Sheepless

I founded Sheepless in 2009 as a place to celebrate the inspiring small business owners I interact with everyday. We champion the Community Makers — small businesses who make our communities more sustainable, more accessible, more creative, and more fun. Through interviews and photographs, a series of video profiles, and providing resources and making connections, the project engages with a growing interest in cultivating local economies, understanding where goods come from, and nourishing our natural resources.

Focusing on the drive and personality of the mission-driven entrepreneur, Sheepless brings to light the similarities between one’s efforts to connect farmers with consumers, and another’s goal to provide educational resources to the underserved, or to support themselves through artistic and creative pursuits.

These pioneering activists and entrepreneurs are proving we can replace profit-driven corporate models with startups founded on convictions, without ignoring a very real bottom line. Self-sustaining businesses that create secure employment while having a positive social impact, and a small environmental one, are changing the world.

Visit Sheepless.org

Video produced by Scott Ballum. Shot and edited by Brian Hedden and Bryan Sykora. Music by the tUnE-yArDs.

Design: AMIBA.net

The American Independent Business Alliance is a nation-wide organization that works with city-based community groups to build local business alliances, offering fiscal sponsorship, operational insights, and marketing support.

They asked me to redesign their antiquated, text-heavy website to be a more navigable online resource for their 300+ members, serving over 14,000 local businesses nation-wide.

Pro-bono Website Design, 2010

Design: Housing Works

Housing Works is the nation's largest community-based AIDS service organization with housing, psychiatric, and medical outreach centers; it is also a true pioneer in social enterprise, creating over $12 million in revenue annually from seven thrift shops, a used bookstore, catering operations, work training at a print shop, and city-wide music and literary events. As the organization's inaugural Design Director, I created print, signage, and parade campaigns to increase participation, awareness, and donations.

Promotion Design, Print Design (Various projects created as Design Director of Housing Works, and as an independent contractor), 2006-2009

Design: The Art Directors Club

Since 2002, I've worked with the international Art Directors Club, the oldest membership organization of its kind, on over a dozen exhibition installations, numerous promotional materials, interactive kiosks and dvds, and the creative direction and design of three of the prestigious Art Directors Annuals.

Book Design, Interactive Design, Promotion Design, Exhibition Design (Various projects created as art director at ADC, as senior designer at C&G Partners, and as an independent contractor), 2002-2009