Blog.CampSteve - Experiences in art and entrepreneurship by Steve Lowtwait.

Reinventing the Real Estate Flyer - Part 2.5

I recently posted my second innovative real estate flyer design which was created to sell a single luxury penthouse. It was designed to maximize a connection to the lavish lifestyle through typography, iconography and textures. 

The design below is a supplementary flyer for high-end buyers who may be interested in comparable luxury lofts. The idea is for the realtor to keep their name in mind for multiple properties. Selling homes is about finding the right place for buyers, even if it's not the primary property the realtor is presenting.

Realtors, if you're interested in an innovative flyer design of your own, let me know.

Reinventing the Real Estate Flyer - Part 2

A real estate flyer is an advertisement. It needs to have specific marketing language and aesthetics in order to be effective. Most standard flyers ignore the importance of design in marketing.

This design is for a single property, a high-end penthouse priced in the millions. With that in mind, I approached it with a sense of elegance and modernism. To appeal to the sophisticated buyer, I used textures of fine linen and leather, ornamental elements and slick modern shapes. Wealthy buyers have taste, which is why design matters so much in how the property is presented.

This is my second innovative real estate flyer. The first, in a more progressive illustrated style for Mod Boulder, can be viewed here.

The idea with both flyers is to use typography and iconography to relay information that is commonly presented in small lists or paragraphs. There is key information that buyers want to know first about a property. Photos play an important role, as does realtor contact info as a "call to action".

Great flyer design is about giving a visual hierarchy to the information while telling a story about what life would be like living in the home.

Realtors, if you're interested in an innovative flyer design of your own, let me know.

Illustrated Colorado Themed Snacks

I illustrated 22 snack labels for Rocky Mountain Treats. Each snack flavor is named after a Colorado location or theme, and the snacks are sold at statewide King Soopers stores, a large grocery chain.

Here are four of the designs and below, a shot of the store display. You can browse more of the entire series in my illustration gallery here and here.

It's a lot of fun seeing my art in the stores and on the final products. I enjoy buying them as gifts for out-of-towners as a way to share my home-state pride.

Business Cards Designed To Increase Website Visitors

I asked myself, "How can I get more people to visit my website by handing them a business card?" Sure my cards always looked great - I'm a designer after all. Design quality makes a big difference but it doesn't necessarily mean people will type my site into their browsers.

I decided I needed a stronger call-to-action. That's fine for advertising, and while one can argue that a business card is an ad, I didn't want an overt, pushy message on my card. The hard sell isn't my style.

What I came up with was a whimsical design that compliments the tone of my website. CampSteve.com was created to reflect the experience of visiting a physical location, as if CampSteve itself was a grand natural park in the Rocky Mountains. The business card then acts a visitor pass, which is exactly how I designed it.

It includes a mock perforated edge like an entrance ticket. It reads: All-Access Multi-Day Pass. This card is fully transferable. Valid only at CampSteve.com. Not redeemable for cash.

The back of the card has the special call-to-action I desired. It reads: Go to CampSteve.com/card, enter your reservation code and enjoy your stay.

By designing the card as a visitor pass and setting the tone with humor, telling someone to specifically visit a web address does not sound so pushy. The idea is to engage people's imaginations and make them wonder about the "reservation code" that each card has.

When someone visits the page, CampSteve.com/card, they are asked to enter their code and choose a destination on my site - the homepage or the gallery. 

It may be adding an extra step which many designers and marketers would frown upon, but hopefully at this point people are already more engaged with the CampSteve brand and experience before they even get to exploring my site.

Not everyone with a card will visit my site this way, if they visit at all. However, this method has one great advantage - it makes business cards trackable! Through analytics, I can tell when people are going to this page and which of the options they choose. It's valuable feedback that on some level, the cards are working.

This is an experiment with not just business cards and visitor traffic, but with pushing my own creativity. Visit CampSteve here!

New Poster Series: Pearl Street Mall in Boulder, CO

As if I haven't created enough Boulder-themed artwork, here's more! These two pieces are the first in a series capturing the Pearl Street Mall in Boulder, a pedestrian street with shopping, dining, entertainment and more. Each of the eight posters in the series depicts a specific facet of the the downtown experience.

They are now available for purchase in the CampSteve Artwork Mercantile, my online poster shop. I will be releasing further pieces in the series over the coming months. Please join my email list for updates on new artwork, or subscribe here to the blog.

"Pearl St. Corner"
Through the summer of 2009, I co-owned a vendor cart on the Mall selling my artwork. The cart is no longer in operation, unfortunately, but is preserved here on this poster.

"Pearl Street Dining"

Grand Opening Sale: Boulder Falls Poster!

Yesterday I launched my online store, CampSteve's Artwork Mercantile.

Yesterday was also reopening of Boulder Falls, which has been closed for 16 months.  To celebrate one of my favorite spots in town, I am offering $10 off an 18x24 poster, now for only $20!  The Boulder Falls poster is one of my first artworks after moving to Boulder in 2002, and remains a favorite.  

Purchase the poster here.

You Can Now Shop For Travel Posters At CampSteve

You've been wanting an easier way to purchase my poster art and now I offer you CampSteve's Artwork Mercantile!  The doors just opened with a brand new design to help you browse and buy artwork.  Three sections help you look for what you need - Colorado Posters, Boulder Posters and Selected Posters (art not of Colorado or Boulder).

The new shop has an easy to use shopping cart and secure payments are processed through Authorize.net, a leader in online payments, so you know your transaction will be safe.  There are 41 posters in the shop, including 2 never before posted.

Browse posters at the Artwork Mercantile here!

Work in Progress: Real Estate Flyer Design

I've talked before about my innovative real estate flyer design.  My last one was more whimsical and modern.  This one, created for a luxury penthouse, is more classic and elegant.  Here's only a detail of the work in progress and I will post the finished design soon.

New Art: Happy Holidays in July

Every holiday season, the Boulder Chamber of Commerce lights up a star on Flagstaff Mountain above town. It is accompanied by distributing greeting cards featuring the star, which are designed by a different artist each year. They've previously been done by fine artists who've created traditional oil paintings of the star above Boulder. Since my style is more graphic, I of course took a much different approach. I hope it brings a fresh perspective of cheer to this holiday season.

The cards will be sold in multiple retail stores throughout Boulder. I will sell them at my Artwork Mercantile and I'll be offering poster prints as well.  It will be released closer to the holidays.  In the mean time, it's July and the days are hitting 90+ degrees.  I hope this new piece cools you off a bit.

New Poster: Climbing Pikes Peak on a Bicycle

The 'Assault on the Peak' is a cycling ride to the summit of Pikes Peak at an elevation of 14,110 feet. I designed this event poster that is being sold to the brave participants as a diploma of their achievement. 

The illustration conveys the great sense of scale one feels at such a high elevation. The landscape descends to the tree line, below the alpine forests and out to the great plains of eastern Colorado. Superimposed over the landscape is a map depicting the route as it climbs up the mountain. Riders often feel a connection to the route with memories of specific stretches or turns - or in this case, steep grades of climbing!

See more of my cycling and event posters in my gallery here.