Amba Elieff Poetry: Branding, Web, and more

Building the Amba Elieff Brand:

Amba’s poetry needed to be the spotlight.

Working with authors and poets is always an honour for me – but even more-so, when I get to illustrate collections of poetry or prose. My goal when I’m bringing illustrations into poetry or prose collections, is always to ensure that the writing is still the focus, and the illustration works alongside it, as a sort of accompaniment. 

And that approach is something I expanded in full to the development of Amba’s full brand, because her writing needed to be where all of the visuals began, and ended. 

That line of thinking prompted the “typewriter” approach to the baseline of her branding suite – it’s also a reflection of her process, because Amba’s work starts on paper. She’s an analog writer, through and through – but also partly due to necessity. Her poetry is about life, generally – the little moments that have a big impact. And that means she spends time writing in the “in between” times – between appointments at her day job as a massage therapist, between cooking dinner and eating it, between driving from one location to the next. She carries a notebook, and she uses it. That simple fact spread into bringing imperfection into her branding suite, in a charming, approachable way.

it’s not just the books:

Amba needed materials for in-person events, and regularly needs new advertizing materials.

Because Amba Elieff is self published (and I actually assist in that full process as well, which you can read more about in the process review of her latest release, In The Hills, featured on my blog) she attends many promotional events in her local area, and regularly partners with advertizers and small businesses in the greater Ohio tri-state area. 

That means, she doesn’t just need book covers, and illustrations – she needs physical media, too. From designs intended to be printed in promotional calendars, to signage for her spaces at tabling events, I’ve outfitted Amba with a full suite of materials that grows every year with her collection of poetry volumes, bringing in the ever-evolving illustration suites from her work into the branded spaces she uses to promote.