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Hardin County Water District No. 1 | Elizabethtown, KY

Years ago, while living in Elizabethtown, Kentucky, I struck up a friendship with a coworker named Robert. We kept in contact after I moved to Lexington and went to work for myself full time. Robert also got a new job, working for the local water company. He hired me to design their online customer portal a few years later. Others changed up the site as the years went by, and it was in dire need of a facelift. Customers’ needs were changing, as were web accessibility standards. Robert brought me back on board for Hardin County Water District Number 1’s website redesign.

Website Redesign For Kentucky Utility Company

Once Robert supplied the list of needed features, I got to work on the new test site. I recommended my old friends at Sublime Media Group in Bowling Green, KY to shoot new footage for the homepage. Once I had the raw footage in hand, I edited it down to a 15-second clip, optimized down to 5mb for web streaming. Robert requested a few changes and the video was ready for prime time.

After completing the video, I focused on cleaning up the site’s layout. I made sure the site stayed clean and inviting, sticking to white and shades of blue. I unified the fonts to help the new site’s cohesion. Then, I made sure customers could easily access the most important elements of the site. I positioned the District’s hours and phone number, along with the buttons to add new service and access customer accounts, at the top.

Under the main site video, I positioned two family focused stock images, highlighting links to pay the customer’s bill and connect new service. Finally, the news section rounds out the homepage layout. Thumbnails and excerpts from the four most recent news items automatically populate this area. Users can click the “Read More” links in each excerpt to read the full articles, or click the “News Archives” link to read all of the posts.

Wrapping Up The Website Redesign

After my client approved the homepage, we worked together to shape up the rest of the site. Robert and I worked together to update, clean up, and organize each page. I added a stock photo to each page with a water theme. Each of them also centered around smiling families and kids.

Last, but definitely not least, I worked with the water utility company on securing their forms. They deal with sensitive, personal information tied to each customer, so it had to be encrypted. I also edited existing forms, adding new features to help prospective new account holders and potential employees.

Does Your Company Need Need A Fresh Website Redesign?

Function is important. When it comes to your online presence, style is, too. If you have a stale site, you can trust me for your website redesign. Contact me today.

Rebel Rebel Lounge | Berea, KY

Here’s one of my favorites. As a punk poster designer, I incorporated a few of my favorite elements into the layout. Between a classic rock reference, digital character illustration, mixing textures with light effects, and varying font weights, this art hits all the high notes.

Punk Poster Designer Strikes Again

My band Sempervivi was set to make our debut in Berea, Kentucky’s popular Rebel Rebel venue. Since the venue shared the name of a David Bowie song, I based this poster on the iconic “lightning bolt” photo on the cover of his album “Aladdin Sane”.

The main subject is my childhood teddy bear Flash, also the band’s mascot. I drew him using Procreate on my iPad, then imported him into Photoshop. I set him in front of an actual bear fur texture background. Flash gives off a mysterious, supernatural vibe, courtesy shadow and light effects.

The lightning bolt color scheme repeats throughout the design, both in the typography and the background. I set the main title “Rebel Rebel”, as well as the information at the bottom, in the tall serif font Moonshiner. For the main title, I skewed it upwards and added a double shadow in the red and blue lightning bolt scheme.

Poster Typography Story

Each band name displays prominently in a lightweight variant of Futura. I justified them all and spaced each one out, in order to help them stand out despite the lighter weight font.

To top it all off, I then framed the design in with a thick, black outline. This adds weight and additional darkness to the background, thus helping the white text pop off the composition.

Auto Shop Force | Bowling Green, Kentucky

My longtime client Gary Gunn approached me with a new business concept. He was assembling a cohort of business owners in and around the automotive repair industry. Gary requested a bold, striking image that would fit the name of his new venture, Auto Shop Force. Naturally, this business logo designer was up for the task.

Business Logo Designer To The Rescue

Over the past nearly 20 years, Gary has launched countless small businesses, brands, and programs. Each time, he has brought me a concept to expand on.

Sometimes, just like every business logo designer, I produce exactly what he has in mind right away. Others, he and I brainstorm on a few small tweaks which carry the perfected logo over the finish line. This project landed squarely in the second column.

Gary explained the business concept to me initially as a casual, weekly Zoom meeting between business owners. Some were automotive repair shop owners. Others were marketing professionals and coaches working in the auto service industry. He envisioned a big, bold mark comprised of purple shades. The active word “FORCE” would need to be accentuated in some way to convey motion and strength. Instantly, a simplified wrench, as well as a lightning bolt, came to mind.

Logo Design: Editing The Auto Repair Design With My Client

As the elements came together and we edited the logo together, the finished product materialized. The lightning bolt underlines the word “FORCE”, but also accentuates the word “Auto Shop” because it is the same width as those words. In order to subtly hide the wrench, I made it the opening of the “O” in the word “FORCE”.

Perhaps this logo asks you to look twice in order to notice the little details. However, it is a strong enough mark to grab your attention in the first place. This is the kind of attention to detail you get when you bypass lazy AI tools and hire a real, human business logo designer like myself.

Looking For Kentucky’s Number One Business Logo Designer?

Look no further! Whether you’re a small startup, or an established business in need of a makeover, I’m your man.  Contact me today.

John Paul Miller | Lexington, KY

An aspiring author named John Paul Miller requested a meeting to discuss his new manuscript. John Paul, a veteran of the long thriving Kentucky equestrian industry, wrote a compelling piece. Soon, he would enter the editing phase. His book False Riches is a tale of greed, romance, and suspense surrounding the horse racing industry. All he needed was the right Kentucky graphic designer to lay out his mystery novel cover design, so of course he called me.

Mystery Novel Cover Design Story

When John Paul reviewed my graphic design portfolio, the Kentucky Derby themed Spring Tea poster caught his eye. Specifically, he liked the focal image of a stylish derby attendee framed inside a horse silhouette.

He wanted me to reuse this theme, but with a betting ticket stub instead of the fancy lady. I researched vintage betting stubs, then recreated one from scratch with faux stamps indicating the fictional racetrack.

John Paul also liked the bright yellow background that I overlaid with a grunge pattern, since it matches the sunflower in the main title. That sunflower is an integral element to the story. The color red was the perfect choice to fill in the vintage curly font in the title.

Along with the front and back jackets, I also created the art for the book’s launch event and its promotional videos. I laid out both stable signage and physical tickets, mimicking those described in the novel. Promotional posters also came together to herald the book’s arrival in brick and mortar bookstores.

Hire Me To Design Your Book Cover

Whether your upcoming book is fiction or nonfiction, you need to hire a skilled graphic designer for your layout. I have the experience and instincts to help attract readers to your project.  Contact me today.

The Fishtank | Lexington, Kentucky

I laid out this punk poster design for a local DIY show at The Fishtank. This venue has hosted local and touring acts near the campus of the University of Kentucky for decades. My own band has played there dozens of times, and it’s always a blast. We hosted Courtney From Work, a band from Columbus, Ohio we’ve played with often in the past. I wanted to infuse this poster with elements that my fellow scene kids used to promote local punk shows before computers were widely used.

Punk Poster Design With Mixed Media Elements

I immediately had a vision in mind for this punk poster design. The 1970s cut and paste “ransom note” trend took center stage. Many an iconic punk poster design came to mind, so I cut out letters from mailers laying around the house. I scattered these throughout the space, spelling out the venue name and show information.

The closeup image of a punk rock girl is cropped to focus specifically on her hand on her hip. Her attitude and style shines through, even without a facial expression. A trio of inset thumbnails depicts three more closeups of the girl’s face, shoes, and shirt. I set the image on a bright red magazine page, adding rips, wrinkles, and photo filters to age the montage.

Finally, I snipped passages from an old newspaper in order to create the black and white background. I added some discoloration and grit, but the background is still dull and monochrome enough to help the foreground image pop.

This collage of elements forms an homage to old school and new school punk poster design. You could say it hearkens back to my beginnings as an artist, when Photoshop and other computer design apps were just coming into their own.

Hire Me For Your Next Concert Event’s Design

I’ve been in this game a long time. Trends come and trends go, but quality design will always be quality design. If you own a venue with a big event or festival coming up, you need eye catching art to promote it.  Contact me today.

Rob Rowsell | Las Vegas, NV

Since 2020, I have managed web content for Rob Rowsell, as well as editing his videos. Rob is a San Diego, CA native with a remarkable life story, detailed in his best selling book Addicted to Life. Previously, Rob owned multiple auto repair shops. He reinvested the wealth he earned there into multifamily real estate properties. Those investments grew his wealth greatly. Today, he coaches aspiring investors on how they can do the same. For the first few years I worked with Rob, I set up and managed a membership section on his site. As his clientele grew, the site demanded a redesign. This story details that investor website design makeover.

Real Estate Investor Website Design Story

As the years ticked by, I consulted with Rob and his personal assistant on how to add more paying members. We all agreed his existing site needed a complete facelift. His publishing company initially created a cookie cutter template (poorly) designed to sell his book. His business model was gradually moving away from just selling his books and scheduling speaking engagements. Instead, he set new goals of attracting leads to try out one of his monthly Zoom meetings. Once they tested what Rob’s Inner Circle meetings offered, they might join his paid online coaching group.

Rob constantly travels all over the country, both buying and selling multifamily rental properties. He is also an inspirational and highly sought after public speaker. As such, he has to trust that we, his remotely based team, can carry out the vision he lays out for us in our weekly strategy sessions. Sometimes, we have to make judgment calls when he is unavailable to meet with us. It helps that I have paid close attention to his aesthetic tastes. I take detailed notes on every task that he needs done, so it is very rare that Rob requests that I make changes to his graphic design or video clips.

Building The Investor Website Design Layout With My Rental Property Manager Client

I replaced the bland, uninspiring site layout with a bold combination of blue, yellow, white, and black. These background colors organize the homepage into blocks that help emphasize Rob’s services, as well as testimonials from group members. I also included a section that highlights the newest free blog posted to the site’s library.

I sprinkled a combination of studio and casual photos of Rob throughout the site. These are bolstered by royalty free images related to real estate investment properties in both the blog entries and pages explaining Rob’s coaching and speaking services.

Simplifying the Website Content

When we planned Rob’s new investor website design, I advised him to simplify the existing content. Some of its  pages slowed down the site with large, washed out images that were not optimized. The site also suffered from overall content bloat. There were way too many pages in the menu. Many of those pages were either redundant or out of date. The only dynamic element that ever changed on the site was the slideshow on the front page heralding Rob’s awards and achievements. Therefore, I combined several pages, condensing the menu to just four important links. During my audit, I made sure not to delete any bonus content pages linked from the book via QR Codes.

As the new site came together, our team agreed that the focus of the site needed to shift. While Rob’s many awards and his life story remained, the main goal of the site was to entice investors to join his Inner Circle Community. Therefore, we made sure the new homepage boldly highlighted that membership group. Rob also spearheads mission trips in order to build homes in Mexico. Links to that information is also important featured content.

Property Investor Website Design: Behind The Scenes Features

Along with streamlining the website’s layout and content, I made many improvements behind the scenes. The secure online forms automatically add new contacts to Rob’s CRM (HighLevel). They are organized into tags as well. I also solved an issue where the forms were allowing a large amount of spam messages. Now, using Google ReCAPTCHA 3.0, only legitimate messages make it to Rob’s inbox.

In addition to the website redesign and ongoing updates, I worked with Rob Rowsell’s team to integrate direct message marketing workflows. When potential customers see his Youtube Shorts or Meta Reels, he wraps up with a call to action. The videos ask viewers to request a free PDF or other info via direct message. Customers send him a keyword via DM asking for the content. In exchange, they provide their email addresses. That then starts an automation. I set these processes up in HighLevel to add the users to his contacts under specific tags, just like the website forms. When users are added, they join a funnel of leads Rob’s PA maintains. She automates follow up campaigns to nurture those prospects.

Real Estate Blog Entries

Today, I still update and troubleshoot Rob’s investor website design. Each month, I edit his monthly Zoom call recordings into short clips. Then, I schedule them to post on his Youtube channel and his Facebook page over the following weeks. I also get even more mileage from these videos by writing weekly real estate blog entries that flesh them out in writing. Along with eye catching thumbnails, I write a blog post centered around a keyword for each video. This process of regular updates strengthens the site’s SEO (Search Engine Optimization). The site then attracts more views from Google searches.

See the investor website design in action here!

Skunch | Lexington, KY

My band Sempervivi had to take long hiatus from playing out, due to me breaking two fingers in 2023. Since we could not perform live, I was not designing any flyers for shows. I got back in the game big time with this punk concert poster design, for our gig at the Euclid Avenue institution, The Fishtank.

Punk Concert Poster Design for Lexington, Kentucky Bands

I went into this project with intention of making it portfolio worthy. Also, I decided to try something new. This is the first print design I drew completely using the Procreate app on my iPad. I knew from the jump that I wanted to depict a skeleton performing a skateboard trick. What could be more punk rock than that?

After selecting the perfect skate trick photo to model from, I experimented with a few different pens and brushes. I outlined the skateboarder’s body, then studied images of skulls and bones to complete the skeleton figure. After sketching out the board and the skatepark, the black outlines were complete.

I then hand drew the text, listing out the show information. Rather than just copy and paste the band logos, I freehanded them in order to continue the “DIY” feel of the punk concert poster design.

Color And Finishing Touches

Once I was finished with drawing the black outlines, I imported them into Photoshop to complete the flyer. I employed a few more brushes and effects to color it in. The show date is warped into an arch at the top, colored in with a green to yellow to green gradient effect. I repeated that gradient on the skate deck, then added “stickers” referencing each of the bands to it. A “grunge” eraser brush gave the appearance of scuffs on the deck, as well as rips and fading on the stickers themselves.

After coloring in all of the foreground elements, I used a sponge brush and a few gradient and overlay effects for the cloudy sunset. I also blended the brush in faintly with the faded concrete of the skatepark, creating a watercolor feel. The outlines of the skatepark stayed lighter than the foreground elements, adding further depth.

Once I had colored in all of the elements, I felt like something was missing. I added some black splatters to the top and bottom of the punk concert poster design, which added weight and helped the show information stand out.

Auto Shop Showcase / Bowling Green, KY

My longtime client Gary Gunn started up a new business in 2023, returning to mentoring auto repair shop owners. Gary collaborated with me on his new website, as well as his online and print advertising campaigns. This postcard mailer design quickly became a huge success for Gary’s startup business. In fact, it has attracted several valuable automotive business owners to join his monthly mentoring meetings.

Postcard Mailer Design Story – Changing Business Model

Gary Gunn started his career in the automotive industry in 1979. When we first crossed paths in 2006, he hired me to work in office doing clerical duties, sales calls, and human resources tasks. Soon, he saw my talent for graphic design and allowed me to manage his website and lay out CDs and printed curriculum for his coaching clients. When I moved to Lexington from Bowling Green, KY years later, he kept me on hand as a freelancer. Gary eventually sold his coaching company and helped others start their own mentoring and coaching businesses. In 2023, he finished his tenure working with them and started a brand new business, Auto Shop Showcase.

The back side of the auto shop coach postcard mailer design.

Initially, Gary’s business model centered around interviewing shop owners and other automotive industry professionals. I got his podcast and Youtube channel up and running, as well as his new website.

Soon, his business model changed, as business models often do. While his business’ end game was always recruiting auto repair shop owners to his monthly coaching calls, the weekly interviews were unsustainable. I soon shifted to editing daily social media Reels, in addition to the long form Youtube “Auto Shop Tips” videos. I created and managed his Facebook Ads, while laying out this postcard mailer design.

Getting Started

We all get bulk presorted mail in our mailboxes. A lot of what we receive is “junk mail” that we chuck in the recycle bin right away. Business owners especially are bombarded with unsolicited offers. However, the right offer, coupled with an eye catching layout, can break through. Gary and I collaborated to create just that. Which elements came together in order to create a campaign that continues to deliver results?

When Gary first came to me for his initial postcard mailer design, I already knew what he was looking for. Since I had designed print projects for him for so many years, I knew his tastes by heart. Our collaboration method has not changed much since I left Bowling Green and started working from home. Gary begins the process with a mockup in Microsoft Word. He includes a few suggested images, headlines, and copy in order to get his point across. I start by correcting any grammar and spelling errors and selecting the most effective text. Then, I make my own tweaks to it before moving on to Adobe Photoshop for the actual design.

Back Of Card Art – Completing The Message

The back of the card repeats the faint automotive shop image, this time over a bright teal blue background. Gary’s smiling face is beaming to the left of his bio. The shop owner from the front of the card returns, this time with a smile of satisfaction on his disembodied head.

A final nudge urges the reader to “End Your Frustration Now”. Clearly, it has been an effective campaign thus far. After all, many automotive repair shop owners have signed up for the starter kit using the link.

Courtney From Work | Columbus, OH

Our upcoming gig with Wicked Peace and Courtney From Work was approaching. These bands are known for their energetic live shows and are loads of fun to hang out with. That’s why I chose to lay out a pop art poster design in order to promote it. The bright colors, halftone patterns, and exaggerated facial expressions common in vintage comic strip and pulp stories were perfect to match this bill’s vibe.

Pop Art Poster Design story

While perusing royalty free stock art online, I chose a few images that I could lay out in order to tell a story. The focal character in the top panel is on her phone, starting a rumor. In the next panel, another lady whispers the gossip into her friend’s ear. Finally, in the last panel, the man is frustrated at reading the news on his computer. These Jezabels have ruined his reputation!

In reality, the story came second to the details about the show. I patterned the venue and date displayed at the top after a comic strip name and author byline. The top panel heralds the headline act in a mix of bright blue and black, popping out from the speech balloon. “21+ Adults Only!”, the banner at the bottom of the panel declares. Underneath the main illustrations, I added the other band names in a classic comic strip font. Then, I accented the band names with two more eye catching pop art poster characters splashed over the stark black background. Finally, the poster declares the door charge “Only Five Bucks!”. You just can’t beat that for a night of entertainment!