Colours and brand image are complimentary trades. It is easy to conjure up imagery with certain colours, and people do have pre-conceived ideas no matter how hard we try to fight that fact. So why fight it, just go with the flow.
Creating mental imagery is important to the success of any brand. Mental imagery is a result of subconscious memories from our past and also from our current perceptions.
We took a similar approach in the projects below :
R.E.D.
red bulb - brand identity
Red Bulb Espresso Bar – is branded in the colour of passion. That was what the business is about and they needed a colour to portray that both in the identity as well as in the name in this case. Out there in the market place for Good Coffee … is where they want to be. The Bulb signifies a bright spark, and always on the edge of innovation and creation of new ideas. This idea was pushed and carried throughout the brand, from logo identity, print material, web presence, signage and store layout. Will be updating our Retail Design for Red Bulb once that is completed. See www.redbulb.ca
M.U.S.T.A.R.D.
Sheila Cameron- CST - brand identity
What do you think of when you picture a large room with a Black Chalk board and a teacher dressed in Mustard yellow bell-bottoms ? We think OLD SCHOOL … and that was the feeling that we wanted to evoke with Sheila C’s new Print material and business cards. She is a Complementary Medicine Professional, who works with her hands using therapies that are based on some very old principles. Her work brings about a much needed balance to our bodies which are constantly being subjected to the harsh physical and mental realities we live in today. A close-cropped, reversed image of the human spinal cord from an old medical journal gave an abstract feel to the piece.
Published on July 16, 2010 3:00 AM.
Filed under: Corporate Identity, branding, business cards, design, environmental graphics, logo, packaging, printed matter, restaurant interior graphics, signage Tags: Colour and brand identity
Just wanted to share some good news on our end.
Firstly, we got nominated as one of the Finalist in the Regional Design Awards organized by Design Edge Canada. Wasn’t really expecting it, so it was a really nice surprise.The project selected was the Identity Application for Bona Fide Bean Coffee Co. . The owner, Anna P., will be happy roasting her coffee beans knowing that her company’s image is being recognized. Since the submission of this project, we have also extended her brand identity onto the web. See www.bonafidebeancoffee.com
Secondly, we got a phone call tonight from Yvonne, the owner Pistil Flowers, saying that our blog editorial for their mother’s day promo was a big hit. Google analytics reported more than 700 views. We would love to brag about how eloquent our content was, but the truth is probably really far from that. We believe that it is something that evolved from an “organic marketing” approach that brought together a print campaign (posters in this case), web-extension (the blog & homepage updates) & social media efforts. It shows that everything has to work together to gain a tangible result … in this case, numbers recorded by Google’s Robots. Anyway, stay tuned for more of our blog editorials at www.PistilFlowers.com
Published on May 20, 2010 1:53 AM.
Filed under: Corporate Identity, branding, business development, design, news, printed matter, web presence Tags: Regional Design Awards
Oh … I’m not talking about the band. Just wanted to say “CHEERS” to the gals at PISTIL flowers for simply being the best at what they do. They have the “guns” to usher in Valentine’s Day with a BIG BANG and all the roses you can ever imagine! Here are the posters that are going to appear all over First Canadian Place (in downtown Toronto), marking Valentine’s Day and their big Opening in February. Congrats again.
Published on February 2, 2010 1:20 PM.
Filed under: Corporate Identity, design, printed matter
Where would you look for a job in the Canadian Construction and Building industry ? Wanted to do a quick post to mark the completion of a Naming, Corporate Brand Strategy & Identity project for the launch of a new career site for Reed Construction Data. Thanks to Mike W. of Helium B2B , project methodology and delivery was a huge success. They were impressed with our approach and how it helped them expedite on the naming of the new website. Reason why they came to us was because none of their in-house efforts were conclusive. The Final outcome was the creation of the name MyJobSite.ca …. which was incidentally in their original shortlist. We just made it clearer for them, giving them a sound rationale to back their choice. We look forward to seeing the full launch of the site in December 2009. We also followed-up with an Ad Campaign within the Daily Commercial News and Journal of Commerce Newspapers.
Published on November 12, 2009 2:50 AM.
Filed under: Corporate Identity, Naming, ads, branding, business development, design, logo, printed matter Tags: B2B, branding, Corporate, Identity, Naming
“Red Bulb” signifies a passion. It is an internal fire that spurs us to do what we love doing; a silent alert that shows us the way to live better and make healthier choices; a reflection on the journey we have taken and the experiences we have encountered; and a warm torch guiding us into a future, vast and unknown.
Creating a new brand name is by no means a small feat, just as it is trying to set up a new cafe in small town Stouffville. From understanding the vision to the target audience to local competition and every other detail thereafter. We have given an initial drive to their blog so that the Red Bulb Movement can start rolling. The Red Bulb Cafe will soon come to fruition, but will always remain a journey of passion.
Published on September 9, 2009 12:01 AM.
Filed under: Corporate Identity, branding, business development, design, logo
custom back-lit menu board with magnetic backing, direct UV printed on acetate.
Channel Letters at the fabrication shop … look how dark the colour looks unlit.
…and lit.
Tree Lattice finally up …
It’s been more than a month of working on the sushi restaurants….wish there were more sushi-sampling though. The 3-dimensional Tree Lattice, Sushi Bar poster, banners, exterior signage, menu boards, menus, take-out menus and business cards are all done. Seems like a lot of work and sleepless nights have gone into it, but i think the great team effort paid off. Ginza sushi finally opened their doors at Yorkville’s trendy downtown location last weekend. I heard they were giving out roses to passer-bys on mother’s day, May 10th. We still have the actual Main Menus waiting to be completed. Our translucent PP covers still need to be UV printed, die-cut and shipped. So it won’t be another week or two before we see them.
Anyway, here is a preview of all that was completed…including some behind the scene construction photos. Oh, did we also mention the pains we went through trying to achieve the right tone of purple for the exterior channel letters? We experimented and finally used 4 layers of vinyl in digital print colour to get the right colour when lit. Never have we gone to such lengths to do colour matching. Remind me never to do digital printing for outdoor signs. Let’s just stick with the Avery colours.
Published on May 15, 2009 10:43 PM.
Filed under: branding, design, environmental graphics, restaurant interior graphics, signage
Sometimes simplicity is the way to go for great impact. The Helium B2B project is completed with results that are subtle but effective. This new agency was looking for a professional almost clinical look for their brand. A simple blind de-boss logo played off the Periodic table of elements, using classic Helvetica fonts. The next experiment with the Helium brand will probably involve the use of plastics to go for more transparency.
Published on February 11, 2009 2:39 PM.
Filed under: branding, business cards, logo
Always love the idea of online magazines. Thought it’d be nice to share some of our favourite reading materials on a Monday morning. This is one that we really love … The Small Magazine. “Flipping” through it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy …even though it’s -8 degrees outside.
Published on January 12, 2009 9:08 AM.
Filed under: design, magazine
Happy New Year !! The first entry in 2009 is about 6 days late due to all the festivities. We’ve had a good year, with friend’s support and a network of business associates that work hard to help each other. We’re hoping to ramp it up in the new year. Our holiday e-card gives thanks to all who has made our year good. Thanks to my friend Rossana who inspired our illustration of holiday Elfs…
Well, enroute to deliver holiday greetings to clients and friends, we dropped by Quinceflowers to drop off our FAMOUS chocolate truffles. We perfected 6 varieties this year, featuring a laminated wood packaging, printed brown paper wrappers and finished off with baker’s twine and a card made with my new Big-shot die-cut machine. I love the die-cuts …
And coincidentally it was also Rosie’s (Quinceflower’s owner) birthday that day. So it was meant to be and we had to take a shot of the wonderful sign we designed for them.
I think the New Year will be full of such beautiful coincidences….
Published on January 6, 2009 10:23 PM.
Filed under: chocolates, holidays, packaging, signage
This might sound crazy, but I just got a die-cut machine and a whole set of rubber stamps to make some promotional materials for muun design. Holiday cards, thank you notes and give aways are in the “plan”. It’s going to be fun ! My first project, just to test out the white ink pad and the flourish stamps…was my notepad / receipt file. Love how it turned out, but the ink is still wet after 2 hours, so we have to figure that out.
Published on November 6, 2008 11:52 AM.
Filed under: branding, handmade, packaging, passion
