The Clever Simplicity of Dayton’s Anne Green Design

Dayton native Anne Green’s art features simple and comforting illustrations of objects like animals and plants next to whimsical phrases. On one, a brightly colored beet sits next to the words “Can’t Beet Local.” On another, the head of a golden retriever appears alongside the phrase “You’re Golden.” 

“My goal with my business is that I want you to think of someone else,” says Green, whose designs adorn greeting cards, prints, stickers, notebooks, apparel and other gift items.

She launched Anne Green Design a few years after graduating from college when her father encouraged her to devote her life to doing something that she loved. She combines digital graphics with watercolor and hand-drawn illustrations to create minimalist designs that feature bright and cheerful colors inspired by nature.

“I’ve always been inspired by Scandinavian art, which is very clean cut,” says Green, who operates a vendor space at Dayton’s Second Street Market. “And that’s something that a lot of people come into my shop and point out. It’s fun to see people noticing that because that’s what I really wanted to embrace.”

Some of Green’s bestsellers come from her AlphaDog series, a line of apparel and prints that features different breeds of dogs representing letters of the alphabet. This collection, along with her Victory Garden vegetable puns line, landed the business as a finalist in Martha Stewart’s American Made competition in 2015. Green sells her products online in addition to her retail space at Second Street Market, where customers can shop her wares every Friday through Sunday.

“One of my favorite things to see is when people are walking by and they stop in their tracks and pick up a card and start giggling and show it to their friend,” Green says. “They don’t even have to buy the card. To me, just the fact that they stop and laugh is special. Igniting that joy — that moment to smile — is something that keeps me going.” 

For more information, visit annegreendesign.com.

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