illustrator & Designer
Brand & Identity, Independent Projects, Illustration
In late 2019 and early 2020, Circle sunset, sold, or spun out every one of its consumer products, and dedicated itself to building B2B USDC services. Naturally, it was time for a rebrand! Though I had left the company months before, my friend and former colleague Kristine asked me to once again define the company’s illustrative brand—this time as a freelancer.
Brand & Identity, Illustration
When I joined Circle as a product designer, I was hired, in part, for my background in illustration. But that “nice to have” soon became my central focus. I’ve spent years defining and evolving the Circle illustrative brand, cementing its place in our products, website, marketing campaigns, and more.
In 2018, CENTRE launched USD Coin, a stablecoin pegged to the value of the US Dollar. Less than a month later, Coinbase joined Circle to formally found the CENTRE consortium, and with that announcement came a whole new look for USDC. That’s right: even the most diehard crypto fan might not realize that for the first four weeks of its life, the world’s largest, fastest-growing stablecoin had a completely different visual identity. So who’s the poor sap who designed that first logo?
[cough cough]
Brand & Identity, Illustration
Circle was founded on the belief that blockchain technology could usher in a more open and inclusive global economy. But such a future can’t be built within the walls of a private company. It requires open standards and partnerships. That’s why, in 2017, Circle announced CENTRE, a “foundation, open source project, protocol, and network aimed at breaking down the barriers which cost us money and time to connect to each other financially.”
With the limitations of a small design team, early versions of Circle Pay primarily relied upon off-the-shelf icon sets. But after I joined and began creating illustrations for product and brand, I soon set my sights on icons. I made a few as needed, but replacing the old set entirely wasn't worth the design and development commitment. But with Circle Invest, I was there from the beginning.
As a financial tech startup, Circle’s apps have always needed to represent currency. Circle Pay got its start as a Bitcoin wallet, and within a couple years added US Dollars, British Pounds, and Euros. Custom icons were made for these four currencies, showing up throughout the app and its marketing.
But Circle Invest called for even more. The app offers _thirteen_ different crypto assets. Presenting these disparate crypto projects in a coherent and consistent way would advance Invest's mission to make crypto more approachable. I set out to create a unified set of crypto icons. Easier said than done…
Podcasts & Events, Personal Projects, Brand & Identity
From 2014–2017, I helped run Refresh Boston, a free meetup for Greater Boston's design and development community, and the local chapter of the international Refreshing Cities collective. We were proud to feature extraordinary speakers and consistently draw an engaged, inquisitive crowd.
In 2015, Fresh Tilled Soil celebrated its tenth anniversary. To set the course for the next ten years, I proposed that we revisit the company’s branding and identity. With most of our energy focused on clients, our own marketing collateral and website updates were squeezed into the margins, and the identity lacked a cohesive visual system. Leadership agreed, and soon Fresh Tilled Soil itself became my sole client.
Brand & Identity, Illustration
When Fresh Tilled Soil made coded style guides a standard deliverable, they produced a simple framework to simplify the process of making them. When it came time to open source the project, it needed a name and a logo. Corkscrew was born, and along with it, a fun little duck.