This fall we had a fun experience working Mary Kiser of MK Design Studio to do a visual refresh for our brand. There was a lot that we already liked about our website and brand, but wanted to give it a little “zhuzh.” Enter Mary. We asked for her expertise to help us strategically incorporate symbols of our Catholic faith across our Katzie and Ben Photography brand.

As photographers who love serving fellow Catholic couples entering into the sacrament of marriage, we wanted them to connect with our logo and mission more intimately.

Updated Logos

The work began with updating our brand logos. We made two key decisions to incorporate the Auspice Maria and the Sacred Heart as options for us because these symbols are important to us both personally and professionally.

Auspice Maria is latin for, “under the protection of Mary.” We have always wanted to be good stewards of the gifts that God has given us and photography is no exception! Mary is the perfect model of how to trust and follow God’s will. She knew better than anyone how to freely say yes, receive His grace, and do what He asks of her. Throughout her life she encouraged others to do the same, most notably in scripture pointing us all back to Christ to “do whatever He tells you” during the wedding at Cana. Our prayer for our business is that we will hear the word of God for how we should steward our business and by doing so give Him glory.

The Sacred Heart is special to us because it was the feast day that we got married on! The beautiful thing about this symbol for us is that we constantly notice it in hindsight. We will revisit a place we’ve gone to in the past, sometimes even dozens of times, and never noticed that there was a sacred heart statue, image, or window in that space all along. It has given us this reassurance that God was there all along with us even when we could not see him. That’s so important in business to trust that God is with us in this endeavor, even if we can’t see the big picture directly, but can trust he will be if we invite him into it!

When Ben and I studied abroad in college we got to serve the Little Sisters of the Lamb in Rome and their order’s motto is “Wounded, I never cease to love.” It really struck me how profound and raw of a love that is. The love that Christ first had for us to love us with all He has despite being wounded by our sins that brought him to the cross. As humans we are all broken in some way and yet there is a great hope that we can still strive to love like Christ as walking wounded hearts who never cease to love.

Custom Illustrations

Mary put together a series of custom illustrations that we could use throughout our website and brand materials.

• Champagne Bottle: The season of engagement is all about celebrating!
• Florals: Roses to honor St. Therese, who we can tell is inviting us to become a better friend her
• Vatican: The heart of the church, the heart of our faith, and the heart of Rome where Ben and I became friends in our study abroad semester
• Auspice Maria: Under the protection of Mary
• Sacred Heart of Jesus

Patterns

Mary put together a handful of patterns for us to use throughout our website, brand, packaging, etc. and we love them so much. They each honor some of our favorite saints who remind us what it means to love others and to seek heaven. Roses for St. Therese of Lisieux. Stripes for St. Teresa of Calcutta. And again, the auspice maria because its just so good!

Brand Colors

The blue color scheme reminds us of Mary so we wanted to reflect that throughout as a complement to the Auspice Maria and roses.

Thank you, Mary!

Mary was fab to work with and as a fellow Catholic we knew that we could trust her to incorporate the symbols of faith into our business in such a beautiful way. 10 out of 10 would recommend! Check out more of her work at MK Design Studio for your own brand re-design or to give it a little “refresh!”