You don’t have time to babysit a creative team. With us, you don’t have to. We’re all working towards the same goal: your success. We provide proactive ideas and innovative solutions to accomplish your mission.
Consider us an extension of your team
We know where you’re coming from
We understand that you’re trying to clearly communicate your brand message. We know that bad design paired with mediocre copy is the biggest barrier between you and your audience. As a full-service creative agency, we’re focused on delivering your message in a powerful and impactful way.
Once upon a time...
TwoTone: A History
TwoTone Creative is a small design agency located in the heart of West Des Moines, Iowa: Valley Junction. Did you know TwoTone started four years ago as a Christmas card company in our Creative Director, Jenny Cross’ basement? (If you ask us nicely, we might still design a Christmas card for you.)
TwoTone grew little by little, and eventually, Jenny had to turn away clients because she was working around the clock to continue to serve and help her current clients. It forced her to make a decision: stay solo or train and grow a small team of designers to accommodate those clients. After much prayer, she decided to grow a team.
Now we work with a variety of clients, helping them with their communication strategies, design, messaging, social, and marketing initiatives. Our small team atmosphere allows us to be nimble, take ownership of our work, and move quickly to serve you.
We love what we do and we so glad we get to work with all the churches, digital marketing agencies, and every business – big and small. We’re passionate about elevating, celebrating, and growing our client’ s little by little.
The Faces You’ve Been Waiting For
The TwoTone Team
Jenny specializes in brand development and growing companies. She loves partnering with other business owners and entrepreneurs and sharing her knowledge of both business and design. With more than ten years of agency experience, Jenny has had the privilege of working with a large variety of brands. From digital marketing to online course creation, Jenny’s knowledge and skillset has prepared her to be a successful creative director.
In 2012, Jenny received her B.F.A. in Visual Communications from Truman State University. Not only did she learn about how to be a designer at college, she also learned about her savior Jesus Christ. As much she loves design, living life for Christ has made the greatest impact on her life.
An Iowa native, Jenny has returned to West Des Moines after several years working in Colorado. She loves being close to her family and spending time with her husband and daughter. Jenny’s weaknesses include Pancheros and Coca-Cola, and her strengths include passion, drive, and an encyclopedic knowledge of Taylor Swift and Relient K.
Mike's native genius is his ability to listen, research, and truly understand a problem before arriving at a solution. As a leadership multiplier, he’s passionate about developing the best in others.
In his career, Mike led two different marketing agencies that served hundreds of clients, from Fortune 500 companies to self-published authors. During this time, he started working with Jenny and TwoTone. He was so impressed with the messaging and design capabilities of the company that he immediately knew he wanted to partner in their growth. After casually referring countless clients, it was only natural for Mike to become the Communication, Sales, and Marketing Director of TwoTone.
Mike’s passion for helping others grow in leadership has led to his involvement in several faith-based nonprofits, including BRAVE Global and Beautiful Redemption. Mike and his wife Holly live in Denver and have two kids, Ellyana and Michael. As Colorado natives, he and his family love having the nearby mountains as their playground.
Kayla is our resident wordsmith and grammar aficionado. With an editorial background and experience working for a major magazine, she is passionate about creating unity between words and design. She also has a habit of correcting everyone’s grammar in the office. Surprisingly, some people don’t understand what a blessing it is to be taught by someone with such an excellent grasp of the English language. Despite eye rolls and groans, she continues her thankless work of educating her fellow designers.
Growing up, Kayla went back and forth on whether she wanted to be an author or an artist. She left her small town in Kansas to attend Drake University, where she majored in graphic design and magazine journalism. As both a graphic designer and a copywriter, Kayla happily works with both words and visuals. In her free time, Kayla enjoys spending time with her husband and her adorable rescue dog.
Abby is an amazing multitasker and a fast worker. She learns quickly, and her mind thrives when it is occupied with lots of ideas. She loves working on branding projects where she can let her creativity loose. Whether using Procreate on her iPad or diving into Illustrator on her Mac, she loves working with vector illustrations.
After receiving her undergrad in graphic design from Iowa State, Abby decided to pursue a masters in brand communications from Drake University. Abby is also a talented cook (she’s even published her own cookbook)! When she finds a break between work and homework, she’ll relax and grab a drink with her Shiba Inu, Louie.
Vanessa is our designer specializing in all things web-related. She earned her degree in graphic design from Dordt College and discovered her passion for digital design. Vanessa enjoys the challenge of web design because it is always developing and changing. She works to create user interfaces that complement the website's content for a seamless user experience.
Originally from Pella, she is a native Iowan and now enjoys being part of the Des Moines area community. She lives with her husband and their labradoodle puppy. In her free time, you can find Vanessa reading, browsing Pinterest, and exploring the city.
Brian is our talented and fun photographer. He’s fascinated with capturing the world around him through photography. In college, Brian studied environmental science, and he has a deep love for the natural world. Whether he’s watching birds or bison, you can bet he’ll have his camera with him. While at Drake University, the wildlife weren’t the only thing that caught his eye - he also met our lovely copywriter, Kayla! They were smitten and soon married.
When Kayla joined the Twotone team, Brian seemed to always be hanging around, so Jenny decided it was time to put him to work (she’d seen his great photos on Instagram, after all). Brian learned that he enjoyed photographing people, products, and architecture as well as wildlife, so it was a great fit.