A Ribbon Cutting for Simply Aesthetic Design & Photography was held Tuesday, July 9, 2019, at the Chamber office, 221 W. Main Street, Morrison, IL. Owner Amanda D. (Olson) Cook of Morrison is a creative, multifaceted Professional Graphic Designer and an evocative Photographer. Contact her at 630-605-5329, www.SimplyAestheticDesign.com, or email amanda@simplyaestheticdesign.com.
Shown left-to-right were Callie Bush; Amanda Blean; Pam Pfister; son Landon Cook; Brad Yaklich; Elizabeth Yaklich; Chamber Coordinator Meridith Layne; Deb Workman; Mayor Everett Pannier; mother Charla Olson; Karla Burn; owner Amanda Cook; Mick Welding; Jenny Heun; Kim Ewoldsen; Hilary McDearmon; Pam Jones; Mark Musselman; Jaxon Yaklich.
After her graduation from Northern Illinois University with a BFA in Visual Communication, Cook developed and grew her expertise from various jobs. She spent three years at a Rockford, IL, advertising agency; one year at a large advertising agency in downtown Chicago; two years at a retail marketing firm in the River North area of Chicago; two years in Oak Brook, IL, at another marketing and advertising agency. By that time she had decided to take on a new challenge and venture off on her own, thus creating Simply Aesthetic Design. Cook started her business in 2006 while living in the Chicago suburbs.
Pulling from her extensive amount of experience and knowledge from living and working in the city, Amanda built and ran her business for several years, before deciding to take things in another direction. In 2013 she and her husband, both originally from Morrison, decided to return to their hometown, in order to be closer to family and to raise their son in the great, small town environment in which they grew up.
Graphic design work of Simply Aesthetic Design covers a little bit of everything: logos, brochures, websites, online advertising, invitations, annual reports, banners, direct mail, billboards, conference materials, trade shows, and much more. She has designed rich campaigns for a variety of business-to-business, business-to-consumer, and nonprofit brands. Cook also creates marketing collateral, white papers, web design, and identity materials for various clients. Harnessing internet capabilities, she delivers almost all design solutions and creative consulting online. Three of her local projects are shown below.
The benefit for clients is her designs meet their objectives with efficient, convenient service. Amanda sums up her graphic design business by saying, “I’m here to make sure you stand out with knockout design and strategy. I help launch, manage, and grow brands with creativity and design.”
The benefit for clients is her designs meet their objectives with efficient, convenient service. Amanda sums up her design business by saying, “I’m here to make sure you stand out with knockout design and strategy. I help launch, manage, and grow brands with creativity and design.”
In the development of her design business Amanda added a new element of work to her repertoire, photography. This seemed like a seamless addition. She had edited images on a daily basis, so she added the capturing of those images to create her photography business. She began to specialize in weddings, High School Seniors, families, newborns, children, professional headshots, and large group photography.
At times she has even created unique photography sessions that appeal to her customers. “Last year I had my first unicorn photography sessions, with a full-size and a mini unicorn horse. I also started doing winter mini sessions. It is my hope that I will be able to continue to do more unicorn sessions, as well add new summer, fall, and winter minis to my schedule.”
