Compelling 2012 - Dream On

Compelling, Michigan's annual fall conference, is one of my favorite projects that I get to do every year. Each new theme presents an opportunity to come up with a new design concept. This year, Compelling's theme is based around the story of Joseph, which I was excited about because he's one of my favorite Bible characters. The conference planning team wanted to feature something about Joseph's dreams in the title. So I suggested "Dream On,"  the title of a 1973 Aerosmith song.

Rock 'n Roll?
This title led me to find some of my inspiration from 1970s rock posters. I love the way these posters use dramatic shapes and have a sort of psychedelic look to them. In a way, they are kind of dreamlike--slightly distorted and ethereal. I also love the way that the typography takes the form of the larger shapes in the design.

Inspired by 1970s rock posters

...Like an Egyptian
The other part of my inspiration came from Egyptian art. Since much of Joseph's story takes place in the intriguing world of ancient Egypt, I wanted to give the conference some of that look as well. I researched photos of hieroglyphic art as well as the geometric patterns used in a lot of Egyptian design. The colors from these pieces had a more muted, earth tone palette, and ultimately I chose to use these colors, rather than the brighter colors from the 70s rock posters. I also incorporated the texture of the ancient papyrus, giving the design a rougher, older feel.

Inspired by Egyptian art

Inspired by Egyptian geometric designs

My color palette, based on Egyptian art

Final Product
So, after a lot of research, here is what I came up with! It was definitely a time-consuming process to create a completely hand-drawn design, but it was so much fun! Can you see how both the 70s rock posters and Egyptian art have been incorporated into my final work?

front of Compelling 2012 flycard - click to view larger

back of Compelling 2012 flycard - click to view larger

[Visit Compelling 2012's website
(which I also designed) here.]

It's the Great Missions Conference, Charlie Brown

I haven't done a lot of pumpkin carving, but this year I was given a pumpkin for my birthday. So I took the opportunity to carve the Urbana logo into it. It was the perfect Sunday afternoon activity!

Singleness Sucks, Sometimes

I apologize for the lack of posts here these days. As you know, I am swamped with work on Urbana 12. However, I wanted to share an excerpt from a post I recently wrote for InterVarsity's national blog. It's the story of my experience as a 30 year old single woman and what God is teaching me in this season of life. Since it was posted Monday, it has been viewed over 1,200 times! I thank God for the opportunity to encourage and challenge others through my personal journey.

"Drew Barrymore plays a twenty-five-year-old who’s never been kissed in one of my favorite movies from the 90s. Okay, actually, all of my favorite movies are from the 90s. I’m a product of my generation.

Well, here I am, days away from turning 30, and I can still relate to this movie. And it’s not just because I can still pass for a student. (Yay Asian genes!)

I’ve never had a boyfriend."

 [Read the whole post here.]