Category: design

WealthEngine identity exploration

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saynuk

WealthEngine wanted to inject new energy into their brand, and build out some infographics that clarify and simplify their value proposition. Working with the Art Director, I explored documents, conference display materials, infographics, and more. I worked with the client to establish the standards in guidance documents, so they could continue to build their materials using the in-house team.

Activu website

saynuk

Entering an exciting, new phase of product and industry leadership, Activu was eager to promote a new software release on their website. We developed new, succinct, energetic messaging, and completely rebuilt the focus of the company branding to focus on Activu’s core competencies and trustworthy record of solving big problems for their clients.

Messaging was streamlined, placing customer stories at the forefront of the discussion, highlighting benefits Activu delivers through their solutions. Product messaging was overhauled to enhance readability and market differentiation in Activu’s solution compared to the industry.

Predata website

saynuk

Predata asked for a brand refresh, starting with the website. I changed the brand accent color to a bright aqua, and settled on a palette of mostly slates and midnights, with a few secondary colors as needed. A tremendous amount of forethought and WordPress customization effort has been expended to make the site very easily administrable for non-developers from the WP admin area, without using clunky WYSIWYG admin overlay plugins. The result is a very functionally complex site, fully custom CSS, numerous automated features, and a very friendly dynamically-populated Bootstrap-based carousel on the homepage. See the site here: predata.com

Purposeful Design Workshop

saynuk

Teaching 7-8th grade children about design through a hands-on, workshop-style class. In one of our self-generated projects, we reimagined Hoboken’s dreadfully confusing parking signs as more friendly and legible communication devices.

We began by choosing to project mainly positive messages for people looking to park their cars. The class acknowledged how challenging it is for their parents and visitors to drive safely down Hoboken’s narrow streets—watching for pedestrians, cars pulling out, doors opening into the lane. We determined that an icon-based approach was necessary to help parkers in their first stage: “can I park here or not?” We changed the sign’s shape to improve non-legible communication using universal icons: the well-known public parking “P” in a blue circle, and a “house” shape.

Even a non-resident would notice and understand the parking “P” and feel confidence approaching that side of the street for a parking spot. Placing the word “visitors” directly below the “P” reinforces for non-residents that they may look for those signs to park. Conversely, the house-shaped sign uses the word “resident” at the very top, which, combined with the the shape of the sign communicates to visitors that these are not visitor parking spots. All this new information is easily conveyed to a driver, quickly and safely, without squinting or taking their eyes off the road for much more than an instant.

Once drivers understand this information, the signs clearly convey to visitors that they are only welcome to 4 hours of parking, and permit holders are welcome as long as they like. We then used a bright, contrasting color to separate the street cleaning times and dates, and designed them as a viewer perhaps envisions the days of a week in their mind’s eye: a seven-unit row. While the sweeping days are abbreviated within this series of cells, they also indicate the restricted days based on which cells are colored and labeled, again increasing legibility for a driver who might not catch all the words or letters while moving.

weCraft branding & UI/UX

saynuk

WeCraft required branding, material design, and UX/UI (after initially launching as CrafterMania).

As a community focused on makers, it’s only fitting that the business card encouraged making too! It was designed with fold lines and instructions to turn it into an earbud winder. Now, you kids may not know, but earbuds used to have long dangly cords. And this card was designed to turn into a device that helped one to manage them for a quick toss into a pocket or bag.

The weCraft website was also the product—a crafter community and daily deals site. I worked as the lead UI/UX designer/architect, collaborating and directing several developers who initially stood up a product in WordPress, then rebuilt in Ruby on Rails. As a team, over 1-2 years, we iterated many versions of the user journey, interface elements, patterns, calls-to-action, and marketing/sales funnels.

I designed the brand, created and documented the standards, and implemented it across product and integrated marketing channels.

MSCI Rebrand

saynuk

Rebranded MSCI after the RiskMetrics Group acquisition. While some aspects of the MSCI brand were outside the scope of the project (logo, and other elements), it was important to knit the many newly joined brands together into a cohesive framework that fit into the existing brand architecture.

with i.t. identity

saynuk

Branded a new identity and renamed this IT consulting firm after a 2-day creative workshop with the client. We focused on ideas of connection and how to set the firm apart from competitors.

The back of a server stack, with its legions of wires and cabling, like tentacles of a squid or jellyfish, inspired the visual language, and even the creation of a fun mascot we named “itsy.”

We explored all the uses of I.T. and how to reframe the role of I.T. as more than just pulling cables. With I.T., people Innovate Together, and Instill Trust in an Information Topography, across an Intelligent Tapestry.

These playful explorations found their way into the visual expression of the brand, and With I.T. became the new name of the company. We’d not entered into the workshop intent to change the company name, but the client trusted the process, and we arrived at a unique result.

PieLab

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saynuk

PieLab was a backwards business, an outgrowth of the Free Pie! event I co-created with a team of young designers, while at the Project M workshop in Belfast, Maine.

PieLab’s goal was to bring together one of the poorest communities in America, and provide job opportunities, through affordable, delicious, homemade pie. We collaborated with a local aid organization to extend the reach of our efforts, and the restaurant opened to rave reviews in the New York Times, Bon Apetit, and Southern Living. The restaurant space, a repurposed storefront, was nominated for a James Beard award in restaurant design, and the store was named one of the ten best places to eat pie by Bon Apetit magazine.

Locals came to the restaurant to eat good pie, and some came to make their own family recipes for the customers. With the space functioning as a social hub for the community, there were music events and entrepreneurial initiatives, like the one that helped a local group of kids launch their pecan brittle business out of PieLab’s kitchen.