The Blog

When we start any significant branding project, we ask a number of questions to lay down the goals and parameters for the project. The primary questions for a logo project are simple but powerful enough to launch us into conversations that guide the rest of the project.

Whether you are developing a logo on your own or hiring a professional, there are three things we recommend you think about deeply prior to putting the first line on paper: (more…)

We had three goals for this piece:  introduce a high-end Executive MBA program; write copy at an aspirational level, leaving the details for follow-up pieces; and have it in the Dean’s hands for his international tour in four weeks. We had some thoughts on how to make a single piece of paper say, “I’m worth $130,000+ and an investment of two years of your life.”

Research
We reviewed other MBA programs to determine how they approached marketing their programs, both visually and conceptually. Among those that stood out, we found one with photos of its building on the cover and one with faded silhouettes. Neither presented a very strong point or unique position in the market. (more…)

The goals established for this project were to create a memorable name for the organization; create a logo that balance caring, vulnerability, family and individuals; and create a brochure, website and branding guide. (more…)

Birch Studio helped Allen Hoover, founder of Invisible Dog Productions and 7-Train Productions, develop a brand for his new film company. An early adopter of our Cobalt Web Package, Invisible Dog went for a logo, website with video and a stationery suite. (more…)

It stands to reason that since every office has a computer, every office has computer problems. How does the average computer owner or office manager know who to call? How do you choose one tech-support company over another?

NWG Solutions hired Birch Studio to answer that question in their favor. Being in business since 2001, they knew plenty about what they did well and how they provide the most value to their clients. Our goal was to find out how they do it better than anyone else, what makes them so different (in a quantifiable way) how they get new customers and why their customers are so dedicated to them. (more…)

How blue is blue? Does it have a tinge of green in it? Can it be more like the ocean at midday? Maybe it’s more of a cornflower blue. A little less saturation and then more toward the purple…

In a creative or web development process, there are many things to communicate, some clear as day, some vague as the night. As a purchaser of creative services, you need to know that there is a large nebulous area between your decision to hire a creative firm and your final product. As much as you know what you’d like to see in a project, it is only a faint precursor of the outcome. Even if mind reading were an option, there are oodles of details that simply can’t be worked out before a deep dive in the project. (more…)

Founded in 1897, nTelos has kept pace with the times and provided services to dedicated customers in the Central Virginia region. They hold their own against the big four telecoms through unparalleled customer service. Birch Studio has been a customer of nTelos since 1998 and has told everyone looking for a phone company about their incredible service.

As with most telecoms these days, the hottest side of their business is the wireless division. Most of the resources of their small in-house IT team are devoted to keeping up with the near-daily changes in that industry. So the wireline division was left behind. Wireline had a backlog of updates to make, not least of which was a redesign of that section of the website. Being that nTelos had a design in place for the wireless side, our goal was to integrate that look into the wireline side of the site and, instead of reinventing their brand, spend our time adding some additional improvements along the way. (more…)

Not all police agencies are created equal. In late 2009, we had the opportunity to work with the Washington DC Metro Transit Police Department (MTPD) on their annual report. They are the professionals in charge of the safety and security of millions of people within one of our nation’s largest public transportation systems which also reaches into the heart of our nation, a highly trafficked and symbolic area.

Metro’s goal was to tell the story of the dedication and vigilance that is the hallmark of the Metro Police. With thousands of hours of training, certification in three separate jurisdictions (DC, VA and MD) and specialized training in counter-terrorism, MTPD officers are some of the best trained in the nation. They are called on to support and train transit police departments in other cities as well. (more…)

A few months back, we overhauled and launched inbio.com, an educational and e-commerce, CMS website for Indoor Biotechnologies in Charlottesville. I wrote earlier about our approach to the package design we did for their Ventia product.

Just as packages require design expertise (layout, colors, visual hierarchy) and technical expertise (printing, production, folding, etc), websites require similar attention to user interface design and programming, but then they can have additional layers such as interactivity. That essentially makes them three-dimensional and tactile. It’s like a game of 3D chess where you have two or more playing surfaces stacked on top of each other. Any move on one of the boards affects the others below or above it. With any move we make on one of the layers, like design or programming, we have to consider how those moves affect the other components, like usability or site traffic flow. (more…)

Just designed, programmed, copyedited and launched: www.edenali.com Great local builders.