Wendy founded Bloomform in 2009, with Derek joining in 2022. Our uniqueness as a team goes beyond just the fact we’ve been partners in life for over 20 years. Career-wise, we have had the good fortune of starting at the beginning of the digital age, learning new technology as it develops, while retaining all the fundamental graphic design knowledge of the past.
We are the sum of our experiences. Derek and Wendy have been in the design field for nearly 30 years, including long tenures TOGETHER at two leading design firms in Louisville. One of these, Route 8, is where we met its owner, Janet Rauscher, who has since become our respected business mentor and friend. We carry on her commitment to timeless design and personable service, while blazing our own unique path.
We understand and embrace the differences in all forms of communication and provide unique and compelling design for any technology. From paper to screen, from drywall to upholstery.
A graduate of the University of Cincinnati’s college of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning (DAAP), Wendy has vast real-world experience with all types of design projects around the country. She has designed for small (Route 8), medium (DeLor, InGrid), and large (Fitch Boston) design consultancies, environmental and industrial design companies (Kolar, Jasper Group), large publishing companies (ST Publications, Business First), individually owned startups (Yew Dell Botanical Gardens, Unapologetically Authentic, Ponya Bands, Repurposed Modern), and in-house for healthcare (Kindred) and consumer products (Helmac, Evercare) companies.
Wendy began Bloomform in 2009, showcasing her expertise and versatility in every phase of design and visual communication. She loves creating nomenclature, brand identity systems, book design, three-dimensional packaging and elaborate direct mails, brochures, stories and advertising for publishers, environmental signage, as well as digital marketing, such as social media and websites. You name it, she can design it and make it come to life!
Lately her passion has been helping small businesses and startups create their visual language and websites, as well social spaces to showcase their offerings such as products and courses. She thinks of herself as visual problem solver and ultimately a dream maker.
Since graduating from Western Michigan University’s school of design in 1994, Derek has proven equally adept with paper, film, or pixels. He believes you can apply the basics of design theory to any visual medium, no matter how technical, not shying away from challenges or new media.
Derek worked for the design firm DeLor for 10+ years, with a portfolio of print and digital projects for large corporations such as Microsoft, P&G, Pfizer, Akzo Nobel, and Humana, as well as medium and smaller companies like Novo Nordisk, Lilly, Actors Theatre and Main Street Association.
The next 15 years he worked for Route 8, eventually becoming the lead designer and web developer. Derek has witnessed titanic shifts in how print and digital media are produced, but never changing his approach of merging designer, production artist and coder throughout the entire development process. Whether it’s a website, a corporate or brand identity, an eight page brochure, or a 300 page price list, design decisions occur at every step along the way, and while at Route 8 diverse clients such as HPFi, Schulte Hospitality Group, Calobrace, Jasper Group, Hand + Wrist of Louisville, Versteel, Lawnco, and Joella’s Hot Chicken benefited when creatives continued to lead through the project until it is delivered.