Chocolate Party Invitation 2011

Thirty years ago, my parents had just moved to town. They invited their new friends over to celebrate my father's birthday. A chocolate lover since childhood, my dad asked his friends not to bring a gift, but told them they could bring a "chocolate something", and everyone would share it for dessert. Since that first year, the tradition and guest lists have grown. Today, 300 invitations are sent inviting more than 500 people to bring and eat chocolate treats. I design the annual invite, doing my best to get everyone's mouths watering and their creativity churning about which dessert to bring and share. For 2011's version, I combined vintage chocolate advertisements, stock images, and digital and hand-drawn illustrations to bring the viewer into a vastly delicious chocolate wonderland. The goal was to invoke a child-like enthusiasm for the love of chocolate, and to remind the invitee that, where chocolate and imagination are concerned, the sky is the limit.

019 ACC President's Award
2018 Ignite Louisville Program Graduate Selected from a competitive group to participate. 150 hours in 5 months.
2013 London International Creative Competition “Short List” Award
2012 Pias Graphic Awards Competition Award of Excellence
2011 International Design Awards (IDA) Silver Award Winner; Category Print / Professional
2011 International Design Awards (IDA) Bronze Award; Category Announcements / Professional
2011 International Design Awards (IDA) Honorable Mention; Category Graphic Design Professional
2008 Adweek Top Ten Hotlist Contributing Team Member at Meredith Corp.
2005 Current Magazine (A division of Newsweek) Selected student illustrator
2004 Marilyn Meltzer Prize for portfolio excellence in Design and Color
2003 National Conference of Undergraduate Research