chicago called Between Gestures.
One of my favorite projects in junior high art class was drawing in two-point perspective, and I’ve often thought about revisiting perspective drawing techniques as an adult. These fantasies were reignited recently when I decided to convert a photo I took of a utility building (located at the fringes of Lincoln Park at Wilson Avenue in Chicago) to abstract geometric artwork.
I don’t usually relish the crowds and corporate pinkwashing that characterize the modern Pride Parade; this year, I felt compelled to attend—and I brought my camera.
In celebration of the 50th anniversary of the riots at Stonewall, Goethe-Instituts around the world are mounting an exhibit called ‘Queer as German Folk’ described as “50 Years of Transatlantic Rainbow Friendship.” For a local component in Chicago’s iteration, I was charged with designing a large print map that displays the information compiled in a Google Map by two interns at the Goethe-Institut, Mason Culkin and Liliana Macias.
Goethe-Institut Chicago is keeping me very busy this year. Last week, as part of Wunderbar Together, Goethe hosted Germany Week in downtown Chicago’s Daley Plaza. The event featured a host of discussions, performances, exhibits, and events celebrating the relationship between the two countries. They tapped me to photograph three events.
Goethe-Institut Chicago hired me to photograph the events of Bundesliga Total!—an annual competition in which students nation-wide compete to win a trip to Germany. Here are some of my favorite shots.
Late last year, Chuck Weikel and Larry Barr reached out to yes.I.said about creating a logo and a website for their new financial advisory Middle Branch Partners. They were colleagues at another firm, and were on the brink of branching out on their own in early 2019. Here’s what happened.
Inspired to reach out by my incessant painting posts on Instagram, a friend gave me my first commission for a large-scale painting. Here’s what happened.
For the past year or so, I’ve been making holiday- and pet-themed animations for use in social media posts and email newsletters for long-time client Out-U-Go!. This year’s X-Files-themed gif for Halloween takes the cake as both the silliest and most stylish one yet.
In the midst of all of the paint pouring I’ve been doing, I’ve taken some time to focus on a more complex process that employs the same techniques.
My husband has been out of town for work, and I’ve been feeling a lot of experimental creative energy. All of the work I do on screens leaves me hungry for a more tactile creative experience, and I’ve gone in search of a painting technique that scratches that itch.
Last year, author Lara Levitan commissioned me to design the cover for her debut novel, The Secret Sugar Daddies.
A post discussing the suite of services provided to new client Depth Counseling, including logo design, website design, photography, and business card design.
This year is the 200th anniversary of Karl Marx’s birth. German cultural institution and regular client the Goethe-Institut marked the occasion with a series of events investigating the ongoing influence and relevance of the philosopher and his works.
My husband is a huge nerd for gems and minerals, so we have a lot of pretty rocks around the house. I shot some of them (grape agate, labradorite, quartz)—along with a dead houseplant that had fallen out its pot—with a macro lens extension and a remote speedlight.
Last year, I was lucky to be able to work with Chicago/Seattle-based music duo Wayfaring (Katie Ernst & James Falzone) on three projects surrounding the release of their excellent debut I Move, You Move.
On May 9, 2017, I released my first music video. Set to Bill MacKay's Powder Mill Park, a track from Esker, his debut release on Drag City Records. Post includes the video and some test animations and credits that didn't make it into the final video.
Havrilla Designs recently commissioned me to create a logo and system of window graphics for his storefront floral studio in Chicago’s Ravenswood neighborhood. He is converting the studio into an exhibition space for an immersive art exhibition called Be the Color there in August. I discuss the process of creating the identity and full-coverage window signage that serves the dual purpose of blacking out the interior space and enticing/informing passers by.