One of our proudest accomplishments has been the design and art direction for With the Current, creators of The Abounding River Game, the Abounding River Logbook, and Cafe Gratitude. Here are some samples of pieces designed for this campaign. Illustrations by Frank Riccio. Illustration modifications by Julia Stege.
Game Design: The Abounding River Game
Winner of The Society of Illustrators Certificate of Merit
AND
Winner of The Illustrator’s Club Gold Award
GAME SET INCLUDES: Packaging, 30″ x 30″ Game Board, 8 Sets of Cards, Logsheet, Instructions, Insert, Dice, Metal Leaf Game Pieces
The Abounding River Logbook
with illustrations by Frank Riccio
Book Layout, Backgrounds and Illustration Modifications by Julia Stege
With the Current Website Design
Cafe Gratitude Logo & Website Design
Cafe Gratitude Logo & Exterior Signage Design
Cafe Gratitude Mission Poster Designs
Cafe Gratitude Business Card Design
Cafe Gratitude Restaurant Menu Design
Cafe Gratitude Stationery Design
Cafe Gratitude Newsletter Background
Project History and Process
Frank Riccio, Julia Stege, Terces Engelhart, Matthew Engelhart:
The Game Creation Team
In early Spring 2002 Matthew Engelhart got an idea while sitting in a transformational workshop. He and his partner Terces would work together to create a boardgame that inspires the experience of abundance. Soon after Matthew approached friend and Graphic Designer Julia Stege with this question:”Terces and I are creating an abundance game board. How do we do it?”
Julia and Matthew brainstormed over veggies and noodles, pondering the need for strong branding and great illustration. So Julia went off to find an illustrator who not only could draw the complicated imagery that would be required, but who could create a distinct brand image for Matthew and Terces’ new company.
One illustrator stood out in Julia’s mind: Frank Riccio. Julia had known Frank since highschool. Recalling Frank’s beautiful illustrations and paintings that she had seen over the years, she knew that he could draw anything,and that he could create a unique brand image as well. Julia looked Frank uponline and saw he had recently done some illustrations for Neale Donald Walsch and Linda Goodman! This showed he already had the skill to attract and communicate to our desired audience. Julia called Frank and asked if he would like to paint a game. Frank was free and willing!
Once Matthew and Terces agreed to choose Frank as the illustrator, the creation process began. Because Frank lives in Virginia, and Julia, Matthew and Terces live in California, all the planning and brainstorming on the look of the game was done on the phone. Following the advice of Marketing Guru and college friend of Julia’s, Allison Deegan, the team chose an allegory that we could use to represent the unusual ideas behind the game. Matthew and Terces chose a river motif, and came up with the names of their company, With the Current, and the game,The Abounding River. Everything was falling in to place!
Once the ideas began flowing, Frank started sketching. He would sketch and then fax the rest of the team who would then discuss the sketches in detail. Here is a sketch of the Game Board in it’s final pencil stage:
This is the finished pencil sketch of the game board.
Click picture to see larger image. Frank sketched the game board plus all 6 cards for the game and allowed for input from the rest of the team before beginning to paint. Below you can see Frank in the process of painting the game board.
Having mostly finished painting the interior
of the board, Frank begins painting the border.
Here you can see the contrast between the
underpainting and the finished painting.
Frank paints details of the river in the border.
Close-up of the pallette.
Partially painted border contrasts to the finished sky.
Finished Game Board painting. Spectacular!
Click image to see a larger view.
Once the game was painted, Frank painted all 6 of the card illustrations.
Matthew and Terces had written text for all 120 cards, all of which are inspiring and thought provoking excercises, suggestions, and illuminations.
Julia designed the back of the cards and modified the ribbons from the
game to fit on the card fronts. Dan Yokum helped to lay out the cards while Julia modified the mountain illustration from the game board and the “I am” girl in Photoshop for the LOGSHEET.
The packgaging was designed by Julia who created the side of the box by modifying the waves and ribbons from the border. Matthew and Terces had heart-shaped leavescast for the game pieces.
They can be worn as a pendant, too~!
While the team was looking for a perfect printer for the Abounding River Game, pondering the various places in the world they would like to visit, Robert Clark of Norcal Printing came to an Abounding River Workshop in San Francisco. He was so taken with the work that he found us the perfect printer for the project, and we didn’t even have to travel overseas. Before we knew it, we had the game in our hands. A perfect print job!
Then we started working on The Abounding River Logbook. Matthew and Terces painstakingly wrote and re-wrote the various sections. Terces worked hard to make the concepts easy to understand, editing the text on their road trip across America, and during two trips to Hawaii! The result is a perfectly blended piece of writing that truly does what it promises: It offers an unusual view of being abundance.
Frank created 6 original paintings for the Logbook and Julia created backgrounds, montages and silhouettes by modifying Frank’s illustrations in Photoshop. Then Julia designed the book template and she and Dan Yokum worked together to place the workbook content together. Julia designed each page of the book as a separate piece of art. The result is 180 colorful pages and a new experience of abundance.
Illustration Modifications by Julia Stege
To create the backgrounds in the Abounding River Logbook, Julia started with Frank’s original game illustrations and expanded them out into larger images that look as if Frank painted them himself.
ORIGINAL GAME BOARD MOUNTAIN
LOGBOOK SPREAD WITH BACKGROUND BY JULIA STEGE
When Cafe Gratitude came into being, the branding and illustrations
from the Abounding River Game and Logbook were used to extend the game experience into a live community setting. Julia created a multitude of products and promotions from these illustrations.
To create the original wall menu at the Harrison St. Cafe, Julia took a portion of the game board painting, the section with the mountains and waterfalls that she used in the Logbook “Creation” spread, and created a 6 foot wide background using the masking tools and airbrush in Photoshop. Julia also created a full image of the “I Am” Girl by painting in areas originally cropped or covered in the Game Board painting.
6 FOOT WALL MENU BACKGROUND WITH FULL “I AM” GIRL
For the San Rafael Cafe Sign,
Julia took Frank’s original orchard illustration and extended it to the dimentions of the 6 foot wide sign. Julia did this by masking in parts of Franks original painting and also using Photoshop paintbrushes to fill in areas and touch up. All of the trees in the extended illustration were painstakingly created by Julia from the few trees Frank originally painted.
ORIGINAL PAINTING
EXTENSION IN PROCESS
FINAL SIGN DESIGN
The website design used the sign from the creation section of the game and expanded it out to give ‘direction’ to the navigation of the site.
SEE SIGN WITH WORD ‘SOURCE’ AND ‘ABUNDANCE’
NOTE SITE NAVIGATION USES MODIFIED SIGN ILLUSTRATION
You can enjoy the Abounding River Game at all Cafe Gratitude locations.
The Abounding River Workshops are also available to experience the Abounding River Logbook and Game in an educational venue. You can purchase the Abounding River Logbook at Amazon.com
Cafe Gratitude Branding History
Written by Julia D. Stege
Abounding River Art Director and Designer
Hi, I am Lisa Harris, i have building my non profit organizational business called Just Sharing….. I am very interested in this game. My mission is to assist with rebuilding the entity of the families that are broken and also working individual with each member to help them to regain the power within to accomplish the greater visions in life for themselves. I am a veteran work at the South Carolina Department of Mental Health and a Senior Psychology major at Webster University in Columbia South Carolina. I have 5 years before retirement but it has been my dream to work with individuals spiritually as my business to give them tools to reach for understanding and help through myself and a higher power. I am not established with donation to my business yet but if god touch your heart to send me a fee game I am most humble and greatful. My phone number is (803) 738-5938 if you consider it also this is a calling from God. When you walking with God or your higher power, this is my way of being a faithful servant or at least allow me to get it and I will sign a persmission note to pay you for it. I see alot of potentials to help young ladies and men to revalue themselves and their perspective on life. God said ” You have not because you ask not”. thats for me. thank for just considering this request. Blessing to you.
If some one desires expert view about running a blog
afterward i advise him/her to go to see this website,
Keep up the fastidious work.