Hellscape is a patio, pool and bar in Dallas… that’s actually just my back yard. Years ago a couple in Austin created branding and an Instagram for a bar called The Pink Canoe. It was styled like a vintage summer camp and I fell in love with the idea after realizing it was just their backyard bar. I loved the idea of creating a identity for a third place for myself and my friends. 

This branding, though it was just for me and for fun, went through a huge facelift right at the finish line. While I still love the original work, the current version is more true to me and my place.

The first iteration was moody, sharp and dramatic. I knew I wanted something hellacious and fiery so the name of the “bar” came pretty easily. Being in Texas the heat can be brutal on a typical yard so I wanted something that nodded at the climate of our great state but used it to lure folks in. This direction leaned heavily on custom cocktail imagery. I had planned on having “house draft cocktails” since my friends and I had go-to drinks we made every time we saw each other. 

I began this project at the beginning of my home-buying journey so I didn’t know what I’d have to work with but knew I’d need to build a little oasis.

I loved the way these graphics came out. I had a variety of shapes and sizes, added some smokey textures and I loved the bright redish-pink main color.  I was kinda cool and sexy like my favorite bars and felt like it had an established personality I could lean into with decor and landscaping… but then I actually closed on my house…

I found a dreamy little home in an adorable Oak Cliff neighborhood. And it had a pool! Crazy! I would have never in a million years thought I could have a pool. But the stars aligned and everything fell into place with this house.

It was clear to me that the first round of branding was a bit too moody. This back yard was already decked out to party and a sexy cocktail bar, it was not. This home was a friendly, bright, and inviting oasis in the middle of Dallas. So I pivoted and inspired by the cacti already planted in the back, I looked more at cantinas, canyons and the west for inspiration.

Following the trends of the time, I wanted a tombstone shaped element and I drew inspiration from two places in the home. From the LSU tiger painted on the outdoor dart board and the phone nook inside the house. I created a little collection of graphics and faux stickers and committed to a color scheme inspired by the original and what was already on the property. Overall I may like the sharpness of the original graphics but it was an unrealistically detailed set of images for a logo and while this branding is not terribly simple either, its for me, by me, and I am a bit of a maximalist anyway.

The first real test of the brand package was creating fake social media posts for a movie night party I was throwing in my back yard.

As if it is a real bar, I have also mocked up some merch and print materials. I already have the stickers in-hand but look forward to creating shirts, hats, and koozies for my fake patio bar.  I love the idea of folks seeing the shirt out in public and trying to google “Hellscape Bar Dallas” to no avail.

Pan Ector Industries has been slinging shirts since 2009 and their website was not much younger than that. It was time for a refresh and with the tools Squarespace provides we were about to bring some personality and more functionality to PEI’s website.

We tried to keep it feeling tactile by using textures and halftones often seen in screenprinting. This can be best seen in the icons and graphics scattered throughout the site.

Lastly, while SEO is getting buttoned up we also were able to snap photos from around the shop and DFW for our new products and old favs.

When I arrived at Square 205 I immediately began establishing updated brand guidlines including illustration style, new website design and lead the design of all print material and peripheral graphics for the agency.

When preparing to expand their capabilities beyond festival planning, the Fortress Presents team came to us to help them jump-start their website for Fortress Creative, a brand marketing agency. We began with a quick update to their branding then went with a grungy-rock-n-roll feel for the website itself.

We worked on the homepage primarily, treating it like a template for color, type, and textural assets. Then the client’s team could run with what we created and make it their own.

The original wireframes, based on inspiration and direction from the Fortress team, was followed pretty closely. This site was going to be built on WIX so we tried to keep things modular and as interchangeable as possible.

Lily of the Desert, an Aloe Vera Products company asked us to help them with their digital marketing. 

I cannot put this project in my portfolio without a giving due credit to the awesome team that did much of the heavy lifting on the Lily project. I acted as the Lead Designer to a team of designers/art directors and media producer.

After establishing Autoquip’s branding we were ready to rebuild their website. They had an outdated system that put them visually behind their competitors despite being a leader in the industry.
Because of the customizability of the product, there was a lot to cover on this site, so the UX designer and I worked closely from the beginning to make sure usability was the priority. While my focus was the look and feel of the project, the UX designer, Eric Cuellar has more about the organization and goals in his case study, here.

Because the inner pages were going to be quite dense we wanted the home page to be bolder and energetic and allow the real meat and potatoes to stay clean and organized. We used cues from the branding we had just finished to inspire the angles, color, and angular graphic transitions of these pages.

Now Hear This Fest is a partner of Podcast Movement. While Podcast Movement is for podcasters, Now Hear This is more for the fans of the podcasts. 

Now Hear This Fest's branding was already established when it came to us. They have 2 versions of a simple word mark and 5 brand colors that are all neon primary colors. 

2016 was the first year of Now Hear This Fest and the design was extremely simple with bold graphic shapes. In 2017 the conference was held in New York City so we got an opportunity to bring in some fun urban details. 

Our Dev team was able to make several pieces of the design glow like neon which was a fun and made the design of the site that much more New-York-y. 

This project started simply as an exorcise to create something from start to finish with hopes to work with manufacturers and local businesses to bring it to life. But in classic Helen fashion, it got out of hand quickly! Nevertheless, after some time I did finish the project, got to work with manufacturers and local businesses, AND successfully funded the project through Kickstarter.

I knew I wanted to make a bandana & pin set and when looking for inspiration I decided to go straight to the original source, The Nine Greek Muses.

Each set embodies the type of inspiration the Muse brings with her emblems, symbols, and motifs.

Big thanks to my friends and family who sat with me through multiple critiques and reviews and to Jen Meza for the final photos.

Click here to purchase!

Podcast Movement, a podcast conference for podcasters by podcasters, takes place in a new city every year. After working on the site for their 2016 website in Chicago we were excited to start the website for the 2017 event taking place in Anaheim California. 

Our original inspiration was the classic travel postcards with large type and fun textures. The entire homepage is one giant illustration from top to bottom with a fun beachy color scheme and bright contrast. 

This small series came from within the depths of the first Covid-19 lockdown in 2020. When the only way to get out of our homes was to take a walk, I wanted to bring a little extra positivity to my neighbors when they passed by. These 12x17 posters were screen printed by hand and meant to hang in the window facing out for all to see.

Printed by Pan Ector Ind.

The last in the series, “This will not blow over” was passed out to participants of a BLM march in Denton TX

This is a collection of illustrations and graphics made over the years for a variety of uses. Some are for print while some exist only in the digital realm.

Skyelight Coffee Co. is an up-and-coming nitro cold brew coffee company from Denton, Texas. The founders spotted a gap in the market for a coffee drink that could be enjoyed after a workout, like an energy drink. They created an all-natural Nitro Cold Brew unlike any other by combining flavors like Cherry and Vanilla that are naturally sweetened, energizing and refreshing. 

Both the mark and the namesake is inspired by the Isle of Skye, an island and iconic lighthouse in Scotland where the crisp cool air and hardworking lifestyle is refreshing and inspiring and where the co. founder's family is originally from. 

 

Before beginning the website in 2017, our client Autoquip needed a logo refresh. Autoquip is the leader in hydraulic lifts in the USA and around the world.

Above all, we saw the type as the aspect of the logo most in need of updating. We moved to a more modern typeface, un-italicized that was then slightly customized to fit their needs. 

We sketched several dozen logo options starting with working with the "A" in Autoquip then going more abstract. We wanted a mark that evoked leadership, upwards movement, and strength. 

Podcast Movement a podcast conference For Podcasters By Podcasters has been around since 2014. In 2015 we redesigned their 2016 website and the year after we were asked to update their logo for the 2017 event. 

It had been seen as too aggressive, too caucasian and far too complicated. I simplified the hand and microphone and gave it a container to live in that is a triangle like a play button. I also created a custom stencil-like type for their word mark.

I worked with a team to rebrand Digital Dallas a local group connecting DFW people, organizations, and ideas putting Dallas on the digital map.

We took their original mark and customized it to be their own. We wanted the mark to allude to the digital world so we made the surrounding container brackets. I then had bit of fun creating a photographic/graphic style that they can use for event graphics, social media and their branding in general.
 

This brand was created for Shaka and their digital publication then known as "The Break." Shaka's online store sells numerous items that have been donated. The proceeds from the purchases then go towards charities and those in need.  

I created the sporty shaka hand and custom wave like type for both the marks and The Break.

It's-A-Burger a local burger joint that prides themselves on keeping it simple. 

This mark was loosely based on their original logo. To bring their branding out of the world of baseball I warmed the color scheme and gave the entire mark a bit of texture. The typography is custom and can be separated from the burger mark to make the word mark.