The Costume Institute

A collection of postcards for speculative exhibits at the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum in NYC. Retrospective exhibits at the Costume Institute often include film and theatrical costumes, in addition to meticulously preserved historical pieces.

Design and concept focused on each pieces potential to be incorporated in both print and web campaigns and its poster/postcard sale viability, while retaining the cohesive creative unity necessary for season-long campaigns.

Tako Kids

Hand-crafted by d.s.lookkin, Tako Kids are “imaginative, radically simple toys for children.” In addition to being absolutely adorable and wildly successful with children, they are used in classrooms to discuss ideas of gender and race. Tako Kids is now carried at the Queens Museum of Art. These are my designs for 4″ x 6″ postcards/fliers.

d.s.lookkin

Urban, chic, and handmade, d.s.lookkin features adorable clothing and accessories. This blossoming line was called “Down-home Brooklyn edge…cool and damn cute,” by art/design collective Artists & Fleas. I was lucky enough to design a series of 4″ x 6″ cards for these gorgeous items.

Rose + Thorn

Rose + Thorn is a speculative, pro-biotics luxury beauty brand, which provides high-quality, botanical-based products, attractive to both professional makeup artists and retail consumers. Identity and design elements were inspired by the glamorous icons of film noir and late ‘60s French cinema, as well as cult horror flick The Wicker Man (1973). This project included image editing.

The Pink Patch

The Pink Patch is an all-natural diet patch that addresses basic health and beauty needs for women ages 18-25. Using a unique botanical and herbal blend, the Pink Patch helps maintain diet and exercise, allowing users to keep pace with frenzied daily life without sacrificing health and weight loss goals. This project included creative development and brand identity.

My work on the Pink Patch increased company revenue by 40 – 50%.

A speculative concept for a 20 year retrospective of black fashion designers and trends, presented by Essence Magazine.

Midsummer Arts Festival

Postcards and posters for the Midsummer Arts Festival. Running for 15 years, the annual festival is held in the Hudson Valley, and features a variety of performances and activities. Concepts developed with the festival’s director focused on attracting NYC-dwellers to a light vacation, a creative excursion that was child-friendly and affordable.

Living Installation

The latest project from artist Michael Alan, the Living Installation is unique blend of installation and public art. I designed print advertising materials for this event. At left are various posters and postcards – several were reproduced for web promotion as well.

Prom series

In progress series for prom dress print ads. More soon!

Sugarbeet | pretty scraps

Sugarbeet: pretty scraps is my personal blog; a collection of my design influences and inspirations. It’s predominantly image-based, and serves as an online reference for myself and others.

Tim Roda

Tim Roda is an NYC-based photographer whose work has appeared in Art in America, Modern Painters, and ArtForum. He’s represented by no less than 6 galleries in 5 cities: NYC, Seattle, Berlin, Hamburg and Toronto. A 2008 Fulbright Scholar, he has pieces in a number of permanent collections as well, including the Essl Collection in Austria and the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago. It was great pleasure to design his professional website.

UM Project

in collaboration w/ François Chambard

UM Project is “a furniture design company. We are inspired by old-world ateliers and fully embrace the digital world.” Beautiful custom designs, as well as collections for Calvin Klein, among others.

Michael Alan

The professional website for NYC artist Michael Alan. He and I have collaborated on numerous projects, and as his career expanded, the time came for a new website design. Retaining only the navigation layout, I gave it a sleek, new look. This project included image editing (color adjustment to accurately represent artwork) and file prep.

Eleonora DivaTraining

Coming soon!

Profile

I love strong typography, sharp layouts and the flawless marriage of design and subject.

I make clean, elegant graphic design and bright, evocative identity materials for print and online media. For the past 5 years, I’ve created identity and promotional materials for the Art, Fashion and Media markets. I also do small print and web design for artists and writers. I have a keen understanding of brand identity and campaign consistency.

Please email me at nora.mckelvey@gmail.com if I seem like a good fit for your project or company. If you have the time, check out my blog, Sugarbeet, to get a good idea of my influences and inspirations.

★ Featured in

LxL Arts Series

My short art film, The Displayed Window, was featured with other art shorts at the LxL (Local by Local) Arts Series on 3/20/11, at Brooklyn Bowl. LxL is a monthly festival that celebrates Brooklyn’s best music, art, and media. (Thank you Eastern District!)

⇑ top