DENNIS Uniform
After college I joined the in-house graphic design team at DENNIS, a 100-year-old school uniform company in Portland, Oregon. Over the next sixteen years I worked my way up to Design Manager and eventually Creative Director. In that role, I oversaw all aspects of the DENNIS brand ecosystem, helping to ensure that sales pitches, print collateral, the company’s e-commerce website, retail stores, and digital campaigns were on-brand. Over the years I was responsible for designing print layouts, digital marketing campaigns, web stores, product graphics, tagging and packaging, production artwork and design systems for the company’s decorations division. I designed and implemented signage solutions for retail stores, designed trade show display graphics, created multimedia presentations and custom branding for sales conferences. And through all of it, I collaborated with numerous team members: in-house creatives, product and sales executives, customer support, and outside contractors.
DENNIS Primary Identity, 2016. DENNIS’ first complete identity redesign in more than twenty years resulted in a friendlier, more memorable look. The “D” shield mark symbolized three things at once: a pocket, the expert stitching done in DENNIS’ Portland factory, and shield-style crests on school uniforms. Hypatia Sans was a dignified replacement for the old brand’s Trajan lettering. The primary brand colors, taupe gray and gold, carried over to keep a through line to DENNIS’ past.
DENNIS brand before-and-after comparison. Logo variants from 2000–2013, left; 2016 brand identity and variants, right.
DENNIS brand board. Variants enabled flexibility across the company’s brand applications, and to create custom, playful designs for product tags, labels, and packaging.
DENNIS supplemental brand artwork, including icons (2016, top; 2020, bottom) and “the DENNIS crest,” designed to showcase DENNIS’ range of school uniform customization options, including screen printing, embroidery, flock, emblem and direct-to-garment.
DENNIS stationery package.
DENNIS website redesign, 2017. Photo credit: Mariya Gurzhuy.
DENNIS website redesign, 2017. Photo credit: Corey Fox Photography.
DENNIS website redesign, 2017. As Creative Director, I wrote or edited most marketing copy until DENNIS engaged a copywriter in 2020. (In hindsight, I’d have used fewer exclamation points!)
DENNIS website redesign, 2017. Photo credit: Corey Fox Photography.
DENNIS website redesign, 2017. I provided art direction and project management for DENNIS’ considerable product photo library, including thousands of customized products for individual schools. I was also the primary logo production artist for many years, before moving up to manage other artists. Photo credit: Mariya Gurzhuy.
DENNIS brochure, 2020. This project launched a typography update, substituting Helvetica for the bookish ITC Garamond of past years. Photo credits: Corey Fox Photography (top, bottom right), Steve Steckley (bottom left), Kenneth Benjamin Reed (bottom center). Printing: Bridgetown Printing.
DENNIS brochure, 2020. Photo credit: Corey Fox Photography (top), Mariya Gurzhuy (bottom). Printing: Bridgetown Printing.
DENNIS product tag & label artwork. Product photo credit: Mariya Gurzhuy.
The DENNIS brand in action on select products. Photo credit: Mariya Gurzhuy.
DENNIS store front signage, clockwise from top left: Jacksonville, MS; Houston, TX; Orange, CT; Los Angeles, CA; 2017–2019.
DENNIS store front signage, Miami, FL, 2019–2020. Photo credit (in posters): Mariya Gurzhuy.
DENNIS store wayfinding signage and front counter artwork, clockwise from top: Woodland Hills, CA; Los Angeles, CA; Yorba Linda, CA; 2019.
DENNIS store wayfinding signage, Los Angeles, CA, 2019; sandwich board signage mockup, 2020.
DENNIS flyers and folder, 2017. Photo credits: Corey Fox Photography (front left), Mariya Gurzhuy (top right), Kenneth Benjamin Reed (bottom right).
DENNIS brochure, 2019. Photo credits: Mariya Gurzhuy (front), Corey Fox Photography (inside), Steve Steckley (back). Printing: Bridgetown Printing.
DENNIS holiday cards, 2016–2019. I looked forward to this project every year! I created the lettering by hand, then took a sketch to my team to devise the “plaid item” pattern. When finished, the pattern was sewn in our factory, then styled and photographed in our on-site studio with all the holiday trimmings. Photo credit: Mariya Gurzhuy. Printing and mailing services: Bridgetown Printing.
DENNIS calendars, 2004–2019. Every year I designed a 15-month spiral-bound calendar as a holiday gift to DENNIS partner schools. The shift in cover art on the 2013–14 edition marks my first year at the helm of the brand. Photo credits (calendar covers): Steve Steckley (2013-14), Corey Fox Photography (2015-2016, 2016-2107, 2017-2018), Kenneth Benjamin Reed (2018-2019). Printing: Bridgetown Printing.
DENNIS calendar cover details.
DENNIS calendar interior spreads. I added a low-cost flourish to calendar pages with vintage DENNIS advertising artwork (upper left), then moved on to inspirational quotations and fun facts.
DENNIS marketing folder, 2015. Photo credit (on folder): Corey Fox Photography. Printing: Bridgetown Printing.
DENNIS store mural artwork, clockwise from bottom left: San Diego, CA; Portland, OR; Mission Viejo, CA; 2015. Photo credit (murals): Corey Fox Photography. Printing: Bridgetown Printing.
DENNIS store mural artwork, Houston, TX, 2013. The brief called for modern, eye-catching art inspired by the company’s manufacturing tradition and coordinated with the décor at DENNIS’ new “studio” stores. I took images of uniform manufacturing tools and gave them a vector rendering in flat colors, designed to be easily scaled for large-format printing. Photo credit: Corey Fox Photography. Printing: Bridgetown Printing.
DENNIS marketing collateral, 2013. Printing: Bridgetown Printing.