It has been an absolute delight to work with the Lewis & Clark National Park Association, which runs the bookstore in Fort Clatsop, the main visitor center of the Lewis and Clark National Historical Parks.  Not only do I love, love, LOVE the park itself, the people that work there are pretty spectacular.

If you’ve not been to the Park in awhile, take the time to make a visit.  Personally, my favorite days are summer, when the Fort Replica fills with the sights and sounds of a turn-of-the-century working camp and, in winter, when trails are quiet and imaginations can run rampant with what it was really like to winter over there in 1805-1806.

Lewis & Clark National Park Association is a private non-profit organization which supports educational activities at Fort Clatsop and offers an incredible depth and breadth of Lewis & Clark memorabilia and educational items in their on-site bookstore, as well as online.  They’re a hard-working lot that always has a smile, a can-do attitude, and a passion for history and the park itself.

Consider using our latest brochure for the group, to join and support the educational activities at Fort Clatsop, which you can pick up at the book store, or here at beachdog.com.  As I type, hundreds of schoolchildren are finishing up ranger-led field trips, a Youth Nature Writing Contest has just concluded, Nature Adventure Camp is about to put smiles on kids’ faces, and these are just a few of the many events and programs in store.  This is top-notch, family-fun, educational entertainment, folks.  And it is right here in our own back yard.

Enjoy!

~Keleigh

Two sides show the artists’ two personalities!
Design by Anna Lee Larimore & Keleigh

Blank on the back for writing notes, measurements, appointments…
Design by John Aylward & Keleigh

Card teasing the adult half of Jake the Alligator Man’s Birthday Bash; Used as a hand-out at similar venues.
Design by Wendy

Birthday Postcard
Design by Keleigh

It’s not nice to tease you, talking about the Lost Roo before she’s solidly open.  But I just couldn’t wait to show you the fun things Roo Keepers Mark and Helen Johnson have been working on.  Helen put a lot of detail focus on getting her logo roos just right and her perseverence has paid off.  You can see these increasingly familiar forms atop the silo on the building now and they’re starting to pop up amongst the rocks in the yard.  Once inside you’ll find these happy hoppers most everywhere–if you look closely!

Mark and Helen are quite smart about their branding and identity development and it has been an absolute joy to work with them on a variety of branding projects as they’ve prepared the restaurant for opening.  Wendy and I can honestly say we’ve never made 8-foot roo patterns before.  Stay tuned; our web hounds will be giving you a peek at the newly designed Lost Roo website any day now.

~Keleigh

Menus usually pose the challenge of putting a lot of information into a comparatively small amount of space.  Menus should be easy to read by all ages in mood lighting and most restaurant owners want to include a fair number of graphics and images, as well as use an interesting font or two.   As a designer, I want to create lots of space for the eye to rest, and keep consistency of brand.  The challenge compounds when a restaurateur needs to be able to edit the final product themselves, meaning I need to use a tool like Word instead of professional page layout software.  It’s not always an easy puzzle, but it’s usually fun!

Don Shaw of Don’s Portside Cafe and the Loose Kaboose is easy to work with because he gives quite a bit of freedom to design once he dictates the page count and provides the text.    By putting me in charge of more elements of the puzzle, Don saves money because we go through fewer revisions.  His full-size menus came out very readable and engaging this year!  The take-out menu is half the size of what you read in the restaurants, which makes it affordable to get it in the hands of the many visitors to our beach without losing integrity of design.

Sort of a funny title, isn’t it?  We wanted to show you the diversity of projects we’ve been working on lately.

The Breakers hotel in Long Beach has been doing a lot of remodeling over the past several years and we were able to give them custom door plates to match their clean look.  Engraved plastic is actually pretty inexpensive, whether you need key fobs, name badges, door plates like these, or larger signs.  We can get most colors of plastic and turnaround is only about a week once you approve the art.  Stop by and browse samples!

The Breakers also ordered some custom pens recently for a special campaign.  They turned out really well, and match the specs we were given about as perfectly as one could hope.  Even better, we found a pen that met the specs at a really great price.

Don’t you just love happy endings?