Connie King / Constance King Design
Philosophy: Connie’s multi-year background in the design of exhibition graphics, magazines, marketing, and merchandise for the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco and other Bay Area museums was the perfect venue to learn a key principle of design: define the objective and present it in the most creatively supportive manner to convey that objective, not lose sight of it with overdesign. Symbolize essence with simplicity. Get to the heart of a message with less, not more.
About: As principal of Constance King Design, she offers expertise in design, publishing and all manner of print projects. Client services include concept development, creative direction, design and production, writing, editing, project management and vendor oversight. Alliances with strategic partners provide specialized skills in writing and editing, marketing and market analysis, social media, photography, scanning, and print buying.
Key business practices: client support, concise copy and appropriate design, timely and affordable process, guidance to authors and independent publishers to actualize their book ideas, staying current, always learning, creativity, and openness to the next great idea.
More Background
Connie began her role as “design lead” at the de Young with Ansel Adams: One with Beauty in 1987. The Beach Blanket Bablylon exhibition followed; then California Colorists: The Society of Six; The Art of Enchantment: Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes; and multiple others that include Teotihuacan: City of the Gods; Monet: Late Paintings of Giverny from the Musée Marmottan; Beat Culture and the New America; Theatre in Revolution: Russian Avant-Garde Stage Design; Paris Modern: The Swedish Ballet; Treasures of African Art from the Tervuren Museum; and many more.
Collaborating with curators and the exhibition team, her role was to concept, design and produce show identity, interior and exterior signage and banners, text panels, photo murals, and all related collateral material from posters and marketing materials to ads, city-wide bus shelters, street banners, and merchandise.
Once in-house production was complete, she collaborated with printers, signage and silk screen vendors, banner fabricators and outside suppliers to create, manage and produce the customized products of each exhibition. In her marketing role she designed campaigns for Membership and Development, including her “Masterpiece on View” concept for the reopening of the Legion of Honor. She designed award-winning posters, created a style manual for the Design Department, and designed an interactive gallery for the de Young Education Department.
Illustration from Birdy & Kid Play Hide & Seek.
Upon starting her own design business, she shifted from staff to consultant with FAMSF, designing and producing Fine Arts Magazine, the Members’ Guide to Programs, and Membership and Development campaigns. Involved in the transition of the old de Young to the new with print graphics, she art directed photo shoots of the building progress and the commissioned works by noted artists. Working with other art institutions, she created exhibition graphics for Copia: The American Center for Wine, Food & the Arts; designed signage for the Papua New Guinea Sculpture Garden at Stanford; and produced publications for The Museum of Performance and Design and the Sonoma County Museum. She created the logo and graphics for Crocker Art Museum’s Tiny Tot Program, illustrated Birdie’s Museum Adventure, and wrote, as well as illustrated Birdie and Kid Play Hide and Seek, two children’s books that accompanied the program.
She stepped into the role of Communications and Design Manager at the Institute of Noetic Science’s (IONS) Earthrise Retreat Center, expanding her experience in design and writing with marketing and outreach. She also began to offer publishing services as part of her consultation business.
Education: Tutorials in Letters and Science and New College at San Jose State University, BA Special Major with Honors. Additional studies at California Institute of Integral Studies, San Francisco State University, Stanford Publishing Workshops, Media Alliance, Santa Rosa Junior College web design, studies in holistic health, indigenous cultures, and cross-cultural healing with Angeles Arrien.