Whenever I have the time and energy, I like to help other people out. A few months ago I had the opportunity to partner with a wonderful woman who works for the Breast Cancer Resource Center, Susan. She put out a request for help on the Tacoma Arts Listserve. The Listserve is a great resource for posting events & opportunities within the arts community. I know sometimes people get overwhelmed with the quantity of emails they receive through the listserve, but I love it. To me it’s a constant reminder of the vibrant arts community in this area.

Susan & I met at a local coffee shop (the Mandolin Cafe, I highly recommend it). We discussed the parameters of her project as well as the time frame. They needed an eye catching poster to raise awareness about their non profit. The piece needed to be tasteful, respectful, fun & eye catching, and appeal to a younger crowd. They were wanting to post it in some college campus areas, as well as other locations. Susan had some ideas about subject matter (hence, the bra). I worked with her on including her ideas and giving her some others.

I illustrated & designed the poster & promo card in Illustrator 1, and since then I’ve upgraded to Illustrator 4.

After our initial meeting, we met only a second time at the press check at R4 Printing (These guys are really good printers). R4 did a spectacular job printing and we came up with a beautiful 11″ x 14″ poster and some great little hand out/promo cards. The cards were a great thought-they’re basically playing card size, cost very little to produce, and  act as an easy hand out. We did all of our proofing via email, which is such a great time saver for everyone.

The project turned out great. The Breast Cancer Resource Center (BCRC) was happy, Susan was happy and I was happy. The perfect project! I would love to do more work with non profits, maybe even get paid next time!