Activu

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

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

MSCI Rebrand

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.

Mood Book

Mood Book is an extremely oversized book of microphotos. Most objects in this book are smaller than a quarter, some the size of a grain of rice. But in this presentation, they become far larger and closer than the viewer has ever experienced, transforming the viewer into the tiny thing exploring a new alien landscape previously out of reach.

with i.t. identity

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

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.