Belles + Chimes Women's Pinball League

Freelance Work | Logo Design | Poster Design

As a freelance artist and pinball player that was personally involved with the Portland pinball tournament scene, I was approached to create a logo and several promotional posters for a new all-female pinball league in Portland. After presenting several initial designs for the client, I used the feedback to create the Belles + Chimes logo.

I came up with a logo that is representative of the iconic pop bumper from pinball machines, using rotational symmetry. Additionally, the colors as well as the inner diamond shapes and white lines are representative of the official and beloved flag of the city of Portland, a nod to our city as well as a way to distinguish the league from similar leagues in our rival Seattle. The overall design is bold yet feminine - never “girly”.

The participants in the league are young women in their late 20’s to 30’s. They are alternative and punk, very comfortable in the dark dive bars where the tournaments take place. It was with this in mind when I created the series of promotional print posters to advertise the first few events of the new league. The posters had my signature bold and colorful designs, while taking the designs to the edge and using highly stylized typography and layout that are reminiscent of the do-it-yourself punk rock zine culture, while often taking design elements from specific classic pinball machines - like the 80’s style zebra striping for the Pinball Prom poster. Other iconic pinball shapes are present throughout like the repeating flipper. Contrast was used particularly well in the Split Flip poster, which promotes a team event where a participant and their partner play one machine simultaneously while only controlling one flipper. This concept was conveyed by the split nature of the poster.