I designed this 2 color risograph poster for my typeface Escafina. A copy of this poster is shipped out with each commercial license.
I also made some card versions to hand out at conferences.
I was honored to illustrate a spread for the Kern and Burn book, a crowd-funded book about designers who have ventured in entrepreneurial pursuits.
I was tasked with illustrating the prompt 'Build Your World'. I chose to illustrate around the concept that everything we need to build our world is already in front of us. We just have to put the pieces in the right order.
I was also interviewed for the book, regarding my project The Lost Type Co-Op.
I designed this poster to ship alongside commercial licenses of my Typeface Moriston. Risograph'd in 2 colors.
You can learn more about the typeface on the minisite, created by Kenneth Ormandy.
A Map of Milan for Herb Lester, to be distributed in Condé Nast Traveler. Designed in collaboration with Danelle Cheney.
The script lettering was inspired by mid-century European signage, and the vespa was the classic icon of Italian travel.
Moriston is a Sans-Serif typeface in 6 styles.
You can learn more about the typeface on the minisite, created by Kenneth Ormandy.
Escafina is an upright script typeface in 3 styles, each of which is a subtle progression in hairline thickness, acting as 'grades' that can be swapped without causing varying content width or reflow.
The result is a typeface with 3 styles, which range in aesthetic tone from charmingly succinct to delicately intricate. Escafina supports over 100 languages, automatic arbitrary fractions, and alternates for the ends of words to give a more natural appearance. Escafina is perfectly at home in Signage, Logotypes, Posters, Headlines and many other uses.
Learn more at the Escafina Minisite, created by Kenneth Ormandy.
2 color letterpress print as part of the Greetings from Canada series from Everlovin' Press.
I wanted to design a print that took advantage of the transparent inks and 'salty' impression of letterpress to make a piece that used color more dynamically and bled completely off the edges of the paper. Everlovin' Press did an impressive job on the difficult printing.
The Christiana Motel is a circa 1955 Motel in Pennsylvania. Having been through a series of 'redesigns' over the course of the 1970s and 1980s, the new owner contacted me figuring it deserved an identity that honored the history of the motel. As part of this re-design, a new logo and secondary mark were created. From that, brand new outdoor signage was fabricated, featuring internal lighting and two strips of white neon tracing the exterior.
I often am asked if the signage influenced the logo, but in fact the logo was created first (in the image of mid-century iconic highway signage) and then the sign was designed based on the logo.
I’ve worked with No-Li Brewhouse (a Spokane-based brewery) for almost 4 years, designing their identity and packaging.
Founded in Spokane Washington in 1993 by Mark Irvin, No-Li Brewhouse is a craft brewery which expanded to bottling in early 2012. Originally named Northern Lights, I was contacted in Winter 2012 by former Fat Tire strategist Greg Owsley and former Deschutes Brewery (and craft beer guru) John Bryant, about re-naming the brewery 'No-Li', rebranding the company completely, and creating its first bottled brews. I've worked with No-Li on their various branding and packaging projects ever since, which now includes 22oz and 12oz bottles.
The main company mark references the Spokane Gondola, a series of Tram cars installed for the 1974 World's Fair, an event of lasting esteem in the city, and something we took much inspiration from.
Over time No-Li has expanded to supplying its beer on tap, in 22oz bottles, 12oz bottles in 4 packs and 6 packs, and special edition Barrel aged beers. Cans will be released shortly.
A few lettering treatments for Jett. More on this project soon!
I am the manager and Type Director at Lost Type, a digital type foundry.
Lost Type fonts have been used across the world, and recently have been featured in projects for Nike, Starbucks, Disney and the President of the United States (Barack Obama. Lost Type continues to be dedicated to to the idea that quality fonts should be made available to anyone who wants to create an individual piece of characterful design.
I created this logo and poster for No-Li Brewhouse's Small Batch Festival. It was recently featured in the book 'Modern Heraldry' by Counter-Print Press.
Logo mark for Central Standard, a software development company. The client kept referring to the concept that Central Standard were the hard workers behind the scenes, making sure things run smoothly. This mark references that, with a thriving city powered by a hidden machine.
I designed a custom sans serif typeface for 59 Parks, a series of screen printed posters celebrating the National Parks of the USA.
I was interviewed about the design process, and you can read that here!
Artemus is a french brewery in Paris, who recently unveiled their first bottled beers. I had the honor of designing the identity and the packaging.
I designed the logotype and mark for Keyboardio, a new ergonomic keyboard.
In 2015 it became one of the highest funded Kickstarter campaigns of all time, raising over $652,000.
I designed this screen printed 11x17" poster for Majesti Banner, a typeface designed by Joe Prince.
The size of the type on the poster was largely dictated by the ultra thin hairlines of the typeface, which can’t be printed smaller than this.
I designed this logo for a company that makes iOS games. To me, the spinning top was a classic visual symbol of fun and whimsy, but it's also a tactile object that you need to manipulate with your fingers, just like an iPhone or iPad.
For No-Li Brewhouse's first 6 Packs, we decided to do a matching pair called Poser and Crony. Confronted with the challenge of designing a product named 'Poser', I designed the packaging to emphasize how craft beer packaging is constantly shouting at you with statistics, ingredients, brewing techniques, buzzwords, etc. The information that is typically shown very small and understated was instead amplified to be the main statement of the design, information overlapping itself and clashing, much like the state of the craft beer industry itself.
Logo concepts for SOMM Club, a sommelier service.
I did this piece of lettering to be shown on screen before Type Brigade Special events, a lecture series. Inspired by 1970s Lubalin/Carnase/DiSpigna spencerian lettering.
I also drew two versions, one with low contrast for use at smaller sizes, and a high contrast version intended for projecting on screen at the events.
Over the years illustration has played a role in many projects I have worked on. These are a few samples of my favorite pieces.
One time I worked on some illustrations for a guy who's Mom invented the slinky. He wanted illustrations to decorate the outside of his RV, and he called himself 'Son of Slinky'. True story.
For No-Li's 3rd Barrel Aged small batch beer release, I designed a label which took advantage of our ability to print labels using dynamic content.
I designed a set of custom stencil numerals, which increment on each label. Every single label has its own unique decorative statement that also conveys the bottle's place in the limited-edition run.
Herb Lester Associates is a London-based company specializing in the production of specialized boutique travel maps. I was asked in the summer of 2012 to design a map entitled 'Let Me Tell You About Madrid'.
Illustrated with various landmarks mentioned in the map's many noted locations, this map folds down from a double sided A3 sheet.
In 2014 I was commissioned to work on some identity concepts for the remodel of a mid-century bank building into condos. These are some of the explorations. Several building names were considered.
I drew up this 'Friday' lettering and made some risograph prints to hand out at the first Typographics conference in 2015.
I recently designed all the packaging for Platt Park Brewing Co, a brewery in Denver Colorado. The final labels are printed on metallic material, and the modular system of information and pattern elements helps to provide a level of differentiation between products without sacrificing the cohesive appearance of the entire line.
No-Li Brewhouse's Barrel Aged series of limited edition beers began with Blackfill, a stout that had been aged in whisky barrels. The label system was designed to draw from lo-fi wine and whisky labelling for storage, where the relevant information is applied to a template that is re-used over time, instead of being more thoroughly 'designed' from the start. The brewer(s) hand signed each bottle.
A self initiated set of stamps illustrations.
I did this illustration for a company that makes a productivity app. It conveys teams being able to keep track of tasks and to-do's through the web and their iOS devices.
The Vintage Table Company is a Los Angeles based catering company, specializing in mis-matched table ware.
The mark reflects the concept of mixing and matching silverware. A custom logotype was drawn, and applied to collateral items such as hang tags for event tables.
"Riley designed the logo and collateral for my business, and I could not be more pleased with the results. The designs he came up with perfectly represents the character and ethos of my business. His unique design aesthetic has helped set my branding apart from the rest; I cannot count the number of compliments I have received on my logos."
A brush script lettering exercise.
No-Li produces Barrel Aged beers a few times per year, and for those we like to make specialized packaging with a more rustic aesthetic.
This guy's head is peeling off.
In the summer of 2014 I was approached by my friend Justin Mezzell about designing a new identity for Code School, a popular educational site that teaches people to write code. Code School’s visual identity involves a great deal of different characterful illustrations, themed courses on their website, and various diverse and ever—changing situations where a logo would be implemented. The old logotype, made from customized Avenir, had begun to show its short comings in these situations. Various ideas were tested, and we arrived at a custom drawn sans serif logotype, as well as a redrawn version of their previous 'brackets' mark.
About 6 months after the rebrand Code School was acquired for $36 Million dollars.
Art direction from Justin Mezzell.
“It's no small task to ask someone to join a conversation that's so close to our hearts, but Riley dug right in. We knew we wanted something that paid tribute to where we've been as a brand, but in a more memorable and original way. Riley took our collective vision, and got to work on making it a reality. Riley worked through a number of concepts as we tried to find the right fit. He was patient, but respectful of our desire to maintain the personality of our brand. I don't know if you’ve ever tried to brand yourself, but we'll just confirm that it doesn't get any easier the second time around (at least, not for us). Our previous logo had truly become part of a thriving community, and we wanted to be aware of that during the rebrand process. We asked for a logo that was uniquely and definitively our own, and that's exactly what Riley delivered.”
-Justin Mezzell (Art Director, Code School)
I designed this poster to celebrate the release of Joe Prince's typeface Klinic Slab. A free poster ships with each commercial license.
Crony was No-Li's follow up companion product to Poser. The two products were their first releases in 6 pack format.
A logo for a venture capitalist company.
Another of No-Li's Barrel Aged series, Van Lambert was brewed with Cherries, the branches of which are integrated into the label design.
This past January, my Lost Type friends from all over the continent flew to Vancouver to celebrate three of our birthdays at once in my hometown. It was a true honor, and I did this lettering for the occasion.
I had the honor of collaborating with David Cran on some logo concepts for the Denver Beer Festivus. This was the chosen design.
Perhaps the most intimidating client name I've ever been asked to design a logotype around, Grytgubbarna translates roughly to 'pot lads' or 'stew boys'. Designed for a canned food product, I interpolated variations of the logotype to explore weight and width. Interlocking the letters allowed me to reduce the overall width of the logotype.
This little spot illustration is intended to convey connectivity within an organization.
Herb Lester associates produces boutique travel maps for locations around the world. When they assembled them into packs related by location, they asked me to design labels for each pack.
