Keesee Studio

03/04/2019

I just realized I never posted about the website I created recently for a logo client of mine from a few years back. Teichman Construction is a fully custom home construction business about 60 miles north of Harrisburg, and their rich, family-based heritage made the website content a breeze to create. Especially proud of the About page!

Teichman Construction is a family-owned and family-operated new home construction business, focusing on top-notch customer service and high-quality construction.

02/21/2019

I've been seeking out opportunities to provide more tangible value to clients lately. I love designing logos and creating brand identities from scratch, and I think that is arguably the most important service I can provide for a business. I see it as building a foundation for the business itself.

But I think the implications of the foundation I'm building for a business are where the real beauty, and real value, lies.

Up until recently, I've rarely gotten the opportunity to participate in the application of the identities I create...I think because I just haven't asked. I've had a lot of experience with marketing, communications, and certainly print and digital advertising. But in an effort to "brand" myself as a brand identity designer, I've gone maybe too far to focus only on that aspect of my offering.

I think it's good to take a nod from standard branding practices and decide on a "core functionality" to make yourself known for, and follow it up with value-boosting points that add peripheral value, not just as messaging in your advertising, but as additional services for your customers. At least, that's what I've been trying lately and it's been pretty satisfying.

Happy snow day here in Pennsylvania!

02/11/2019

For this project, I wanted to blend a utilitarian aesthetic with some warm, high-contrast colors and a "hand-crafted" treatment. I think juxtaposition like this is usually present in my work in some form or another, and it's probably part of what I consider "good design," even if that's a subconscious notion. People are pretty aware of indicators of different visual styles, probably even more than they're aware of. So when two functions of those styles are used in tandem, and when they work together in such a way that they form a new style altogether, people take notice. This is a form of the "ah-ha" moment, similar to when a logo forms a shape in its whitespace (like the arrow in the FedEx logo), but it's more subliminal. To me, creating reactions like that is what design is all about.

02/04/2019

Always start on paper.

There was a time when I would kick-off a logo project by opening up Illustrator and picking some cool fonts. A time when the warning of my mentors saying "You can't find the best solution unless you draw every option on paper" seemed more at-home in the age of horse-drawn carriages and top hats than computers and design software.

But when I started studying hand lettering a few years ago, I remembered just how easy it is to represent an idea (or 50) with and pencil and paper. Not only that, but you might find yourself exploring an approach you never would have conceived of if you had started with some shapes or a line of type on the computer.

Another benefit is that, when you start on paper, you feel much less ownership over the concepts you're creating...because they're just sketches. You're not tempted to flesh out the entire brand identity just because you're smitten with the first logo concept you came up with ( 🙋🏻‍♂️guilty!)

So now, when I have the opportunity to work with young designers, I always implore them to put good, old-fashioned pencil and paper in their process and see how much better the end result is.

01/28/2019

Sketching out logo concepts for a new project

10/06/2018

So I have a few things in the works which is why I've been a ghost lately, but here is a piece I designed as part of a personal project. I love Neato Burrito, and I wanted to try a '70s psychedelic heavy-bottomed script lettering style. I think it actually pairs well with the '60s retro cowboy motif too. What do y'all think?

@ Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

05/27/2018

Series #2...records that have inspired me.

I've been a musician since I could read, and although I've set music aside to focus on design, it's still a huge part of my life.

I decided to start a series of album cover redesigns of all the records that marked a change in the way I see music, starting with Smashing Pumpkins' Machina.

You can't even put this record into words, really. It's got killer pop songwriting, the signature fuzzy SP sound, a spacey and melancholy atmosphere, and so much variation. This record made me fall in love the pop song format again.

@ Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

04/30/2018

It's the last day of , and I'm finishing off this series with a bold hand-lettered serif piece for . These guys not only make some killer cider, but some really great beer too.

This has been fun, I'm now thinking about what series I could do next! I have a few pieces of client work I've been waiting to share, but something about doing a series like this is really motivating. What do you think the next one should be?

@ Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

04/26/2018

Celebrating with five (so far) logos designed on a whim for some local breweries: @troegsbeer

04/25/2018

I've only been to Millworks once (ok I'll admit it, I'm a bit of a recluse) but I'm counting the days 'til I can go again. Their food is remarkable, their beer is great, and the building itself is mind-blowing...especially after you read about the restoration process.

So with that said, here is Harrisburg Beer Week imaginary logo #5: The Millworks

@ Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

04/24/2018

I'm really into IPAs. Like, I'm always disappointed with other styles of beer because all I really want is an IPA, all the time.

In honor of I'm creating imaginary logos for local Pennsylvania breweries, this one being for . SweetWater's IPAs are underrated–every time I drink one I'm surprised by the quality compared to some of the bigger names out there. We Pennsylvanians gotta drink more SweetWater!