We learn the importance of saying thanks at an early age. “Thank you” communicates appreciation, gratitude, and respect. It’s a message that never gets old. Strangely, many businesses and organizations forget about saying thank you or say it in such a perfunctory way that it seems more like an automatic response than a meaningful expression. We believe relationships …
The Commercial Street Night Market opened last week with great success. Shew Design created a logo and a look and feel for the project. We extend our thanks to a successful collaboration with Dean Fearing, who came up with the original night market idea, and Rick Mullen, who created a beautiful rendering of his vision for the market. …
We have used our letterpress quite a few times to print onto presentation folders for clients. We recently completed a proposal delivery system for 2020 LED, including a letterpressed presentation folder and updated proposal template. We appreciate the contrast of the rugged 100% recycled stock and the clean blue lines. Combined with the updated proposal …
We recently completed this Poster design for KulshanCLT’s Annual Community Party. KulshanCLT wanted to hold their annual event this year in a location that most people could bike or walk to. When the Boundary Bay Brewery location was chosen, we decided to incorporate beer and biking into the design in a playful way.
Carrying a camera with us wherever we go is something we do by default. The use of textures in graphic design has a long history. We often incorporate textures into our work, and on a recent camping trip to Yellowstone National Park we captured a number of textures to add to our library. These images …
Animals As Natural Therapy has an annual fundraiser live music event at their farm, and this year we donated the Bluegrass Bash poster design to help increase awareness and attendance.
We recently completed an ad campaign for Cedar Male Medical, a clinic specializing in treating men to balance their testosterone levels (usually including erectile dysfunction). Our messaging strategy was based on empathy-based messaging to prompt the audience to feel comfortable talking to the doctor about a difficult subject.
Long time supporters of the Subdued Stringband Jamboree, Chuckanut Builders wanted to have shirts designed and produced to wear and show their involvement with this popular event. In collaboration with Blank Studio who created the illustration, we created the below Chuckanut Builders t-shirt design for the ChuB team.
With so much marketing taking place through a multitude of different mediums and applications, the tendency is for messages to become ever more fragmented — and more easily forgotten. start with a vision Don’t think of standards and consistency until you have a clear vision about why you are important to your audience and are able …
Framing marketing communications in terms of experience opens up new opportunities for engaging your audience. Our Be in Bellingham campaign is one example of this thinking at work; another is a thank you promotion we recently completed for Shew Design. The purpose of the project was to say thanks to clients and collaborators in a …
A paradox of destination marketing is that while each destination is unique in its own way, the materials and messages people use for different destinations are often indistinguishable from one another. In promoting Bellingham Whatcom County, we wanted to subtly rethink destination marketing to create work that departed from these expectations. We started by making …
“Just to make this stand out” is to design what “Trust me. This is going to work” is to buddy movies. Both phrases tend to lead to fiascoes of one kind or another. Making things stand out – i.e. making things clash with their surroundings – can be a crucial part of design, but too …
Years ago, my initial interpretation of the phrase “victory has a thousand parents, but defeat is an orphan” was a cynical one. My take on it was that if a project goes well, people will claim responsibility. The same people will disavow their role if the project meets with a less favorable outcome. As I …
Despite all predictions to the contrary, print communications still play a crucial role in how organizations reach out to their audience. Print has changed, though. It is now more an elective than a requirement, and like any choice it benefits from planning and thinking ahead. You must print intentionally. This can include details like a …
Most things are more complicated than they need to be. Navigation is no exception. You can fairly easily see what links people use on your website using traffic evaluation tools such as Google Analytics. More importantly, these tools can show you which links people don’t visit. This can help you make informed decisions about revising …
It’s the first Friday of the month. Where will you typically find us that night? At Bellingham’s Artwalk. Downtown is bustling with people going from gallery to gallery, taking breaks for a drink or a meal. Everyone has their list of favorite places to go – we thought we would share ours. First things first. …
While developing a packaging concept for a high-end manufacturer, we encountered some feedback from a friend of the client who recommended we take an alternate approach. His advice was, literally, “dumb it down.” The product was a gourmet food item (chocolate) for a discriminating, college-educated audience. The argument was based on a perception of the across-the-board, ever-dwindling intelligence of …
Making choices, creating value. I constantly think about why people value the things they do, and how design and messaging fit into that larger picture. We recently had a project that gave me a new perspective about these eternal questions. Without giving away the details, here is the situation: the client is an inventor who …
Eric and I started commuting to work on our bikes almost a year ago. Details that were normally overlooked were suddenly noticed and studied. This particular stop sign was one of them. “Don’t” had been added to the sign, and at one point someone had handwritten “believing” below this. Later, for whatever reason, “believing” was …
Research plays a crucial part in creating good design, and so a designer’s life is essentially a never-ending series of opportunities to learn. The best designers are really the best at learning. That’s what I like to say as I help myself to a generous handful of research. My third. “That’s Callebaut, 54%,” Kevin informs …
