All posts by topbean

We partnered with Seattle Restored to redesign their website so that it better supports their work in revitalizing Seattle neighborhoods with creativity and commerce. Their website is a way to connect consumers with program participants, to engage with property owners, and to foster new program participation.

Interact and scroll with the live website above

Seattle Restored partners with small businesses and creative entrepreneurs to transform vacant storefronts into vibrant community spaces. These projects benefit Seattle neighborhoods by creating engaging streetscapes, while encouraging the public to support local businesses and artists – particularly historically underrepresented groups.

We collaborated with Carkeek Studios to build a custom WordPress theme that incorporates Seattle Restored’s brand elements into a new look and feel for the website. Our custom WordPress themes allow our clients to have complete control over website content so they can manage updates post launch.

Specific goals to the user interface included designing a more visual way of displaying current and archived businesses and program participants. The Explore Locations map plots participants in their location throughout Seattle and provides filters as a way to sort search results.

The website design sources brand elements that include a vibrant color palette, stacking geometric shapes and different color combinations of their logo.

This custom WordPress website is responsive for different screen sizes. We incorporated the WordPress block editor, allowing for flexible page layouts and templates that surface current and relevant content, like the home page.

The project also made improvements to website accessibility, language translations, intake forms for program applicants, and news and events posts.

Above: Teasing out shapes that can be used as patterns in WordPress blocks.

Since launching in 2021, Seattle Restored has transformed over 75 vacant storefronts into vibrant pop-up shops, window art installations, and artist residencies. By activating these spaces, the program has boosted local business sales, increased foot traffic, and contributed to beautification and safety in these areas. For participating artists and small businesses, Seattle Restored offers a vital platform to grow their customer base and expand their inventory and teams. This support has enabled many to thrive, turning short-term opportunities into lasting success and fostering a more diverse and dynamic local economy.

Visit the website ›

---

Explore more projects ›

The Washington Mountain Rescue Association (WAMRA) represents the eleven Mountain Rescue teams across Washington state. In addition to being a member of Everett Mountain Rescue, I’ve been fortunate to partner with WAMRA teams on print projects and custom illustration to support their missions of bringing people home safely from the wilderness.

Custom Illustration & Swag

In 2024, we designed custom swag including a t-shirt, hoody and sun shirt, for the WAMRA Winter Reaccreditation, a statewide event where Washington Mountain Rescue teams were graded on their avalanche response and rescue capabilities.

The custom illustration includes typical winter avalanche rescue equipment including a subject litter, avalanche probe, transceiver, shovel, radio, first aid kit, snowshoes and skis.

---

---

Explore more projects ›

Haylee and Ryan Mensonides started a dairy farm with a goal of someday being able to connect with their community by offering hand crafted, locally produced and high quality fresh products. Mount Rainier Creamery (MRC) is the culmination of years of dedication and passion in supporting communities that thrive on their own strengths. 

They partnered with us to create a logo for the creamery and market that would help promote their dream of bringing quality products closer to the consumer.

---

Explore more projects ›

The Enterprise Digital Growth Ecosystem (EDGE) Cluster is dedicated to maintaining Washington State’s position as a global leader and innovator in business and technology. By fostering collaboration among industry, academia, and civic leaders, EDGE strengthens communities and creates jobs for the future. It provides access to edge and 5G computing across key sectors, including agriculture, advanced manufacturing, logistics, education, and healthcare.

We were hired by EDGE to develop a visual identity for the organization which included a logo, a primary color palette, preferred typefaces, additional graphical elements and usage guidelines for all visual assets that were organized into a comprehensive brand guide.

The logo blends typography with a symbol that embodies 5G and edge computing—concepts that were relatively unexplored in terms of iconography. It was essential for the logo’s tone and voice to resonate with mid-sized businesses, conveying themes of technology, connectivity, partnerships, innovation, diversity, accessibility, progress, curiosity, and sincerity.

We collaborated with Carkeek Studios to create a new website for EDGE, enabling us to further develop their visual identity and enhance brand engagement with their audience.

The web design and development process features a custom WordPress theme that reflects the new brand identity. The website positions EDGE as a leader in 5G and edge computing technology, providing insights into their organizational goals, portfolio, and processes. The custom theme incorporates a streamlined navigation system and flexible page layouts that prioritize key content, ensuring a responsive design that looks great on all devices.

Visit the website ›

---

Explore more projects ›

Little Water Cantina is a locally owned, scratch Mexican restaurant in Eastlake, Seattle. You can enjoy views of Lake Union and the Olympic mountain range from their west facing covered and heated patio while sipping craft cocktails and enjoying food that is frequently cited as “Best Mexican” and “Best Outdoor Dining.” 

Interact and scroll with the live website below

---

Explore more projects ›

Located in Washington’s Skagit Valley, Boldly Grown Farm is passionate about providing healthy, high-quality, organic produce. Through hard work and innovation, they grow food efficiently and sustainably while supporting their family and serving the needs of their local community and the broader Pacific Northwest.

We partnered with the Boldly Grown farm and business team to develop a visual identity that would support their growing farm business and promote their brand to a growing customer base. The logo depicts a view of the fertile Skagit Valley, looking east towards the Cascades. A view that can be seen from many vantage points at the farm.

As part of the branding package, we identified a primary color palette as well as preferred fonts and collected this information along with logo usage guidelines into a comprehensive brand guide. Variations of the logo were created to support different platforms across social media, digital and print.

We expanded Boldly Grown’s visual identity by collaborating with Carkeek Studios to design and develop a new website that showcases their winter CSA program, year-round farm stand, and wholesale operations. Throughout the redesign process, we enhanced their visual identity, fostering a deeper brand engagement with their audience.

Interact and scroll with the live website below

We applied the new visual identity to other marketing and outreach materials including single panel brochures, business cards, packaging, advertisements and merch.

---

Explore more projects ›

The Northwest Weather and Avalanche Center (NWAC) is a non-profit weather forecasting center focusing primarily on weather conditions that can lead to avalanches in the Pacific Northwest. Its twice daily forecasts are a critical resource for recreational and professional users of mountains in the Pacific Northwest.

In 2023, we created swag to help support NWACs membership drive including a trucker hat, tshirt and sweatshirt.

All images except lower left courtesy of NWAC.

Two concepts were submitted for the tshirt and sweatshirt, internally identified as “Tools of the Trade” and “Snow Science”. “The first “Tools of the Trade,” is a grid of nine different tools that a NWAC forecaster or a recreationists might bring with them on a winter snow tour. The second, “Snow Science” was ultimately chosen and is also a grid of grains of snow if various states of decomposition/metamorphosis.

---

Explore more projects ›

Carkeek Studios and Beans n’ Rice partnered to design and develop a series of websites that work to sustain a healthy democracy by engaging with women voters as well as key partners across the country in an effort to support an America that works for everyone. 

We were initially contracted to build two websites, Galvanize USA and Galvanize Action, that live under the same brand umbrella but promote unique messaging. Following the launch of these sites, we were hired to develop a third website, The Arts & Science Persuasion Playbook. Although they appeal to different audiences, these organizations are affiliated. So the websites needed to be autonomous while at the same time making it clear that that they are related. A fourth website was launched in 2024, Galvanize Together, rounding out this series of websites.

---

Galvanize USA

Galvanize USA is a non-partisan resource that conducts research, provides issue education, and supports women to use their civic power to create an America that works for everyone.

Interact and scroll with the live website below

---

Galvanize Action

Galvanize Action appeals to an audience who is interested in taking action. Their mission is to identify, reach, and move moderate women in battleground states to reliably vote for progress. This site positions them as experts and provides space to share data and materials and form partnerships.

Interact and scroll with the live website below

Both websites shared similar goals in growing supporters via sign-ups, contact forms and donations and connecting with their audiences via blog posts and news updates. We helped source photography that is representative of their diverse audience of women.

---

The Art and Science of Persuasion Playbook

Our partnership with Galvanize resulted in an efficient launch of two websites within a year and spurred a third website, The Art and Science of Persuasion Playbook. The Playbook is a digital toolkit for ally organizations to use in their efforts to combat disinformation and advance progress on a range of issues. It engages users more through interaction rather than storytelling and provides a baseline of content like neuroscience concepts, videos and ads organized by topics that most people can see. Email sign up prompts unlock users to log in to reveal more content while collecting stats. 

Interact and scroll with the live website below

The navigation is organized into two menus to let people find content a number of different ways. Branding elements were borrowed from the other two sites but designed so that the Playbook looks unique and not simply a third iteration of the original sites. Flexible page templates support content that’s generated by third party apps that are seamlessly integrated by in-house staff.
A certain amount of content is generated from partners and this content is displayed using third party brand elements to distinguish it from the site while maintaining an integrated look and feel.

---

Galvanize Together

Galvanize Together is a digital program designed to boost, connect, and inspire women from all over the United States through prompts and topics that inspire optimistic and open dialogue.

Interact and scroll with the live website below

All four websites were built with a custom WordPress theme that allow for easy in-house updates.

Developed by: Carkeek Studios

---

Explore more projects ›

Local Hens helps small farms across the US promote their home-grown goods to an online market. It is a place where consumers can find fresh food straight from their local farm stands, outdoor markets, CSAs, and restaurants.

Local Hens commissioned me to design an egg carton marketed to small farms and egg producers who want to promote their products but don’t want to spend lots of money on custom packaging of their own. The packaging needed to stand out in the dairy aisle when stacked alongside other egg cartons. This inspired farm and food themed custom illustration which helps to makes the design one of a kind.

Local farms who use the carton need space on the exterior of the egg carton where they can feature their name. Blank space is strategically included in the design so that small farms can add their name and URL. A QR code loads a web page on Local Hen’s website where you can search for the name of the farm that sourced the eggs and learn more about them.

Local Hens promotes food growers and producers who grow and make things other than eggs, so we wanted the package to be inclusive of these different products. The inside of the carton talks more broadly of Local Hen’s mission and includes illustration of other types of farm grown and raised products.

---

Explore more projects ›

Tilth Alliance works in community with Washington farmers, gardeners and eaters to build a sustainable, healthy and equitable food future. I’ve been fortunate to maintain a longtime partnership with this non-profit that’s dedicated to building a better food future.

Tilth Alliance was created in 2016 from the merger of Tilth Producers, Cascade Harvest Coalition and Seattle Tilth. Their mission evolved along with the organization, however their website remained firmly planted in the 2000s. Working alongside Carkeek Studios, we were designed and developed a new website that promotes Tilth Alliance’s brand, tell their story, and supports their goal of building a better food future by engaging a larger online audience.

---

Custom Icons

We illustrated a set of farm and food icons to use on the website that would compliment text and photography when used in layouts, and be strategically used to highlight certain topics. Icons were prepared for print use as well so that the organization can get more mileage with them.

---

Explore more projects ›