Lindsay Rife Illustration

Brand identity

73 & Main Restaurant

A full identity created for a restaurant housed in a restored 1911 building on Main Street in Mount Pleasant, North Carolina. The brand words were historic, preservation, integrity, authentic, comfortable, approachable.

I built a system of distressed slab numerals and type, a script “Circa 1911” and an MP monogram, then flexed it into a simple mark, an embellished frame, a stacked icon and a hanging sign, so every touchpoint feels like the same familiar building.

Scope: Logo suite, signage, social ad, business cards, social
Place: Mount Pleasant, NC

Logo suite and applications

Storefront and hanging sign, installed

Opening social ad: Opening mid-December, 73 and Main Restaurant over a historic photo of the building, with dining room, pub, patio and bourbon bar listed — Opening social ad

Business cards

Illustration system

CBD Takeout

A library of custom illustrations for CBD Takeout, drawn as one consistent hand so every piece could work alone or together.

The black line set became a repeat pattern, spot art and the backing card for the brand's enamel pins. The softer two-tone pieces became website section headers, calm and airy where the site needed to explain things.

Scope: Spot illustration, pattern, merch packaging, web headers

CBD Takeout enamel pins, a takeout box and a So Not Dope hand, on a cream backing card printed with the gold line illustration pattern — Enamel pins on the illustrated backing card

Black line illustration pattern with a takeout box, dropper, sleeping dog, cat, paw prints, leaves and hand-drawn FEEL GOOD and CBD lettering — Feel Good pattern

Line drawings: DO GOOD lettering, a sleep mask, lightning bolt, pizza slice, smiley face, eye and leaf — Do Good spot illustrations

Three periwinkle and mint illustrations: a folded map with compass, a signpost with a sprout, and a leaf held in an open hand — Website header illustrations

Environmental graphics

IBM Austin Mural

A wall-sized vinyl mural for a meeting room in IBM's Austin office. It mixes IBM's own history ("Think", "wild ducks", est. 1911) with Austin and Texas references, all drawn as custom lettering and icons in a single two-color palette.

Designed for scale: built to read from across the room through a glass wall, with detail that rewards a closer look.

Scope: Custom lettering, iconography, large-format vinyl

Orange and red-orange typographic mural behind a glass conference room wall with words like Think, Y'all, wild ducks, The 512, Quality and Austin Texas — Installed vinyl mural

Hand lettering

Lettering & Prints

Hand-drawn type, from one-word brush marks to a full-page creed. Each piece is drawn, not set: brush script, banner lettering, display caps and textures that feel printed.

The word series was drawn in Procreate as a set, with one hand and one flourish system carried across every word and colorway. It's the kind of work that goes straight onto a tee, a poster or a social tile.

Scope: Lettering, prints, lettering series, digital texture
Tools: Procreate, Illustrator, Photoshop

A printed poster of the Auburn Creed, fully hand-lettered in many styles, held up by the designer — The Auburn Creed, hand-lettered print

Banner lettering reading Always remember there is nothing worth sharing like the love that let us share our name — Banner lettering print

strong women in white brush script on coral — Brush lettering series, drawn in Procreate

Powerful in white brush script on black — Brush lettering series, drawn in Procreate

Take it Easy in a textured brush script with condensed caps — Textured script lettering

hi y'all in a heavy textured brush script — Textured script lettering

Illustration / print

Spread the Love

My print for The Big Little Print Show 2024, an Austin print show that benefits a local nonprofit. Thirty artists made 8″×8″ prints on the theme of food and community.

A strawberry jam still life drawn in three flat colors, with halftone shading and a knocked-out white line.

Show: The Big Little Print Show 2024, Austin
Scope: Illustration, limited palette print

Spread the Love: illustration of a jar of strawberry jam, strawberries, a butter dish, a knife and buttered toast in red, yellow and white on teal — Artist statement Homemade goodness has always been a source of comfort for me. Freshly made strawberry jam, a dollop of butter and warm toast on a simple breakfast table can bring so much peace. In my family, making jam is a tradition passed down through generations, an act of preserving the sweetness of a season to share with others. This piece celebrates how homemade jam creates bonds, transforming even a quiet breakfast into a shared experience. Food is more than nourishment. It's an invitation to sit down together and embrace life's simplest joys.

Print & production

Invitation Suite

My own wedding invitations. One idea, a stack of oversized wood-type-inspired numerals, carried across the whole suite in two specific shades of orange and olive green.

Each piece is matched to its process: a printed vellum wrap, a letterpress invitation on white and a letterpress RSVP card on chartreuse stock, with a save the date and olive envelopes to match.

Formats: 5×7 vellum, 5×7 letterpress, 4×4 letterpress

Flat lay of the printed suite on concrete: vellum numeral wrap over the letterpress invitation, chartreuse RSVP card, orange save the date and olive envelope, with rings and billy button flowers — The printed suite

Wedding invitation suite spec sheet: orange numeral vellum wrap, letterpress invitation and chartreuse RSVP card flanked by Pantone swatches — Vellum wrap, invitation and RSVP card with ink specs

Logo & direction

Cloth in Hand

A mark for Cloth in Hand, an Austin textile brand rooted in natural materials and traditional craft. The brief asked for something timeless and refined rather than trendy, with the tactile feel of linen and cotton.

I drew a fine, single-line hand holding a flower, paired with a quiet high-contrast serif and a soft, airy structure in place of heavy forms. The badge was built to read at quilt-tag size and to work on its own as a social icon.

Scope: Logo, lockups, color directions

Lockups in navy and copper

Teaching

Start Somewhere

A lettering tutorial I made in Procreate, drawing a vintage sign-inspired piece from first sketch to finished art: a brush script "Start" over dimensional block caps with layered drop shades.

Watch the tutorial on YouTube

An iPad in Procreate showing Start Somewhere lettering: a red brush script Start on an orange panel above pink dimensional block caps with orange drop shades, on a mint background with starbursts — Start Somewhere, finished piece in Procreate

Hi, I'm Lindsay