poster art

Expanding Our Octoberfest to Minnesota

We certainly love our local brews. However, a few weeks ago my husband received a birthday gift of assorted Oktoberfest beers from outside our WiscoBeer realm. They say it’s good to expand your thinking, so in preparation for our upcoming Octoberfest Brewery Tour we’re “working” to expand our palettes. Yes, sigh, it’s a tough, tough job.

This year we’re also expanding our brewery tour. In addition to our annual celebration of sipping and scenery, we’re including the Women In Sustainable Agriculture (WISA) Conference in St. Paul, Minnesota.

What a great conference this will be—fabulous women from across the country gathering to exchange ideas, find resources, and network. I’m super proud to be amongst them and presenting the workshop Be a Better Self-Promoter. Do join us!

But For Now, Let’s Talk Beer!

The Mississippi River region is truly glorious in October. After sampling the Twin Cities’ great selection of brews, we’re heading downstream to Fountain City, a cozy community nestled between the river and Wisconsin’s towering bluffs. Here we’re planning a few days of river exploration, state park hiking, and, of course, more sampling.

So Many to Sample

To the delight of beer enthusiasts everywhere, the number of craft breweries continues to grow. Each year as I plan our tour the number of venues seems to have doubled from the year before. Most interesting is the creative entrepreneurship of these small businesses; like, for example, the symbiotic partnership between taprooms and food trucks, which is a tasty win-win for breweries, food trucks and customers alike.

This all leaves us with a hardly-unfortunate dilemma: With so many breweries in Western Wisconsin/Eastern Minnesota, how does one choose? I’ve decided to prioritize our sampling to 1) interesting ambiance (I do like my historic architecture, you know) and 2) if the brewery was featured in Taproom Travelers videos (again, gotta love that creative entrepreneurship).

Promo of My Own

In the spirit of practicing what I’ll be preaching at the upcoming WISA Conference, may I present my 2019 Octoberfest Brewery Tour poster!

Each year as a personal exercise, I design a poster commemorating our tour (check out more of them here). This keeps me in touch with the industry and brings an added element of fun to our travels. Posters are great keepsakes for any event.

Perhaps you have an event you’d like to promote? Or maybe a new line of beverage you’d like to brand? Drop me a line!

Wisconsin Artistry and our 2018 Octoberfest Brewery Tour

I’m of the opinion that Wisconsin has the best selection of Oktoberfest beer and, admittedly, I’ve done my share of sampling since it hit the shelves two months ago. Here are a few of my favorites. To top it off, when the Oktoberfest comes out my husband and I get quite a thirst for our Octoberfest Brewery Tour. It’s truly our favorite time of year.

Even though our tour has become an annual getaway, this year’s arrangements are rather last minute. True, I usually begin planning the next before we’ve even finished the last. But sometimes life brings us detours. My beloved father died recently and our hearts just weren’t into the extensive trip I’d originally planned. Instead, we’re taking a few days in the comfort of familiar places.

Our Itinerary

Wisconsin celebrates the artistry of October like none other. It’s all about brilliant color, outdoor adventure and hearty festivals. Here’s our to-do list:

  • Fermentation Fest: This year the Farm/Art DTour is back better than ever. With a sparkling lineup of artists, musicians and food carts, it can’t be missed! Not officially part of our brewery tour, we’re using it as a day-tripping intro.
  • Fall Art Tour: Baraboo, Spring Green, Dodgeville and Mineral Point have developed into an inspiring art community and on this weekend it’s doors wide open! My favorite studios are those tucked inside repurposed, historical buildings and rugged, country barns.
  • Driftless Cafe: Food, Sustenance, Love, as they say. My kind of place, especially since it gleans ingredients from local organic farmers.
  • Trempealeau Hotel and Monarch Public House: We loved these locales four years ago and the area’s quiet simplicity is calling us back.
  • Long Lake Canoe Trail: It would be divine to explore these waterways—think fall colors, migratory birds, and flat waters (this is a brewery tour don’t forget, so there’s a necessary emphasis on “flat waters”). Other possibilities are Perrot and Roche-A-Cri State Parks.
  • Sand Creek Brewing Co: Before clicking into this company’s website, check out Google’s image of it’s building. I swoon!
  • Wisconsin Cranberry Discovery Center: Wisconsin is the largest producer of cranberries, yet I know so little of this industry. Time to see how those Thanksgiving berries are grown!
  • Knuth Brewing Company: Artisan beer and pizza by husband and wife entrepreneurs, perfect pairings.

Hot Off the Press

What’s Octoberfest Brewery Tour without some promo? I know you’re bubbling with anticipation and here it is…my 2018 poster!

Family and friends, if you’re in these areas, let’s get together and share a beer! Probst!

Octoberfest Brewery Tour promotional poster by Adunate

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Bringing International Women’s Day to My Office

Today is International Women’s Day and it’s a perfect time to show off my new office décor. It’s a print of the Hillside Club by David Lance Goines and, while I love all his work, I’m particularly fond of this piece because of what it represents. On top of that, when I ordered the print, I also received Hillside Club notecards—lagniappe at its best!

Hillside Club poster by David Lance Goines

The Hillside Club was formed in 1898 by three tea-sipping ladies from Berkely, California, who wanted to protect the area hillside from unscrupulous developers. Decades later in the 1960s, a new generation of Hillside Club ladies rallied to save the San Francisco Bay from developers who were filling it in for urban expansion. Today this region’s beauty reflects The Hillside Club’s success and the great things that happen when women get together.

These days we’re hearing a lot about the force of womanhood and how long-awaited issues are finally being addressed. We’re inspired by the many famous ladies who put themselves out there for the betterment of the others. But today, on International Women’s Day, let’s not forget the lesser known but equally important gatherings of women whose “getting things done” are motivation for the rest of us.

Like the Hillside Club.

Finalizing Our Octoberfest Brewery Tour

Octoberfest Brewery Tour 2017Autumn is here! That means Oktoberfest beer has been out for weeks and we’re finalizing plans for our Octoberfest Brewery Tour. With that…drumroll… comes the release of my Octoberfest poster!

The great thing about personal projects is that they can be just that—personal. Yes, commonly graphic design is communication to a full audience, but these Octoberfest posters are meaningful mementos of what’s become our annual tradition. Unique tours. Unique posters.

And…did you notice this year’s stork?

This October we’re minimizing our travels to within a 200-mile radius of home. As you might guess, we’re expecting a baby in the upcoming month —grandbaby, that is. Sipping beer may be fun, but nothing beats the arrival of a new child of God. One mention of contractions and we’re heading home faster than beer foams from a tap.

Our Lake Michigan Itinerary

Pending no news of labor, here’s our shoreline excursion. We’ve often vacationed in these parts of Wisconsin so I explored the internet for things out of our ordinary. Added to our to-do’s are Grafton Stone Mill, White Cliff Fen and Forest Nature Preserve and Rock Island’s Pottwatomie Lighthouse.

But hey, this is a brewery tour, is it not? Wisconsin’s got a brewing boom going on and new crafters are opening their doors everywhere. Here are a few we aim to sample:

  • Thumb Knuckle Brewery just opened this spring and seems like a perfect welcome into the Door County peninsula.
  • Ahnapee Brewery is a throwback to the original 1800s Ahnapee Brewery except now it’s a tap room in a garage—a tiny garage—how cool is that? Plus Von Stiehl Winery is right next door.
  • The Fermentorium—love the name—received good reviews from Milwaukee Magazine. It’s just outside of Cedarburg, always an interesting town.
  • St. Francis Brewing Company: Their beers are showing up in several area restaurants and one of my favorites is the brown ale Sloth (which is definitely what I’ll be after this tour).

Any more suggestions for this area? Let us know! We love the serendipity of life!

Packing Our Bags for Octoberfest 2016!

Octoberfest Brewery Tour 2016, promotional posterThe days have been on fast-forward lately and I’m working feverishly to wrap up several projects. On top of that, I’ve been doing some creative work for myself. As you can see, our annual Octoberfest Brewery Tour is just around the corner!

I’ve Perfected My Google Map (layer upon layer)

Octoberfest Brewery Tour 2016

This year our roads will follow the downpours of beer taps and waterfalls. It didn’t take much research on my part to find there are plenty of both along the shores of Lakes Michigan and Superior. The falls have been long been nature’s gift. The breweries? Well, it’s über exciting to know the handcrafted beer industry has spread to even the remotest peninsulas of U.P. Michigan. Prost! To those crafters who go forth with entrepreneurial (and tasty!) gusto, you have our love!

And to the Lake Express ferry: We’ll see you bright and early for a 6 a.m. sail. Heading into an eastern sunrise will be a glorious start to this year’s tour!

Stay tuned and catch my pictures on Instagram.

Our Annual Octoberfest Brewery Tour!

Octoberfest Brewery Tour: Celebrating Midwest Breweries

Do two years in a row make it an annual event? I believe they do. So here we are, back from our second annual Octoberfest Brewery Tour (Octoberfest, spelled with a “c,” because it’s an über Celebration of Autumnal Sipping and Scenery)!

The weather was perfect.

The colors were better each day.

And the beer? This is Wisconsin so, of course, the beer was its best.

We had a great time and I can’t wait to share the week with you, starting tomorrow. For a sneak preview, you can check out my pictures on Instagram. And in the meantime, check out the Octoberfest poster I did to mark the event. Posters are a favorite project of mine and beer art is so much fun. Think of the office decor I’ll have if we keep this up!

Octoberfest Beer Poster by Adunate, Oktoberfest

Our first stop: Stevens Point Brewery, Stevens Point

Taking Off on Our Own Octoberfest!

Beer poster by Adunate Word & Design, 2014

Fall colors are peaking here in Wisconsin and it’s time to hit the road! We’re heading out on our very own Octoberfest (spelled with a “c” so as not to be confused with Oktoberfest, although certainly just as fun). To commemmorate this great event, I’ve concocted a bit of a promotional poster. Yep, I love the work I get to do.

Back in February, my husband and I celebrated our 35th wedding anniversary. I wanted to do something special for my guy, so for the past eight months I’ve been planning this ultimate Octoberfest. Now ladies, you may think a romantic weekend in Galena, IL is the thing to do. Or a tropical escape to the Caribbean. Better yet, how about a cultured European voyage (said in a French-esque accent)? I admit all of those sound fun. But based on the enthusiastic response I get whenever I tell a man about the trip I’ve planned, a brewery tour is what the male species would really like to do. So that’s our Octoberfest—a good ol’ Wisconsin tour of breweries crafting the seasonal Oktoberfest style of beer.

Sound life fun? You bet! A full of week autumnal sipping and scenery!

Prost!

Check out how we’re rating our beer stops! And our first stop: The Corner Pub Brewery & Bakery

 

Not Necessarily a Lone Egg; Just Inspiring Recources

robin egg

Yesterday, I found this robin egg sitting in my driveway all by its lonesome. It was so tiny and pretty, I had to get a picture.

Then I found this interesting poster about work. Actually, it’s an advertisement for Citrix. I’m not necessarily endorsing Citrix (I’m not not endorsing it either); I just don’t know much about the company other than I like how the second “i” is upside down in its logo. That said, the poster is super and I have to re-post it as an item of inspiration. It’s attention-getting and eye-pleasing. It offers a ton of information— instead of an infomercial, we have a postermercial! And most importantly for the company, it successfully communicates that more and more people are working globally (with Citrix helping them do it).

Anyway, the creative challenge I assigned myself for today was to tie these two seemingly unrelated images together in a single blog post. Actually, it wasn’t that hard.

Working globally, either as an employee or an entrepreneur, usually means working solo. I admit I sometimes feel like a lone egg sitting in the driveway. Or on a fence post. Or in a home office. But that’s not too often. Nowadays there are so many online resources to keep global workers connected to whatever, wherever, whenever.

My favorite tools these days are podcasts and webinars— one of my favorite podcast series is by Ilise Benun, of Marketing Mentor. Granted both are produced with underlying self-promotion motives, but in turn they are hugely educational and, best of all, free! (Oops, I guess I do know a little about Citrix since the webinars I watch often use their oh-so-easy GoToMeeting.)

So check out this cool poster. And share with us the online tools your organization is using—c’mon, leave a comment!
Citirix, on mobile working