About Graffeast

I am a strategic communications designer and visual storyteller. I will listen to your vision of what you hope to achieve and then I will work with you to help make your vision a reality.

For over 25 years I’ve collaborated with clients to create award-winning, highly effective marketing and branding work.

• Ads

• Annual reports

• Brand identity standard manuals

• Brochures

• Corporate logos

• Direct Mailers

• Flyers

• Newsletters

• Point-of-purchase displays

• Seasonal book catalogs

• Signage

• Web display ads, banner ads, landing pages

• Ads • Annual reports • Brand identity standard manuals • Brochures • Corporate logos • Direct Mailers • Flyers • Newsletters • Point-of-purchase displays • Seasonal book catalogs • Signage • Web display ads, banner ads, landing pages

Hi, I’m Christine.

I’m the founder of Graffeast, a small communications design studio located in Greenwich, Connecticut and Hartland, Vermont. (I go back and forth.) My goal is to create exciting design that’s both branded and gets results. I can either create a new branded look for you or, if you already have a branded look, work with your existing branding.

While my clients tend to be small business owners, nonprofits, and entrepreneurs, I’ve also worked with big companies – including Fortune 500 corporations. Whether you’re big or small, I give all my clients my 100% attention and commitment. I will listen closely to you, hear what your goals and dreams are, and then create a branded design that will help you reach your vision.

More about me.

I was born in Queens, New York, not far from LaGuardia Airport. Growing up my house was under the flight path of planes flying out from LaGuardia – we used to have to turn up the sound on the TV because planes overhead flew so low and rumbled so loudly. Today, not much of anything fazes me!

When I was younger, I worked at top ad agencies and design shops in New York City. After I had my daughter, I decided to go out on my own and launch my own design studio.

Why the name “Graffeast”?

For me, a truly great design should not only want you to read the copy but should also be a graphic feast for the eyes. Hence, the name: Graffeast. A well-designed piece shouldn’t steal the show – it should engage you, invite you to read it and find out more.

What I love

Collaboration. Edgy, innovative design. Design that’s both conceptual and makes a powerful statement. I’m also a sucker for old musicals on TCM, Billy Collins’s poetry, and, lately, Samara Joy’s jazz single Linger Awhile.

What I hate

Bad design that’s not edgy or conceptual and that’s flashy without substance.

Awards

I’ve won industry awards but what’s most rewarding for me is when a client says how my design work helped them to increase recognition, sales, readership, and/or membership. (In one case, I designed a brochure for a client that increased attendance to their historical site by 65% — visitors came to their site with the brochure in hand!) To read what clients have said about me and my work, please read my other testimonials at the bottom of each page.

Let’s Chat

I’m here for you. Do you have a project you need design help with? I’m ready to collaborate with you, support your needs and realize your goals. Let’s create something great together!

  • "The Montgomery Place site brochure design was spectacular. It resulted in a measurable increase in attendance to the site by 65%. People came to the site with the brochure in hand."

    – MCKELDEN SMITH, Former Marketing Director, Historic Hudson Valley

  • "The School Programs brochure was not only strategically on-target and visually outstanding, I see it as the reason that we sold out our school programs for the year."

    – Ross Higgins, Former School Programs Director, Historic Hudson Valley

  • "I thought the [Freedom Plan] new member package was great. One of the best new pieces we’ve produced in a long time."

    – STEPHEN F. WIGGINS, Former Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, Oxford Health Plans

  • "Both our CEO and CFO made a special point of saying how much they liked the Innovations Issue of Frontline Focus. The issue was so well received, we did a second printing of 5,000 copies – that’s on top of the 9,000 copies that we had originally printed."

    – Michael Delaney, Enterprise Marketing Director, VNS Health

  • "Chris is calm under deadline pressure, finds creative solutions that resonate with audiences and most importantly – is a pleasure to work with. Chris is hands-on, willing to oversee distant print-runs in person, create digital content with tight deadlines. She always delivers work to us on-time and on budget." 

    John Burns Patterson | Principal, HudsonPR

    (Former PR Director for Historic Hudson Valley for over ten years)

Clients

I’ve had the pleasure of working with some incredible teams

Awards & recognitions

  • Post-Graduate Honors Design Program, Parsons School of Design
    Tokyo and Kyoto, Japan

  • Design Incubation Writing Fellowship Award, Design Incubation Workshop
    St. John’s University, NY

  • NADA Fellowship Award Recipient, Architecture and Decorative Arts
    Summer Program Victorian Society of America, Newport, RI

  • STAR Quality Awards
    Ciba-Geigy, Corporation, Inc., Tarrytown, NY

  • 2 Sawyer Awards: Patton Ad and Sunoco Products “We  Divide, You Multiply” Ad

  • 6 Graphics Arts Awards for Sunoco Products Corporate Profile
    Art Director’s Club, New York, NY