It’s an honor for us to introduce you the designer of BootB Blog, Visualchemist!

BootB received a lot of GREAT Solutions for the Blog and we take the occasion to thank all participants, especially those who were shortlisted. The reason for the final choice is simple: the Creator created a natural prolongation of our site… the BootB Blog to a dot!

After a while we’ve discovered that our Winner is good not only at design, but at copywriting as well. The main hero has accepted to be our Interviewer, so, let’s exploit such talent! She will be asking you her (creative :) questions and present your stories to the world.

Ladies and gentlemen…
We yield the floor to Catherine Realce - now it’s time to listen to her own story!



The long-awaited launch of the BootB Blog has finally arrived. It was an awesome journey collaborating with BootB and I am honored that they have asked me to join their team.

Let me begin with a proper introduction. My name is Catherine Lorenzo Realce. I am the principal designer at VISUALCHEMIST, a tiny, yet very capable graphic design and letterpress studio in Long Beach, California.

I am a designer, a typographer, a letterpress junkie, a free spirit, a wanderlust, a blogger, a recycler, a Lomographer, and a recovering pack rat. I love winter, sushi, puffer fish, chocolate, ice cream, dogs, snowboarding, rainy days, cherry blossoms, scarves and san serif typefaces. I am inspired by the likes of Salvador Dali, Tim Burton, Margo Chase and Johann Gutenburg.

After receiving my BFA degree from the California State University Long Beach Visual Communications program, I hopped around for a while at various advertising and design studios and had the pleasure of working with brands such as Mattel, Quiksilver/Roxy, Lincoln, Dodge, Jeep, and eBay. Following my passion of travelling, I finally jumped the corporate ship in November 07 and never looked back.

One afternoon, a random web search took me to www.BootB.com. I poked around and found that their platform allowed me to re-enter the conceptual arena on a totally different level than I was used to. By submitting my concepts directly to the participating Brands, (while maintaining rightful ownership of my intellectual property, of course), I had complete control of my presentation to the client. Even their contest-style format worked for me, as I am always up for a little friendly creative head-to-head.

When I was later approached to be an editor, I thought it would be amazing that I would get to meet and chat with all types of creative folks from all around the world. As a blogger and amateur writer, I couldn’t help but feel a little under-qualified. As a designer, I was flattered. Flabbergasted, even. And as a wanderlust, I thought it would be an incredible opportunity to meet Creatives from places near and far.

When I first perused the posted creative briefs, I was impressed with the list of participating Brands: Lego, Disney, Peugeot, UNICEF… I was sad that I had missed out on the US $100,000 prize for the BootB ad campaign, (btw, big congrats to Naveen Iyengar!). I took a last-minute stab at submitting an entry for the BootB Blog creative brief, and the rest is history.

But enough about me. I am excited about the people I will meet, and even more excited to share the creative ideas that lie ahead.

Catherine Realce