I recently completed a project for Erin Peloquin… also known as the Photoshop Elements mastermind of Texas Chicks Blogs & Pics. Erin’s site is just packed with tips, tricks and proven techniques to help you learn everything you would ever need to know about Elements. She’s also the Elements specialist for MCP Actions and she converted half of the Pioneer Woman’s actions to work in Elements.

(Phew. Let’s just say she knows what she’s doing when it comes to Elements!)

When she completed writing the curriculum for her new course about actions for Photoshop elements, she came to me for some assistance in presenting it to her audience. In addition to designing the e-book (90 pages of awesome content), I helped her come up with the product name, I wrote sales copy and I designed some promotional items (e-flyer and blog buttons).

Here’s a look at the book cover:

(And yes, it’s an e-book, which means it comes in PDF format. So if you purchase the course you will not be getting an actual book.)

Here’s a peek at some of the content:

As you can see, the content is a great mix of written and show-don’t-tell instruction.

We did some fun blog buttons:

And I wrote some sales copy and designed an e-flyer for Erin:

I asked Erin how she felt about the project, and working together, and here’s what she had to say:

Thank you so much for the amazing identity you created for Texas Chicks!  The formatting of my ebook was inspired. And I am so thrilled to have found a one-stop shop where I could get a coordinated set of graphics and copy. I have been looking for you for a long time….

It was such a pleasure working with Erin. If you are in the market for some Photoshop Elements coaching, you need to check her out! Here’s a link to her site and you’ll find her on Facebook here.

Kristi Hill is a wedding, lifestyle and boudoir photographer based in Greeley, Colorado. She has a photo-journalistic style with a distinct flair for the artistic! When she approached me about refreshing her visual identity and marketing materials, she had this to say:

I feel a little “mom & pop.” I feel like my current logo doesn’t encompass “weddings”, which is my primary business focus right now, it’s not feminine enough and feels a little corporate. Also, since there’s been a lack of an actual “look,” I feel like my marketing items are a little disconnected from one another. I want everything to work together as a whole, hip, but still classic, package. Also, as much as I love my Hillside box, I say that I am a creative and think outside the box, which clearly my logo does not say.

Kristi really wanted to keep the hills of her current logo, but other than that we had lots of room to work with type, colour and overall design to develop a visual identity that was much more representative of Kristi and her photography. Here’s the before and after:

Although I’ve looked at script typefaces for logos before, this is the first time that it really made sense for both me and my client. Something about the open, feminine shapes of this particular typeface really work for the message Kristi is trying to communicate: that she is a professional photographer that clients can connect with on a personal level, and who will deliver high-quality images through fun and creative photography sessions.

We kept the hills, but treated them as a layered landscape – you know those hazy days when hilly landscapes look dreamy? That’s what we were aiming for.

And the blue? Well, blue has always been Kristi’s favourite colour. So we went with it!

Once the logo was done, we developed business cards. Kristi had a hard time picking a favourite design, so she went with two: one traditional size and one square size. You can print high-quality business cards at a great price these days, which makes it easy to have options.

Next we tackled her blog. Here’s what it looked like before:

And here’s the after – fresh and open a little bit dreamy!

Kristi has a separate portfolio site from her blog, so we re-designed that, too! Here is the before:

And here is the after. That’s more like it!

(This is a customization of a CMD site template. We were able to make it completely Hillside Studios!)

Finally, we developed a brochure. Keeping with our design guidelines (fresh, open, lots of white space, emphasis on the photography) we put together a piece that really helps Kristi tell her story effectively. Here’s a peek:

How does Kristi feel about the new look? You can see her comment below!

It was such a pleasure working with Kristi – if she’s half as wonderful working with her clients as she was working with me well, her clients are in for a treat.

You can connect with Kristi through her blog, her portfolio site, on Facebook and she’s on Twitter, too!

The theme of this issue is bears – not surprising, especially for those of us who live in BC and often see bears in our backyards in the summer. Well, I don’t (I live in Vancouver), but my friends who live in North Vancouver and West Vancouver do!

This beautiful cover image, and many of the photo gallery images were shot by Nova Scotia-based Thomas Kitchin and Victoria Hurst. They are so, so talented!

In this issue you’ll find some interesting cross-Canada briefs…

beautiful illustration work by Ian Johnson…

the story of one fellow’s bicycle ride through the Rockies:

the tale of an unlikely friendship between an Ontario family and a fox they called Little One:

and a step back in time to Northern BC’s Telegraph Creek…

It makes a great summer read! You can learn more by visiting Spirit of the North’s website.

The Winter issue (our most recent regular issue) featured a photo gallery starring the Aurora Borealis — or northern lights. The images are so, so beautiful. I’ve only seen the northern lights in person once. This photo gallery has me longing to do so again.

We’re currently in production on our Spring/Summer 2010 issue. If you’d like to see more, visit the magazine online here.