About us.

We are a design and photography company based in Boston Metrowest, with clients across the country. We listen carefully to your goals for a project. We work collaboratively to craft solutions that connect with your audience,  advance your organization, and create excitement about your work.

Axie Breen
Owner, Designer, Photographer

I have years of experience working primarily with non-profit organizations, small businesses, and education and arts organizations. I enjoy putting on the “audience hat” to create content and visuals that resonate. I love creating work that gets people excited and makes things happen.

I also offer photography. I dove into portrait photography as an additional service, which brings a whole new dimension to how I work. It’s a fun, different way to create images that engage. See more here: Axie Breen Photography

In my time outside the studio, I teach tai chi, sing classical music, and hike with my dog, Lucy. And belly dance. And read like there’s no tomorrow. Also I’m married and the mom of two fine young men.

Education:
BFA in Graphic Design with Bronze Tablet honors, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Coursework at the New England School of Photography

Email Axie

Brian Robinson
Technology Consultant

My focus these days is a combination of web site implementation, technology infrastructure design, and application design/implementation. I think of the process of applying technology to solve business problems very much as a dance — weaving together people, hardware, and software in way a way that creates elegant solutions.

When I’m not working, I enjoy hiking, biking, swimming, running, and skiing—generally anything outdoors.

Education:
MBA in Information Systems, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
BS in Industrial Engineering, Purdue University

Email Brian

Axie, All I can say

is sorry this has been the project from hell, and THANK you. You made this look beautiful, and I swear to god these are the last big changes.
– Kate Peyton, writer (Madison, Wisconsin)

 

In the words of Tony the Tiger…

It’s Grrrrrrreat!
– David Ripianzi, YMAA Publication Center (Wolfeboro, New Hampshire)

 

The report looks great

and we’ve gotten a fantastic response from it—lots of press coverage and lots of inquiries. Thanks so much for all of your great work on this.
– Rachel Unruh, Women Employed (Chicago, Illinois)

 

I love the new concert postcards.

They have the eye-catching colors of this “juicy” season but also convey the grand spirituality and beauty of the music. Congratulations, Axie. I think I’ll run out and get a frame!
– Peter Pulsifer, Chorus pro Musica (Boston, Massachusetts)

 

You guys are

terrific and so nice to work with.
–Jo Luttrell, GCIR (Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees; Sebastopol, California)

 

Great job! I was really

pleased (typical British understatement in play here) to see the various covers. All of them in their own way were great. I’m blessed to be surrounded by so much talent at YMAA.
– Michael Clarke, author (Launceston, Tasmania, Australia)

 

What a striking, unique

and unusual image for Turandot! She does look contemporary and icy. I particularly like it because it is not the typical Turandot, and it has such authenticity.
– Janet Saad, Concert Opera Boston

 

What a week!

We survived it all and got so, so, so, so many props for the way everything looked. The most exciting news is that we met with White House domestic policy staff on Thursday and they said that as they were preparing the president’s speech for last Tuesday, they had the Skills2Compete brochure that you designed and they were all going through it with their highlighters and marking up what to put in [President Obama’s] speech… Exciting!
– Rachel Unruh, National Skills Coalition (Washington, D.C.)

 

I wish you could

be with us in NYC to celebrate the anniversary! You’ve been such an instrumental part of Team GCIR all these years. We’ll raise our glasses to you!
– Alison, Vanessa, Amanda and Rebecca, Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees (Sebastopol, California)

 

You are an amazing designer

to work with, and I will be sending as many of these jobs your way as possible. Everyone at YMAA is floored by your work.
– David Silver, YMAA Publication Center (Wolfeboro, New Hampshire)

 

The consensus is

that we love love love it.
– Laura Haefner, Center for Black Music Research, Columbia College Chicago

 

I had a breakfast meeting yesterday

with Martha Jones, President of the Celebrity Series. I had previously sent her a brochure, and she was very complimentary about it. I just wanted you to know what an impact your work has had on CpM and its reputation.
– Alison Palmer, Chorus pro Musica (Boston, Massachusetts)

 

Arts

Andover Choral Society (Andover, Massachusetts)
Boston Classical Orchestra
Boston Saengerfest Men’s Chorus (Wellesley, Massachusetts)
Chorus pro Musica (Boston)
Concert Opera Boston
Daughters of Rhea (Dance; Boston area)
Flying Fish Records (Chicago)
Greater Middletown Chorale (Middletown, Connecticut)
Moody Street Circus (Boston area)
Music of the Baroque (Chicago)
New England Philharmonic (Boston)
Newton Choral Society (Boston area)
Newton Symphony Orchestra (Boston area)
Origins Folkloric Dance Company (Boston area)
Steve Thomas (Jazz musician; Chicago)
Studio One (Recording studio; Kingston, Jamaica)
David Won (Classical tenor; Boston area)

 

Business and Professional Services

 

Business and Education Consulting

Bossed Up (Business boot camp for women; Washington, D.C.)
Alice Cottingham (Research and consulting; Chicago area)
CreateNet (Personal and organizational coaching; New York)
Diagnostic Solutions (Business consulting; Boston area)
Stegner Consulting Associates, LLC (Business development; Boston area)
Willow Resources (Organizational consulting; New York)
The Woolsey Group (Research and technical consulting)
WorkRight (Workplace ergonomics, Boston area)

 

Culinary

Delphin’s (French cooking school; Boston area)

 

Fitness

Body by Kettlebell (Fitness training; Boston)
Body Movement Solutions (Personal training; Boston)
Boston Kettlebell (Fitness training; Boston)
Yang’s Martial Arts Association (Boston)

 

Hospitality

Four Seasons Hotel (Boston)

 

Interior Design

The Cabinetry (Kitchen and bath design; Boston South Shore)
Willow Designs (Interior design; Boston South Shore)

 

Law

Cohen & Sales, LLC (Law firm; Boston area)

 

Manufacturing

Armatron International (Boston area)

 

Pharmaceutical

Alife Pharmaceutical, Inc. (New York City)

 

Publishing

YMAA Publication Center, Inc. (New Hampshire)

 

Writing, Public Relations

Dayla Arabella, Inc. (Public relations, Boston)
Arthur Rosenfeld (Author, TV host, Daoist monk; Fort Lauderdale, Florida)
Serendipity Consulting (Public policy writing; Chicago area)
The Sive Group (Public relations, Chicago)

 

Education

 

Brookline High School (Brookline, Massachusetts)
Columbia College Chicago – Center for Black Music Research
MIT Center for Collective Intelligence (Cambridge, Massachusetts)
Village Montessori School (Montgomery Village, Maryland)

 

Non-profit Policy, Advocacy, Philanthropy, and Service

 

Advocacy for Specific Communities

NiiJii (Northwoods NiiJii Enterprise Community, Inc, a partnership of native tribes in northern Wisconsin)
Polish American Association (Chicago)

 

Community Organizing

Citizen Action Wisconsin
COFI (Community Organizing on Family Issues; Chicago)
The Living Room Project (Wisconsin)
National Parent Leadership Institute (Connecticut)
United Parent Leader Action Network (UPLAN)

 

Economic and Workforce Issues

Advance CTE (Washington, D.C.)
Corporation for a Skilled Workforce (Ann Arbor, Michigan)
National Governor’s Association (Washington DC)
National Skills Coalition (Washington DC)
SkillBuild Colorado
SkillWorks (Boston)
United Way of Central Iowa (Des Moines, Iowa)
Women Employed (Chicago)
Workforce Data Quality Campaign (Washington DC)

 

Health Research and Policy

Chicago Center for Vision Research
Emily Rothman, Boston University
Society for the Advancement of Women’s Health Research (Washington DC)

 

Homelessness

Inner Voice (Chicago)

 

Housing

Corporation for Supportive Housing (Chicago)

 

Human Rights

Lawyers’ Committee for Human Rights (Chicago)
Shriver Center (Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law; Chicago)
U.S. Human Rights Fund (New York)

 

Immigrant Issues

GCIR (Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees; California)
MIRA (Massaschusetts Immigrant & Refugee Advocacy Coalition; Boston)
Public Interest Projects (New York)
Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights (Chicago)

 

Philanthropy

Massachusetts Census Equity Fund

 

Politics

U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin (Wisconsin)