• Work
  • About
  • Contact
Derrick Kempf
  • Work
  • About
  • Contact

Technically Magazine

When Insight decided to venture into new forms of digital content, the idea to publish a magazine that focused on technology seemed like a perfect fit. Technically Magazine is the result of that and provides comprehensive content to help you build a smarter business. I art directed and designed the entire brand from the logo to the publication and the original landing page (since updated).

The objective was to define a brand that would fit in the world of tech blogs and current news, maintain only some elements from Insight, but create a unique look and feel, and use it as a tool to inform readers of today's top technology related stories.

Cartel Cold Brew Identity

I was approached by my friends at Cartel to work with them again on designing an identity system for their cold brew coffee offerings. The problem was the lack of brand awareness for such a popular drink. For consumers, there was no way to tell what kind of cold brew is being served, or explain the quality. As was said, "We're proud of it, but we can't show it." This created a gap, and also an opportunity to apply a visual identity to make this marketable and communicate distinction.

The solution was a system of badges that contained custom lettering to differentiate each type of color brew (the most important being their Black Market), a keg collar for the wholesale customers, in-store window displays, vehicle graphics, growlers, and printed collateral. Long term, this would give the Black Market cold brew the marketability to be bottled and sold in other places as well.

I had the opportunity to work with Alex Leiphart, a very talented designer, on executing some of the pieces after the identity was established.

*Some product images copyright Cartel Coffee Lab Instagram and used with permission.

Fox Restaurant Concepts

A selection of work done in house for Fox Restaurant Concepts.

The gift card campaign was initiated to bring awareness to the availability of purchasing FRC gift cards year round. Spring and summer time can get overlooked as the holidays attract the most attention for gift card giving. We wanted to remind people of the many occasions that are perfect during this time. And anyway, who wouldn't want to receive a gift card that allows you to eat at any of their fifteen restaurant concepts?

The Tucson hiring campaign utilized existing brand standards for FRC and added a fresh approach to make clear what they were looking for... chef's and managers.

Culinary Dropout Live Music Campaign

Culinary Dropout has always made live music a part of their unique, rebel atmosphere. Although, it may not have always been clear when bands were performing. So, the goal of this campaign was to make sure that people knew they were jammin' with live bands every week. I proposed concepts that had familiar music lettering, memorable imagery and to be easy to know when and where this was all happening.

Culinary Dropout Environment

As part of the new Culinary Dropout opening at The Farmer Arts District in Tempe, I worked on the creative for murals and signage that would accompany the brand in the environment. I designed retro posters that were painted in the gaming area, unique way-finding signage in the main hallway, a beer wall sign highlighting their favorites on tap, and a larger than life mural of favorite rockers. The musician mural was a collaboration between myself, Claire Cunningham, David Fox, and the talents of Signs By Kurt.

Blanco Summer Promo

Spanglish. An authentically Southwest form of communication. For Blanco Tacos + Tequila I thought it was a perfect way to inform guests of extended hours of happy. Along with Blanco's happy hour, I used a similar type treatment and visual language for the tequila tasting dinners design. Bueno.

GoDaddy

Some of the department logos were lacking in character and suffered from inconsistent branding elements. So, I made the effort to rectify this by limiting color palettes, minimizing font usage and simplifying the design.

The Daily Planet, GoDaddy’s intranet blog, used an outdated theme which was barely making it through. There wasn't much conversation happening on there either. Sad facts, considering this was supposed to be a tool for the employees to be up to date on all things GoDaddy. In my role I dug deep and customized the theme from top to bottom with a header identity, consistent fonts and colors, visual hierarchy, defined navigation and even made room for a little "Easter egg" in the footer. As a result, the activity on the blog nearly doubled the first week live and the conversation in the comments went from almost zero to double digit comments on almost every post thereafter.

I also created posters and shirt designs illustrating their five core values to remind everyone what fosters success.

Designed while employed with GoDaddy. ©2013 GoDaddy Operating Company, LLC. Third party trademarks are registered trademarks of their respective owners. All Rights Reserved.

Cartel Coffee Lab

I have had the opportunity to work with a truly great local, small business that is no longer all that small. Cartel Coffee Lab has expanded by leaps and bounds and just as they were opening a location in the airport and re-opening their Tucson location they asked me to design to-go cups that would clearly be their own. The goal was to design something that would accurately communicate their attitude, values of coffee perfection, and highlight the process involved in bringing coffee from the tree to the cup. Along with the coffee cups came the T-shirt, store-front window displays and most recently, the holiday promotional tins that were roasted, measured and packaged for their primary brewing methods.

 

Little Sparrow Farm

Little Sparrow Farm is a micro farm in Ballston Spa, NY that grows good stuff and sells it locally. It just so happens to be a run by my sister, who needed an identity to separate herself from the pack of hungry farmer’s market vendors that show up to the market to sell their produce. I took this as an opportunity to create a happy, playful identity that would be bright and colorful just like my sister.

 

Parsons Foundation

Bob Parsons, the founder of Go Daddy, and his wife formed a new foundation to inspire hope. I used a flower to function as a strong symbol that could feel at home amongst donors and recipients alike. I extended this across website and social networks to create a cohesive look and feel.

Designed while employed with GoDaddy. ©2013 GoDaddy Operating Company, LLC. Third party trademarks are registered trademarks of their respective owners. All Rights Reserved.

Various Logos

A collection of logo work I've created throughout the years.

Ping Pong Posters

Barrio Works

I designed the identity for Barrio Works, which has been working with youth in downtown Phoenix (as a program of Neighborhood Ministries) to teach the skills of bicycle maintenance and repair, and help get a bicycle to any youth willing to work for one. They now have an online marketplace to buy custom cruisers that are all hand made onsite.

Neighborhood Ministries

Neighborhood Ministries serves distressed families in urban Phoenix and has been doing so for the past 25+ years. I’ve been working with them since 2005 in many areas of service, one of which being design. I have contributed my time creating T-shirt graphics for their annual Kids Club, art directed and designed their 25 year anniversary book, and developed a full identity redesign with proper brand guidelines to follow.

 

Desert's Sand

Desert’s Sand Cat litter is a revolutionary new brand of cat litter that is eco-friendly, safe and non-tracking. I was responsible for designing the complete identity, packaging and website.

Designed while employed with Go Daddy. ©2013 GoDaddy Operating Company, LLC. Third party trademarks are registered trademarks of their respective owners. All Rights Reserved.

Pedal Craft

This is a poster that I designed for Pedal Craft poster art show in 2012.

Various Illustration

A few personal and commercial illustrations over the years.

Technically Magazine

— view —

Technically_Thumb.jpg

Cartel Cold Brew Identity

— view —

Cartel_Instagam_ColdBrew_Growlers.jpg

Fox Restaurant Concepts

— view —

FRC_Thumb.jpg

Culinary Dropout Live Music Campaign

— view —

CDO_LiveMusic_7th_Billboard.jpg

Culinary Dropout Environment

— view —

CDO_Tempe_Mural_2.jpg

Blanco Summer Promo

— view —

BLA_Summer2015_HH_500x500.jpg

GoDaddy

— view —

GoDaddy_thumb.jpg

Cartel Coffee Lab

— view —

Cartel_CupsLineup.jpg

Little Sparrow Farm

— view —

little-sparrow_thumb.jpg

Parsons Foundation

— view —

ParsonsFound_Signage_Interior_Detail.jpg

Various Logos

— view —

LionSend_Logo.jpg

Ping Pong Posters

— view —

pong-thumb.jpg

Barrio Works

— view —

barrio-works_key-fob.jpg

Neighborhood Ministries

— view —

nm_thumb1.jpg

Desert's Sand

— view —

deserts-sand_thumb1.jpg

Pedal Craft

— view —

pedalcraft-thumb.jpg

Various Illustration

— view —

thelook.jpg

Designer / Illustrator