While this space has been a tiny bit sparse over the past couple weeks months, things have been pretty crazy behind the scenes. Right now I’m in Alt prep madness—I haven’t started packing and I might start to panic soon. What I have been up to over the past while is a redesign of my personal identity and Pinegate Road. I’ve been wanting to meld the two for quite some time now, and I set a goal of finishing this before Alt. I received my business cards a couple days ago, I unveiled the new design header here last week, and I just branded the sidebar to go along with the header. I also re-branded my portfolio and designed and uploaded a new resume for that whole applying-for-jobs-soon thing (whew!). Now, I’m just crossing my fingers that the leave-behinds I’ve ordered come in tomorrow so I can package them before I head off to the mountains. Oh, yeah, mountains—pretty excited for those to be in my life again! Also, I can’t believe that the week I’ve been sitting on the edge of my yoga ball for since August is finally here! Crazy time.
While I’m missing the regular blogging, sometimes you just need to take care of business, and I’m trying hard to let myself be ok with that. I’m hoping to come back from Alt inspired with where to head this next year with this space. I feel like I’m starting new with this design, and I’m getting ready to head somewhere a little different. Where to? I’m not really sure, but I’m excited to ride that journey and I definitely think this new design is setting the stage for that.
This is the mood board that I used for the new Pinegate Road design. I wanted to keep the old color palette that I had with a few additions, but I wanted a more sophisticated grown-up version of the branding that I was using before. The natural elements stayed the same, but were rephotographed in a better composition. I was able to integrate my hand-lettering into the logo, but I chose to use actual typefaces to implement for the design so they could stay consistent throughout all my branding elements both on the blog and for my personal print material.
After experimenting with different styles over the past year and a couple months on Pinegate Road, I’ve definitely learned how necessary it is to keep a consistent brand system, but to leave enough room for play and growth. I’m hoping that this new design system will really set the tone for the new journey Pinegate Road is heading on—and most of all, I’m excited that I met my own deadline! Personal projects are so hard in regards to deadlines, at least for me. Am I the only one with that issue?
If you’re in a reader, click here to view the complete redesign in action!
kelsey, this redesign is AMAZING. i think you’ve just inspired me to tackle my own redesign so that i can finally marry my blog/letterpress studio with my personal portfolio. after alt, of course! ;) great work!!
Comment by erika — January 21, 2013 @ 3:21 PM
Thanks Erica! That’s exactly what I was thinking — I really wanted consistency across everything that I did. This plan has been in the works for almost a year, and it was ALT that finally made me kick my own butt and get this done ;) hah. Can’t wait to see what you come up with for yours!
Comment by Kelsey — January 21, 2013 @ 3:27 PM
Looks beautiful, Kelsey! Clean and simple – always a good idea in my book. ;) Have fun at ALT! I’m sure you’ll learn a lot
Comment by Sarah — January 21, 2013 @ 3:59 PM
Thank you Sarah! I’m prepping for the impending information overload for sure, hah. I need updates on your life and your amazing new job situation! I hope you’re doing well :)
Comment by Kelsey — January 21, 2013 @ 4:22 PM
[...] card exchange is just one of the special things that happens when you head out west. Along with the recent redesign I designed my very first professional business cards just in time. Previously I was using thin [...]
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