Downtown Texas Corners Mac and Cheese Bake-Off

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In Kalamazoo, the people yearn for mac and cheese. I mean it is the Midwest after all.

Since 2023, I’ve created a pop art focused aesthetic for the event.

Barrow & Co. Creative took this client after they reached out to us for help in reviving the event after the COVID-19 pandemic. They had a limited set of assets since the event was inactive for a time.

So I went downtown and took photos of iconic buildings like the steeple, signs, and hand-modeled some of the mac and cheese.

I decided to create a pop art direction for this event because I wanted the return of this event to be bold and larger than life. To me pop art is turning normal every day things like into a work of art and something bigger than itself. Since we have taken on this client, the event increases in size every year and it has been such a joy to watch Downtown Texas Corners packed with people every October.

Art direction, Photography, Videography

Downtown Kalamazoo Chili Cook-Off

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The Chili Cook-Off is a free Downtown Kalamazoo event held every January. For 21 years, the small businesses in Downtown Kalamazoo have competed for Best Restaurant, Best Retail, Judges' Choice, and People's Choice. It is a great event that brings a lot of business during the winter.

I wanted to play with warm versus cool colors for these graphics to reflect the warm chili enjoyed on a cold winter day. To make the graphics cozy and family-friendly, I use a lot of illustrations like the sunbursts and collages that feature the smiling faces that fill the streets of Kalamazoo. Like you are looking through a scrapbook.

This year we introduced "En Fuego" (On fire) participants, these allowed businesses to opt in more social media features like extra posts and featured reels. Our client directed us to not to have "En Fuego" on the posts. For businesses like Factory Coffee and Crafted Copper who participated, I created new assets with flames and focused primarily on a warm color palette.