Snowed Under In Madison

Even though illustration is my main focus, I still dabble in graphic design when the mood hits me or the opportunity presents itself. And, recently the mood hit when the opportunity presented itself.

Madison photographer and long-time friend Keith E. Katers had a brainstorm in early February. Madison was closing in on a record-setting snowfall, and Keith wanted to seize the opportunity to commemorate the occasion. He asked me to develop a design based on his photography and produce an image that would appeal to the hearty survivors of Madison's Winter 2007-2008. The bonus was his suggestion that we place the image on products that sell through my CafePress store ~ www.cafepress.com/annieking ~ and in doing so, bring some exposure to the other art I have available there. The result is the design you see here, "Snowed Under In Madison".

This was one of those designs that seemed to flow through me. I pretty much did it on the fly with very little preliminary sketching. The snowflakes were drawn in Illustrator. Then, I brought those into Photoshop, combined a couple of Keith's shots of Wisconsin's State Capitol building and used filter effects, layer effects and other techniques to reach the final look.

Once the design was finished, I uploaded the art to CafePress and applied the design to shirts, hats, coffee mugs and other products that were suited to our market. (More about CafePress in an upcoming blog.)

Keith handled the media relations and ad placement through his company, Media Arts. In addition to ad placement in Madison's hip newspaper, Isthmus, we also reached out to university students through The Badger Herald, advertising in print and online. Keith produced an e-news press release and distributed it to local news sources, posted it on kiosks and hand-delivered it to various offices, including the mayor's and the governor's along with product samples. We also blitzed our personal email lists, blogged and "facebooked", doing what we could to get the word out about our venture. And, we're not finished. As long as the snow's on the ground and forecasts call for more, we will continue to promote our design.

I'm so grateful that Keith not only asked me to join him on this adventure, but also, suggested it as a way to bring more attention to my illustration work. After years of being friends, it's great fun to work together. I'm looking forward to more collaboration.