Brief Summary
Graphic Design for Nonprofits & Foundations
Branding, Print, Web, Illustration: logos, brochures, reports, maps, infographics
Black Graphics works with nonprofits to develop effective branding visuals, and communications via print and screen. I'll help you develop the right strategy to tell your story through engaging, visually distinctive graphic design. And we'll work closely with you, to identify the objectives of your project to deliver the right message in the best way.
Clients
FOUNDATIONS
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Blue Shield of California Foundation
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Stewardship Council
The PEW Charitable Trusts
NON-PROFITS
Action for Healthy Food
Alameda County Health Department
Appalachian Mountain Club
Arte Publico
Association of Infill Builders
Best Start LA
Better Futures
CBI
ChangeLab Solutions
ChildFirst
Community Economics, Inc.
Contra Costa County
Conservation Land Group
Conservation Law Foundation
Eastern Forest Partnership
Engineering & Utility Contractors Association (EUCA)
Fakhoora.org
Fiesta de Artes
Goldman Environmental Prize
Greenbelt Alliance
Green House Project
GreenInfo Network
Guttmacher Institute
Kiwanis Club of Los Gatos
LA Partnership
Highlands Coalition
Map the Vote
Marin City
Marin Jewish Community Center
Monterey Pines Forest Watch
Music at Meyer
Natural Heritage Institute
NorthwestSEED
Old First Concerts
Open Space Council
PCL
Public Health Institute
Public Health Law & Policy
Saving Our Sons
Scottish Cultural & Arts Foundation
Sempervirens Fund
Sierra Watch
SPUR
TLC Foundation
Welcome Baby
WRA (previously LAWFUND)
MID- & LARGE-SIZED BUSINESSES
Backflip
Bank of America
ConnectEd
Creative Labs
DHL
Fenton
Food.com
Genomics Collaborative Inc.
Greenwich Associates
Knowledgetrack
Javasoft
Nexprise
oCen
Rabin Martin
Segasoft
Spitfire Strategies
Storageway
Supplybase
TechHarmonic
Xuma
SMALL BUSINESSES
Breslin Strategies Inc
Digital Justice
Edinburgh Castle Pub
InfoUse
Kennedy Events
Maria Marchetti Estates
Mike Tekulsky Productions
Mission Communications
New Albion Records
Nicole Nedeff
Old Chelsea Fish & Chips
Patter Merchant
Public House Press
Verdura
Wonder for Good
Professional Experience
Karen Parry
Principal
Directly following her studies at the Queensland College of Art in Brisbane, Australia, Karen worked as a photographer and photography teacher until she moved to Berlin, Germany in 1988. While dodging the Iron Curtain's falling rubble, she held the position of Art Director for the English-language magazine The Edge. After The Wall succumbed, she became Art Director for the berliner.
In 1991 she escaped the cold winters and a bankrupt Berlin economy and moved to then recession-plagued San Francisco. Through the early 1990s, Karen designed a variety of branding and print materials: logos, brochures, music CD packaging, book covers, event fliers, manuals, user guides and catalogs. Her clients included Pacific Bell, Bank of America, New Albion Records, and the Scottish Cultural & Arts Foundation. She also briefly taught Composition and Design in the Photography department of the institution now known as Academy of Art University.
Having pursued studies in Interface Design and Instructional Design at the SFSU Extension – and also having participated in their Artists-in-Residence Program – in 1996, she made a hard left turn straight into the craziness of Web 1.0. It was the early, fast-paced years of the Internet. For the next five, almost sleepless, years, she designed sites for clients such as Food.com, Bank of America (various intranet and internet), SegaSoft (HEAT), Esilicon.com, DHL, Creative Labs (The Press Room), JavaSoft (Developers' Conference, Face to Face), Xuma Technologies, APBiotech, PG&E ES, Pacific Bell (various atHand subsites – Playbill, Waterskiing World, Windsurfing Magazine, Hollywood Reporter, Siskel), NASA (math lessons for disabled children). During this period she also subcontracted at Web agencies Interbrand, Ikonic/USWeb and Agency.com.
In 2000, she repositioned Black Graphics so she could apply her extensive design knowledge and experience in print, branding and Web to the nonprofit and public-interest sectors. In 2008, Karen relocated Black Graphics from San Francisco to New York.
Her work has won numerous awards and been published in a variety of design books and magazines. She is a member of the TDC (Type Directors Club) and ATypI (Association Typographique Internationale), and past member of AIGA, and ADC (Art Directors Club).
She has also taught composition, typography and design classes at the Academy of Art University (San Francisco) and Noble Desktop (New York).
Awards and Recognition
CHANGELAB SOLUTIONS | LICENSING & ZONING
American Graphic Design Award from Graphic Design USA, 2013
CHANGELAB SOLUTIONS | FROM THE GROUND UP
American Graphic Design Award from Graphic Design USA, 2013
CHANGELAB SOLUTIONS | CLIMATE CHANGE FACTSHEETS
American Graphic Design Award from Graphic Design USA, 2012
PUBLIC HEALTH LAW & POLICY | SUGAR-SWEETENED BEVERAGES REPORT
American Graphic Design Award from Graphic Design USA, 2011
LA PARTNERSHIP FOR EARLY CHILDHOOD LOGO
American Graphic Design Award from Graphic Design USA, 2011
FAKHOORA.ORG LOGO
American Graphic Design Award for Excellence in Communication from Graphic Design USA, 2010
FENTON | COMMUNICATIONS CLEANTECH BROCHURE
American Graphic Design Award for Excellence in Communication from Graphic Design USA, 2009
VISUAL LANGUAGE FOR DESIGNERS: PRINCIPLES FOR CREATING GRAPHICS THAT PEOPLE UNDERSTAND
Map work featured, Rockport Publishers, 2009
EDINBURGH CASTLE LOGO
LogoLounge Volume 4, Published 2008
EASTERN FOREST PARTNERSHIP FISCAL YEAR 2007 OPEN SPACE FOR AMERICA BROCHURE
American Graphic Design Award for Excellence in Communication from Graphic Design USA, 2007
GREENBELT ALLIANCE SMART GROWTH SCORECARD
Education Project Award, from American Planning Association, 2007
STEWARDSHIP COUNCIL LOGO
American Graphic Design Award for Excellence in Communication, from Graphic Design USA, 2006
PUBLIC HEALTH LAW PROGRAM LEGAL PREPAREDNESS PROGRAM
American Graphic Design Award for Excellence in Communication, from Graphic Design USA, 2006
ALHAMBRA FOLDUP MAP
First Place, California Association of Resource Conservation Districts, Poster Competition, 2004
ALHAMBRA FOLDUP MAP
Second Place, People's Choice Award, at CalGIS Conference, 2004
EDINBURGH CASTLE LOGO
Featured in article "Designing Logos for a Multimedia World," by Margaret Richardson 2004, Publish Magazine & reprinted on CreativePro.com
EASTERN FOREST PARTNERSHIP VISION BROCHURE
American Graphic Design Award for Excellence in Communication, from Graphic Design USA, 2003
EASTERN FOREST PARTNERSHIP FISCAL YEAR 2003 BROCHURE
American Graphic Design Award for Excellence in Communication, from Graphic Design USA, 2003
HIGHLANDS COALITION VISION BOOKLET
American Graphic Design Award for Excellence in Communication, from Graphic Design USA, 2003
VARIOUS
Feature article in Publish Magazine, May 1998
OLD CHELSEA MENU
First Place in the 1997 Publish Design of the Year Awards in the Other Category, published in Publish Magazine, May 1997
VARIOUS
Work published in Cyber Design: Illustration as an example of outstanding computer-generated illustration, Rockport Publishers, 1996
BOOK BURNING
Second Prize in the IRIS/MicroPublishing Digital Fine Art Competition, exhibited at Seybold, September 1993