Welcome! Thank you for visiting SharieSchnell.com. I am a professional graphic designer with 20 years of experience in communication design and marketing for compassionate ministries and faith-based non-profits. I am passionate about good design and designing for good.

I believe effective, intelligent design aligns an organization’s mission, message and visual brand to reach its goal — connecting with the hearts and minds of its audience. Designs that reach the heart have sticking power in the mind.

After several years as a freelancer, an in-house designer at a Christian university and an art director at a full service commercial printer, I founded Maxim Design Group in 2001 to better serve my clients with a broader range of services, including branding consultation, marketing strategy and designs for print and web.

One client said, “Working with Sharie Schnell is an exciting collaboration. She puts her considerable skills in your corner and uses them to give your ideas the visual power required to deliver a winning punch.”

My love of art began with my first box of crayons and grew as I explored other media. My first job was as in a wildlife art gallery. In college I was privileged to study painting with sporting artist Rod Crossman. Through his paintings, teaching and our casual conversations in the studio area of Teter Hall, I began to see the power of art to communicate and connect at a soul level. Today I try to harness that power in my vocation and hobbies, whether helping children in need receive an education by connecting them with sponsors through a brochure that reaches readers’ hearts, or transforming a house into a comfortable, welcoming home for my family and guests through renovation and decorating projects.

The categories of posts in this blog may seem disconnected, but there is an underlying theme throughout them — the power of soulful connections found in art, design, small business, hospitality and home decorating.