I am a graphic designer by trade, a collector of self-taught art, and road trip fool by passion …
I am a graphic designer by trade, a collector of self-taught art, and road trip fool by passion …
Ludwig Design
Owner, Designer, Author | Kansas City, MO — 1987 – Current
Over 25 years of experience creating award-winning designs and managing a small design studio. Specializing in corporate identity programs, book design and production, marketing and promotional materials, web design and consultation, and trade show exhibits. This experience of navigating through design, advertising and marketing trends translates to practical expertise that help clients (and students) chart their own courses with confidence and ease. Specializing in responsive WordPress sites.
Well-versed in Apple’s iOS mobile platform, I have successfully implemented mobile apps, working with talented producers and developers. I keep current with the latest mobile technologies and design strategies, and can translate that knowledge jargon-free.
“Kelly is a creative, out-of-the-box thinker that brings passion and market knowledge to every graphic project – a unique perspective for many designers/graphic artists. I always appreciated her focus to providing creative that reinforced and enhanced communication of the brand and product positioning, while delivering shelf/end-user differentiation through unique design/graphics. Kelly also never fails to provide strong client support. She is able to respond to “last-minute” client changes/urgent requests while keeping her cool. Kelly respects and manages the clients’ budgets and timelines, is open to working with other client vendors, and recognizes when her client’s project requirements or timelines would benefit from specialized support – and willingly recommends the option.” – Sonya (Woertz) Butler, Enturia
“Kelly is one of the most excellent marketing partners to have in your corner. She’s the one you want in every meeting. She asks the smart questions, beginning with the end in mind, and her depth of knowledge in marketing communications allows a planning process to be reality-tested. I say this up front because her concepting, design, and art direction prowess is a given. If you’ve got Kelly working on your message, it will resonate, it will be gorgeous, and it will be irresistible!” – Kathryn Lorenzen, Landajob
Kansas City Art Institute
Adjunct Instructor | Kansas City, MO — 2009 – Current
The classes at KCAI included “Color, Form and Production,” a sophomore level class with emphasis on best practice, as well as theory. I also taught “Online Presence for the Artist”, a class that was open to all non-design students to help them build their portfolio websites, and integrate a variety of social media platforms. And last, but not least “Professional Practice”, a senior level class to prepare graduating students for “the real world.” Projects ranged from portfolio building, website development, creating a print catalog and curating the senior show.
Propaganda3
Director of Mobile Products | Kansas City, MO — 2010-2012
Specializing in Apple’s iOS mobile platform, I have successfully implemented my own mobile apps as well as worked with others to bring them to fruition. I worked with the producers and developers helping navigate the latest mobile technologies, strategies, and “rules of the road” which constantly change. It’s hard to keep up with what currently is the best path to take for yourself or your clients. Lucky for you, I love keeping up with the latest in mobile marketing and technology and can consult with you on the variety of options that await you. Combining 25+ years of visual design and brand experience with the latest strategies in information architecture for both mobile and desktop design.
- UI/UX (user interface/user experience)
- Site maps
- Wireframes
- Use case scenarios
Detour Art
Owner, Author, Developer | Kansas City, MO — 2005 – Current
Detour Art is a web resource dedicated to the sheer joy of outsider, folk, visionary, self-taught, vernacular art and environment discoveries found all along the back roads (and side streets) around the world.
RiseUp Publications
Vice President of Marketing and Production Management | Kansas City, MO — 2008
Responsibilities include initial design of weekly tabloid-style magazine created for national distribution, marketing and sales materials, production scheduling, management.
Minturn Advertising
Art Director | Kansas City, MO — 1984-1987
I oversaw art direction and production management for a small advertising agency specializing in consumer food products. Duties ranged from art direction to traffic management for print advertising, package design and fleet graphics.
J.R. Navarro and Associates
Art Director | Los Angeles, CA — 1983-1984
Starting as an entry level production person, I quickly evolved to production and traffic management as well as art direction.
Looking for a technology translator?
The digital world is in a constant state of change. It’s hard to keep up with what currently is the best path to take for yourself or your clients. Lucky for you, I love keeping up with the latest in mobile marketing and technology and can consult with you on the variety of options that await you. Together with Propaganda3, we can see your projects through from concept to completion.
Not your typical travel apps!
These location-based travel apps features offbeat attractions, folk art sites, sights, and eateries across the country, or just along Route 66.
Where are you? What’s nearby? Easily pinpoint your exact location on the road, check out what’s nearby with thousands of photos and tons of stories. Perfect for anyone who loves to get in the car and explore!
You won’t find the “typical” spots found on most travel apps – no run-of-the-mill fast food joints (unless they have a UFO or giant being on the building). Any app can give you a phonebook listing of what’s in the area, Best Road Trip Ever gives you the hand-picked offbeat attractions that make taking the back roads a lot more fun!
Best Road Trip Ever
- Location-based navigation – for roadside distractions across all 50 states.
- 600+ of the “World’s Largest” and Muffler Man sightings
- Over 4,000 roadside attractions, offbeat museums and unnatural wonders
- 900+ folk art sites, galleries and museums
- More than 4,000 favorite local eats and classic diners…(including ones from your favorite tv shows)
- Almost 3,000 historic markers to give you a feel for the history of the area.
Road Trip 66
Follow the original Route 66 and its various alignments.
Route 66 is no longer a single road. Sadly, “progress” and interstates have re-routed it multiple times. “Road Trip 66″ shows you the various routes it once followed, with landmarks all along the way. Now, you can actually follow historic Route 66 turn-by-turn on via map routes! No more pesky maps to try and re-fold. Zoom in and see the various alignments (and where to turn when it deviates) and what cool things are along the way. Perfect for Route 66 aficionados, road trippers and photographers who love to get in the car and explore!
When you tap on the “Wanna go” and “Seen it” buttons on the description page, you can save your favorite spots. Automagically, your pins turn to flags, on both the map and listing!
Detour Art
Kelly Ludwig, author
9.5 x 11 | Hard cover | Published by Kansas City Star Books | May 2007
https://www.thekansascitystore.com/productDetail.php?PID=824
“Detour Art takes us on a back-roads trip through the American countryside to drop in on some of our most natural artistic resources—the kind of people who create art for all kinds of reasons, but mostly just for themselves. It feels like a series of short (and delightful) encounters—with some fellow human beings who somehow discovered the secrets to becoming fully alive.”
- Roger Manley, photographer, curator, folklorist, and author of Signs and Wonders, Self-Made Worlds, and Weird Carolinas.
Detour Art highlights art and images by visionaries, untrained artists, and folk creators found along the back roads of America. It honors the creative spirit that is at once traditional and whimsical, spiritual and irreverent, earthy and sublime. This full-color, hard cover book features 99 artists and 40 environments from all over the country, including many in our own backyard.
Home Court Advantage
Kelly Ludwig, author, photographer
11 x 9.5 | Soft bound | Published by Kansas City Star Books | September 2008
https://www.thekansascitystore.com/productDetail.php?PID=1139
“I am sure that no man can derive more pleasure from money or power than I do from seeing a pair of basketball goals in some out of the way place—deep in the Wisconsin woods an old barrel hoop nailed to a tree, or a weather-beaten shed on the Mexican border with a rusty iron hoop nailed to one end.”
— Dr. James Naismith
Home Court Advantage captures basketball’s simple beauty through photographs of America’s countryside courts by photographer/designer Kelly Ludwig and passages from some of the game’s greatest names. Introduction by Blair Kerkhoff, sports editor for the Kansas City Star.
Travel-O-Pedia
Randy Mason, Mike Murphy, Don Mayburger, Kelly Ludwig
10 x 7 | Soft bound | Published by Kansas City Star Books | March 2009
https://www.thekansascitystore.com/productDetail.php?PID=1238
Since 1995, Randy Mason, Mike Murphy and Don “The Camera Guy” Mayberger have rolled across America in a minivan, exploring the road less traveled for Public TV.
They’ve searched high and low for grassroots artists and offbeat attractions, i.e. “Rare Visions & Roadside Revelations.”
This handy, fit-in-the-glovebox Travel-o-Pedia is a compilation of stories and listings of over 750 of their favorite artists, sights and eateries across the country in one full color, comprehensive compendium. Perfect for anyone that loves to get in the car and explore!
“Detour art” is pure passion for me. The name was derived while driving the backroads of Tennessee looking for a particular folk artist. Of course, there was a detour. It all made sense.
More than a few years ago, I met the crew from the PBS travel show, “Rare Visions and Roadside Revelations.” Designing their book was a quick immersion in the world of outsider folk art and visionary environments. Volunteering my design skills for the show begat more introductions to artists and their environments.
Then came the collecting of the art. I was an outsider to the academic world of outsider art. I just know I truly love this art and that it is a part of me. And I enthusiastically met the artists, attended auctions, called dealers, in hot pursuit of art.
Along the way the blog and website was born, in part as a way to teach myself more about outsider art, and was dedicated to the sheer joy of the art discoveries found all along the back roads (and side streets) around the world.
Then came the book, “Detour Art” and with that a traveling exhibit of my collection which toured the country for a few years.
It makes me very happy.
Years ago, I designed the first book for KCPT’s travel show, “Rare Visions and Roadside Revelations.” The deadline was tight, and I was immersed in the world of outsider art and roadside attractions. It was heaven…and the beginning of the madness. Since then, I have turned my photo, design, and marketing into the opportunity to travel all over the country, meeting amazing creators, shooting images, and, well, buying art.
Asphalt therapy.
I jump in the car every chance I get. It takes about 30 miles to start to surrender to the pre-trip frenzy – you know it – “did I remember to set my ‘out of office’ email? are all of the cords packed? toothpaste?” By mile 100, the music has filled the car and emptied my mind. That’s the point.
There are two types of car travelers. Ones that have a destination in mind and others that are road trippers. I am of the later camp, with many mini-destinations mixed in the long stretches of road.
Creating the road trip apps have made my traveling feel like a long, at times ridiculous, scavenger hunt. Giant prairie dog? Pull over. Look at the light on that old barn. Wonder why the town is named Thermopolis.
Follow along with words, photos and occasionally misplaced punctuation…
Overview
- Owner of Ludwig Design, 25+ years as a designer, creative director, marketer, and mobile strategist.
- Author of “Detour Art” a primer to outsider and folk artists and environments.
- Author and creator of iPhone apps, Best Road Trip Ever! and Road Trip 66.
- Adjunct instructor at KCAI, graphic design department: Professional Practice, Color Theory and Digital production, Online Presence for the Artist
Profile
After graduating from the University of Kansas, I began designing professionally in 1982. Ludwig Design began first as a freelance endeavor in 1987, and evolved into a design and marketing agency, managing clients ranging from small businesses to major pharmaceutical, as well as extensive book design and publishing.
My design work has been recognized in many national and international publications and award shows, including: Print Regional Design Annuals, the Rx Club of New York, Print’s Best of Logos and Symbols, Society of Illustrators, as well as Kansas City’s Art Directors and Omnis. I have also worked to share my knowledge and expertise in design and art direction by working with students in the field. I have taught Professional Practice, Color, Form and Production, and Online Presence for the Artist at the Kansas City Art Institute as well as packaging and logo design at Johnson County Community College.
My love of self taught and folk art has led me to all regions of the country—collecting art, meeting artists, and photographing the visionary sites. This passion has resulted in authoring the 2007 book “Detour Art, Outsider, Folk Art, and Visionary Environments Coast to Coast.” My extensive collection recently returned from a two year nationwide tour.
I have blended my passion for photography, design and travel experiences with the latest technology, and created two travel apps for the iPhone, “Best Road Trip Ever” and “Road Trip 66.” Detour Art, Travel-o-Pedia, and Home Court Advantage are just a few titles in the long line of design and marketing projects I have personally created. My photographs have been exhibited in a number of museums and books.
“Kelly is a creative, out-of-the-box thinker that brings passion and market knowledge to every graphic project – a unique perspective for many designers/graphic artists. I always appreciated her focus to providing creative that reinforced and enhanced communication of the brand and product positioning, while delivering shelf/end-user differentiation through unique design/graphics.”
“Kelly and her team also never fail to provide strong client support. She is able to respond to “last-minute” client changes/urgent requests while keeping her cool. They respect and manage the clients’ budgets and timelines, are open to working with other client vendors, and recognize when their client’s project requirements or timelines would benefit from specialized support – and willingly recommends the option.”
Find me:
- www.ludwig-design.com
- www.kellyludwig.com (currently under re-construction)
- www.bestroadtripever.com
- www.roadtrip66.com
- www.detourart.com
- Twitter @bestroadtrip
- Linked In
- Flickr
Education
University of Kansas, 1982, BFA, Visual Communications
Honors and Awards
- Kansas City Art Directors – gold, silver, bronze
- Kansas City Advertising (OMNIs/Addys) – gold, silver, bronze
- Print Magazine Regional Design Annual
- Prism Awards
- PRSA
- National Educational Television Awards (NETA)
Published Photography
- Rare Visions and Roadside Revelations — Kansas City Star Books, 2002 (numerous photographs, including cover photo)
- Detour Art — Kansas City Star Books, 2007 (numerous photographs)
- Coast to Coast Travel-o-pedia — Kansas City Star Books, 2009 (numerous photographs)
- Weird Missouri — Sterling, 2008
- Outsider Art Sourcebook — Raw Vision Publishing, 2009 (numerous photographs)
- Raw Vision: International Journal of Intuitive and Visionary Art, Outsider Art, Art Brut, Contemporary Folk Art, Self Taught Art (Fall 1997, Fall 2006, Winter 2006, Summer 2010)
Exhibitions
- “Second Chances: Folk Art Made from Recycled Remnants” SFO Museum, San Francisco International Airport, San Francisco, California, 2011 (photography)
- “Detour Art” Kimball Art Center, Park City, UT, 2011 (photography and folk art collection)
- “Detour Art” Muskegon Museum of Art, Muskegon, MI, 2010 (photography and folk art collection)
- “Detour Art” Historic City Hall, Lake Charles, LA, 2010 (photography and folk art collection)
- “Rare Visions, Detour Art” Belger Art Center, Kansas City, MO, 2009 (photography and folk art collection)
- Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum, Williamsburg, VA, permanent collection (photography)
Interests
Outsider art, photography, graphic design, road trips, book design