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March 29th, 2008
I’ve recently had the opportunity to name 1) a business and 2) a child. As abstract as names are, they matter. With a business, there is an expectation – actually, a necessity – that the name be unique. With a person, the trend is just the opposite. A quick browse through all of the names you know will prove that most people don’t open that door to newness. Is it out of tradition or fear of something untried?
Naming a business, one typically performs due diligence to find out what the business stands for, what it does and whom it’s trying to attract. Working with the deductive and creative sides of the brain, possibilities come up that have the ability to make sense.
Naming a person has no such guideposts. There is no interview. There is no mission statement. But there is culture, tradition, family and past associations. As plausible as it is to find the right name for a business, it seems equally implausible to find the right name for a child. In the end, people get used to a name, whether it’s Elvis, Elton, Newt, River or Heath.
The newer the name, the fresher the start. The person breathes life into the name.
Posted in Philosophy | No Comments »
February 29th, 2008
One of the most difficult tasks for any business is to provide its services to itself. We recently went through that exercise in the case of rebuilding our logo. Our classic logo, a birch tree silhouetted against a white moon, always on a black background, served us well for over a decade. It, along with the strong color scheme, was recognizable and always fetched positive comments.
The reason for the upgrade? As we’ve grown in experience and market presence, we’ve been focusing more in providing our skills to clients that market themselves to higher-level corporate America. In a nutshell: Fortune 500 companies. The logo had some usage problems as well. It always had to be on a black background, it relied on several shades of gray and always needed some device to cap the top and bottom of the trunk, lest the tree look disembodied.
Our new solution retained the silhouette and same arrangement of branches but is now rendered in the abstract. The tree is also cropped at the edges of the moon so it no longer has to be bound at the top and bottom. The font was upgraded as well to a customized version of Helvetica, the ultimate classic corporate font. The result is a logo that is still recognizable by those who have seen it before and that is on par with the quality of corporate identity we are producing for clients these days.
Posted in News, Projects | No Comments »
October 31st, 2007
We used our weekly “DesignPlay” time to do the creative work of carving interesting pumpkin designs… A bit messy at first, but the results were spectacular!
Scared face, Trick-or-Treaters, Dick Cheney and scary face pumpkins!
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
October 30th, 2007
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In addition to the branding of Local Motion, which included a logo and marketing materials, the campaign required a website that would fulfill their unique needs. The clincher for Local Motion was that they would have many partners who would ideally be able to create their own events on the website and give the administrators at Local Motion the ability to review the content before it was published.
The multi-level user accounts allow them to create accounts for those partners that allows them to create a draft but not publish, leaving it up to Local Motion to approve and publish the information.
In addition to the blog engine, we created an interface with Google Maps that allows users to select a beginning and an end for a walk that they’d like to go on, or type in their own address and get a distance and route between two points. visit Local Motion |
Posted in Projects | Comments Off
October 22nd, 2007
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We’ve all heard of blogs. What you may not know is that a blog is a database-driven content management system that, with some agile programming, can be bent to your very will. Using WordPress as the base, we applied it’s web-based administrative area, categories, and multi-level user accounts to make a website for the Charlottesvillle Local Motion campaign.
Although it’s in a “blog”, the content is pulled into the Local Motion website on the fly and reads just like text on any normal web page. The beauty of this is that there is a web-based interface that the client can use to update their own pages, with no web-programming knowledge or any special software.
The client can type and format in the admin area, or cut and paste, and then post the information anytime they wish. To affect where they want the content to appear on their site (tips, testimonials, news) they simply select the appropriate category, then publish. |
Posted in Tips | Comments Off
September 11th, 2007
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Printing your marketing materials can be an expensive proposition. However, cutting costs does not mean cutting quality—in design or otherwise. There are many creative ways to have your printed pieces retain impact while not hurting your wallet. One of these is the printing format duotone.
The typical full-color print job is separated for press in four colors: cyan, yellow, magenta, and black. These are called “process” colors, and they mix to create just about any color you could want. Unfortunately, this can be costly and not in the price range of some. Yet, there is a “color compromise” out there! Duotone separates a full-color image to only two colors. Used creatively this can have the power of a full color print, sometimes being even more striking, depending on the colors chosen. Often the corporate color of the client is used with an additional complimentary color. This has the added benefit of matching the customer’s color perfectly while being cost-effective.
If you are willing to be daring, there is also tritone, quadtone and so forth. Increasing the number of colors used in the print, respectively. Any spot color can be used in this process, including metallics, which lend themselves to many great effects. |
Posted in Tips | Comments Off
September 11th, 2007
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Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership prepares the Commonwealth of Virginia’s emerging leaders for public service. Every spring they hold their annual gala in grand style. 2007’s event was more special than ever before, as they honored former Virginia Governor Linwood Holton for a lifetime of service to the Commonwealth.Both the invitation and the program to be handed out at the gala were created to compliment each other. Sorensen’s dark blue focused the palette of colors for a classic and authoritative feel. A broad range of wonderful photographs showcased the impressive achievements of Governor Holton, culminating in a biographic center spread. All were printed on matching, bright white paper without gloss for a classic feel. |
Posted in Projects | Comments Off
August 6th, 2007
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Almost all graphic design uses some form of photography to a greater or lesser degree. A great photo can make a very successful graphic piece. Images can be obtained from “stock” photo sellers, which offer a wide range of image choice. However, this route does not always produce just the right photo the designer or client is looking for.Custom photography can many times be a solution to the search for the “perfect photo”. Birch Studio regularly employs this approach when a client has needs that are very specific. Several of our team are accomplished photographers and can go on site or take the photos right here in our studio. View more. |
Posted in Tips | Comments Off
August 5th, 2007
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The Charlottesville Cooking School is a great example of some of our custom photography in action. The owner came to us looking to bring vibrancy and color to her new business suite. A great benefit of in-house photography is being able to have the client interact with us in the creation of their images. We used the owner’s own cutting board and the vegetables were actually sliced by her! The motif of the business name burnt into the wood was carried through the suite, from business card to letterhead. View more. |
Posted in Projects | Comments Off
August 3rd, 2007
A consultant for highly sensitive people, Jessica Thayer needed to have her website updated and refreshed. We went through everything from images to code with a fine-tooth comb. Search engine optimization, menu structure, content, colors—all were addressed, giving Jessica the very best web presence possible.
Posted in Projects | No Comments »
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