The Blog

It’s been a few months since I had a clear enough schedule to sit down and write. We’ve been through many changes recently. The one we are most proud of is bringing on Whitney French with her abundant thirst for knowledge and pursuit of excellence.

Whitney started with Birch Studio as an intern and within two weeks we knew we didn’t want her to ever leave. She is an accomplished designer and holds a BS in Marketing Management from Virginia Tech. (more…)

We were pleased to work with nTelos’ wireline division (that’s everything but wireless phones) to overhaul, organize and relaunch their website. Major sections of the site include a nifty Bundles page that opens like an accordion, a TV page with scrolling photo montages of their offerings, a Business page with an interactive Account Exec map, and a content management system that allows them to update the 70+ pages anytime they want. In several cases, we were able to efficiently reduce several pages accessed through click-upon-click, to a single page with dynamic and well-organized content. Click to see the nTelos website redesign.

Networking event and fundraiser for the Chesapeake Bioscience Educational Foundation (C-BEF)

We had a great an evening of networking with life science professionals, took a tour of Indoor Biotechnologies’ labs, viewed works by local artists, featuring artwork and sculptures by local artists from BozArt Gallery and University of Virginia. Moroccan and Mediterranean food was provided by Aromas Café. C-BEF is a charitable organization whose mission is to encourage young people to explore careers in innovative fields such as life sciences. Among other initiatives, C-BEF funds internships at eligible biotech companies through matching grants. www.c-bef.org. (more…)

The University of Virginia just awarded our firm a contract for Web Design, Development and Programming Services! We are considered a preferred vendor with UVA and are looking forward to working with YOU as well!

We were proud to be a major sponsor of Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, performed at Live Arts over the past two months. Even among people who have seen other versions of it, the comment universally made was how outstanding this production was, and in our little ol’ community theater, too! We couldn’t have picked a better show to sponsor; this one was directed by John Gibson, Live Arts’ Artistic Director. We had the privilege to work with John when we created the Live Arts website back in the spring.

I hope many of you got to enjoy the production before the run ended with sold-out shows. If not, there’s always another great production around the corner. Check their website, www.livearts.org for the latest performances, classes and other ways to get involved.

Pyle & Associates featured Birch Studio in its Entrepreneur’s Spotlight column September, 2008.

Become a FAN of ours:

Check it

Birch Studio has had 3 new folks join our team here recently. Mike Kanasink (designer) and Frank DeRosa (programmer) came to us several months ago and Jill Williams (designer) most recently. Their pics and bios are coming shortly. You will be hearing much more about them!

Lo, and behold! We have had the unparalleled opportunity to rethink and create a website for one of the most original organizations in our region. Live Arts Theater is a supreme work in progress — educating, evolving and entertaining thousands of people a year. With a dozen distinct shows per season, numerous classes, behind-the-scenes events and legendary galas, the theater is a multi-splendored community institution. As a branding firm, Birch Studio looks for ways to more clearly represent a client’s identity.

When they said their modus operandi is handmade, we took that literally. LiveArts.org reflects the hand-made and time-honored craft embodied by Live Arts the theater. Panels of wood, layers of tape and nostalgic iconography were applied in a layered manner. For good measure, we built the site using the least pretentious typeface of them all: Courier. Our creative and programming team worked with the Live Arts staff to develop a wish list of aesthetics and functions that would both give them an updated identity and as well as a website they could update often. They are able to add shows, classes, sponsors, links of interest, cost for each show, even photos and videos.We built into the site a simple shopping cart and donation option that allowed them to consolidate services pieced together by outside vendors. (more…)

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. (more…)