Capturing Moments, Inspiring Engagement: In today's digital age, where smartphones and tablets dominate our daily lives, there's something undeniably charming about the simplicity and practicality of a paper calendar. For organizations, associations and schools, paper calendars serve as more than just tools for organizing schedules – they're tangible reminders of important events, milestones, and a tool for building community.

Looking for that special mark‽ 

Questionable? Excited? BOTH!!!!!!

Meet the interrobang. The interrobang is a combination of an exclamation mark and a question mark, and it was first proposed by advertising executive Martin K. Speckter in 1962. Its purpose is to denote a sentence that is both an exclamation and a question, saving space and simplifying punctuation.

Ever wondered about the meticulous process behind creating those sophisticated blind-embossed print pieces? Let's delve into the craftsmanship that goes into making the male and female dies, shaping the elegance that you can feel.

Ready to boost your DIY marketing? Welcome to Graphic Design Therapy; a design power lunch where your marketing materials get some needed tender loving care and attention.

We recently had the pleasure of working with Inter-American Foundation on their 2023 Year in Review. We designed the full 12-page report, as well as updating it with translated Spanish text. One of the important aspects of the project was the importance of accessibility, especially making sure it is 508 compliant, which are a set of requirements for information and communication technology (ICT) to ensure that covered ICT is accessible to, and usable by, individuals with disabilities.

I love yoga and I love graphic design. I am thrilled when my two passions combine to help yogis grow their businesses by funneling their passion into visuals that lead to tangible results.

Born and bred in the Piedmont of North Carolina, I jumped on the opportunity to work with Democracy NC. Their important mission: To strengthen democratic structures, build power among disenfranchised communities, and inspire confidence in a transformed political process that works for all.

To keep the brochure cost-effective, we worked with a local Durham printer to cut the paper at an angle to make the brochure more interesting and engaging and continued the diagonal motif within the design.

"Alston and Kevin helped us transform a sprawling rough draft authored by nine people into a beautiful and coherent 100+ page resource manual for schools. The ebook they created for us featured extensive linking both within the pdf and to numerous external websites and documents. They were incredibly responsive and patient with us as we ironed out the final content and formatting, offering ideas and solutions that we wouldn't have thought of on our own. The final product was beautiful and easy to use for our end users -- we were thrilled with the outcome!"

Graphic design is more than just creating visually appealing images and layouts. It's about effective communication and conveying a message that resonates with the intended audience. In the dynamic and competitive world of design, partnerships play a pivotal role in achieving success.

Afflatus: A divine creative impulse or inspiration.

This summer, I am working with my twin girls to get wicked crafty!

We are looking to spend less time on electronic devices or binging on streaming series and instead engage with our hands, minds, and hearts. As the girls and I turn our attention to our work, time slows down and we can enjoy the process of creating and connecting while producing tangible milestones of these experiences.

Being primarily a print designer, accessibility is not something I was aware of until very recently. We created a brochure for the National Museum for Women in the Arts and something important to them was ensuring the digital PDFs we create are as accessible as possible. Initially, I thought this meant placing text in the metadata of the photos so screen readers had something to look for when describing images. As I’ve learned with the most recent brochure we designed, it is much more involved.

For over 20 years, Studio Red Design have brought our full suite of graphic design services to help many schools evolve their brands and media, from inception through to those of mature and well-established schools. Studio Red Design has experience working on materials geared to the many different audiences that matter to you— to parents current and past, friends and donors to the school— as well as internal communications geared towards students and their family. We help design your targeted personalized direct marketing as well broader mailings of oversized postcards or larger saddle-stitch and perfect bound publications. We also understand the importance of special fund raising materials, such as when there is a capital campaign or other significant event. Finally, we have a wealth of experience in helping design content to celebrate anniversaries or other important events, to stay connected and help your school stay relevant.

Studio Red Design recently collaborated with Rebecca Drobis and Philly Reps on a promotional self-mailer. The goal of the mailer was to promote Rebecca’s gorgeous photographs of female farmers, while providing a memorable and unique opening experience that would stay with the recipient. We settled on a modified iron-cross fold that would aid in effectively providing pride of place for the striking images while keeping the enclosed over-sized seed packet nestled safely in the center.

As our planet faces an array of environmental challenges, Earth Day serves as a yearly reminder of the importance of preserving and protecting the Earth's natural resources. Observed annually on April 22nd, Earth Day is a global event that brings people together from all walks of life to celebrate our planet and raise awareness about the critical environmental issues we face.

Earth Day is growing to Earth week, and hopefully soon to Earth month and every day….

Caring for our world is crucial. From vermiculture and composting, to organic backyard farming and solar panels, we are trying to do our part to reduce our environmental footprint.

As an antidote to our busy life, join this monthly yin practice. Known as “The Quiet Practice,” this restorative flow consists of prop-intensive floor-based postures to promote full body listening and letting go of held mental and physical tensions. While staying present in the body and posture, healing sounds will be added (ocean drum, singing bowls, chimes….) to cultivate a therapuetic calm in body and mind.

I have taken this workshop twice (once with each of my twin girls) and think every woman should take this class. JTR Jujustu has lots of class offerings from knowledgable male and female instructors. I can not recommend this enough. I gave this course as a gift to myself and my twin teen girls as an act of self care and self love.

What fun it was for us to partner with this local artist: Mame N'Diaye. We created a series of three coloring books that highlight her magical drawings. Mame was a featured artist at the 2023 Capital Art Book Fair.

I am excited to announce that I will be teaching yoga at the beautiful, and nearby, studio: Well and Wonder. Please come join me if you can for a Yummy vinyasa flow Saturday mornings and a Yin with Sound Bath one Sunday evening a month.!

We love to celebrate love!

From modern to traditional, it’s been an honor for us to design wedding invitations. We welcome the opportunity to deeply listen to the wishes of the celebrated union, and do what we can to translate that into a visual form.

As an act of self-love and self-care, I treated myself to a sound bath training immersion with Susan Mondi Bowen at her beautiful space at Thrive Yoga in Rockville Maryland in January. Sound baths can help you achieve deeper states of relaxation, which can lead to better sleep, reduced stress levels, and improved moods.