Experience. Change. Craftsmanship.
The craft of graphic design has changed in the four decades in which I’ve considered it my profession. When I began the profession required a combination of knowledge of the fundamentals of basic design and technical rendering abilities. Those were the days of magic markers, colored pencils, press-on-letters and wax machines. Today it is less about technique and more about the ability to utilize software to execute solutions for a variety of different media.
Large, medium, small. Gestalt. Visual tension. Positive and negative space. The underlying language of design is unchanged, and I do my best to apply it using the powerful tools of the 21st century. I’ve adapted, pivoted, and interpreted the principles I’ve learned to match the needs of business. I believe the success I’ve experienced in my career lies in my ability to listen closely to my client’s needs and find creative solutions that exceed their expectations. Old-fashioned skills using today’s applications.
Portfolio
I launched Kilby Creative near the end of 2000 to provide clients with graphic design and advertising based on my years of experience helping marketing departments achieve their goals.
My philosophy is one of creative collaboration. This means I listen closely to my clients’ needs in order to create solutions best suited to meet their objectives. I believe in a common sense approach and I work hard to be efficient without sacrificing creativity and originality.
After thirty three years of professional experience, I have a large inventory of work. These are just a few memorable projects.
The inspiration for the typography for this logo comes from a hand-painted tile near the historic home’s entrance. I also serve on the Casa Feliz board.
Over the years I’ve done quite bit of work for the produce industry, including the Vidalia Onion Commission and Shuman Produce. Eat more onions!
This image of the dancer was createed by my brother, James Kilby of Kilby Photo, and his shape fit nicely into a silhouette of the state of Florida.
The Orange County Regional History Center hosts thousands of school kids every year, but the Time Travelers’ Gazette gets history into kids’ hands in their classrooms.
Another collaboration with Kilby Photo, this poster was designed to help promote awareness of the unique reef in Satellite Beach, Florida.
This ad for the Society for Commercial Archeology’s Odyssey in the Ozarks conference appeared in the organization’s biannual journal.
Kilby Creative and Kilby Photo collaborated on a series of self-promotional calendars that documented Florida’s vintage roadside environment.
The first book I designed was for the “Florida’s Highwaymen: Legendary Landscapes” for the Historical Society of Central Florida.
The work of celebrated Central Florida artist Tony Eitharong was the subject of a book that I designed for Deland's Museum of Florida Art in 2009.
I worked with the Creative Director at Orlando architecture firm Baker Barrios to implement branding in collateral and ads such as this one in 2009.
Logo for Christ Church Unity in Orlando was designed to be modern and welcoming to a diverse audience, just like the church it represents.
In 2010, the Museum of Florida Art in DeLand hired me to design the monograph for Winter Park ceramicist Barbara Sorenson.
This die-cut piece for the opening of Church Street Station’s Presidential Ballroom, a building that was recently demolished. Logo designed by the late, great Al Carroll, a typographic genius.
The Vidalia Onion Committee hired me to design a poster for a contest that offered the winner a trip to Savannah, Georgia.
Case Studies
Exhibit Design
I am a self-professed museum geek. I took summer classes at the Florida Museum of Natural History when I was a kid growing up in Gainesville and I spent many hours exploring my favorite exhibits there.
That’s where my love of museums started. For me, museums are the ultimate client and designing museum exhibits is just about as good as it gets.
Listen to the Florida Spectacular podcast.
Take a weekly trip across Florida with authors Cathy Salustri and Rick Kilby and discover a side of Florida you never knew existed. From the scallops in Panhandle bays to the Hemingway cats in Key West, every week is a Florida adventure.