With that in mind, the design of the latest Iron to Iron project launch – Society of the Honor Guard, Tomb of the Unknown Soldier – should have been an easy project. Without a doubt, the Tomb Guards have not only earned their prestigious reputation through the fruit of their service but also through the visual appearance they uphold while on duty. So it was essentially all laid out for us; create a site which represents the Unknowns, the Guards and the Society that preserves the same level of quality and honor they have earned as their brand. The hard part, however, was the pressure to live up to that.

The site had to reflect the upright integrity of all three branches (the Unknowns, the Guards and the Society) while also falling in line with the identity that is associated with the guard’s uniforms and the monument itself. Besides the heart of what they’re known for, their uniforms are their trademark – their logo, if you will.

From a logistics standpoint, navigation was a factor which played a large role in shaping this design as well. The site is filled with valuable information from the start to the finish and it all had to be treated in such a way that gave proper emphasis to the heart of the matter – the Unknowns. With all these things considered, the design of the site started to take shape in my head early into the planning phases of the project. The colors, photo treatments and typography almost became obvious choices after really learning and understanding what the Society of the Honor Guard was all about. It was just a matter of polishing them until they were perfectly refined.

Shown above are a few of my favorite screens from the site: The homepage, the Badge Board, a Tomb Guard profile and a particular War/Unknown content page.

This project not only taught me a lot about taking the time to truly understand your clients needs but also the importance of investing yourself into the brand that you’re working with. When you’re working on a client project that you’re excited and honored to be a part of, it’s amazing how things start to take shape.

If you’ve ever visited the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier or the Arlington National Cemetery (and you should if you haven’t yet) you’re familiar with the feeling and emotion that resonates around you as you quietly observe the surroundings. History, loss, pride and honor fill the atmosphere. Our ultimate effort was to translate this experience to the web by capturing it’s essence. It was a tall order to fulfill but we’re satisfied with the outcome and hope you can find this website to be an effective and educational resource that also pays proper tribute to those who have sacrificed their lives for our nations freedom.

Believe it or not a year has already passed since the earthquake and tsunami hit Japan causing the major nuclear plant disaster. I remember hearing the news a year ago and feeling devastated. Shortly after, however, it felt distant. The tsunami headlines were soon overridden by problems and issues that were more tangible and realistic to me. The fact is, regardless of my ignorance, the problems in Japan were still in place – as they are today.

One Year Ago

Once the initial news of the disaster went public, the leaders at my church decided we needed to do something to help – in our small way. Like many others in the design community had determined, it made sense to design a poster for awareness and sell it with all the proceeds benefiting a relief fund. The idea wasn’t new or ground breaking by any means, but it made sense to utilize the resources we had. Just like that I dropped everything I was working on and started designing the poster. The concept was simple: Remind people that we’re all neighbors and it’s our responsibility to help each other.

I decided that this would best be communicated by illustrating a globe that was completely empty – except for Japan – as if they truly didn’t have any neighbors. This felt appropriate because I’m assuming this feeling was fairly accurate for the residents at the moment. The illustration (which also doubled as a representation of their flag) was coupled with the message “Unite & Rebuild”.

I was happy with the results, but unfortunately the trigger was never fully pulled on the other logistics surrounding the project. So there the design sat on my digital shelf…

Fast Forward: One Year Later

I received an email from one of the pastors reminding me that a year had passed since disaster struck Japan. He thought that since the headlines of recovery were now few and far between it would be a good time to redeem our project and make another effort to spread awareness and raise some funds. So here we are. A week later, we had the posters printed, a purchasing website made and article being written to promote the cause. Every thing came together quite nicely. I was excited to be able to dust off an old project and actually see it out in the wild, but I’m even more excited about helping to put another spot light on an issue that’s worthy of attention.

There’s a lot more to this story, which I would encourage all of you to read about here. Beyond that I want to take one more opportunity to emphasize how small this world really is. It would be awesome if we are able to sell hundreds of posters in order to help this cause, but the heart of the issue is that there are needs to be met all around us. Whether it’s your neighbor across the street, or your neighbor across the globe, people need to be served and proximity should never be an obstacle.

My new favorite site to read is The Great Discontent – a site which features industry leading creatives and asks them real questions in every sense of the word. I find this site notably intriguing for two main reasons. The first being that almost every person they interview I’ve found myself previously interested in for one reason or another. The second reason is because of the questions they ask. Particularly this one: “Are you satisfied creatively?”

This question resonates with me on a number of different levels. Primarily because you can ask this question to just about anyone and they’ll typically answer “no” regardless of how creatively accomplished they really are. It’s a truly personal question that forces you to humbly look at your life and wonder, “am I really the best I can be?”

The times I feel most creatively satisfied is when I first see something I’ve created out in the wild. Whether it’s launching a site, getting a print piece hot off the press, or publishing an article – those are the moments that I feel most fulfilled in my career. It’s really the culmination of seeing my work fully come together rather than the act of actually creating the work (though that certainly provides a lot of satisfaction as well). Unfortunately, these moments don’t last too long. It’s only a matter of hours until I see someone else’s work that makes me think “I wish I made that”, or “I wish I was that good”. Being able to easily see others work that inspires you is a great thing. Sadly, it seems as though our brains are programed to turn that inspiration into comparison, which often leads to that unfulfilled, creatively unsatisfied feeling.

To be completely honest, I take comfort in the fact that most answers given on The Great Discontent interviews surrounding this question are simply (and sometimes not-so-simply), “no”. It reminds me that fulfillment of this concept, in the traditional sense, is likely unattainable. The fact is, there are many practical reasons why many of us are continually feeling unsatisfied creatively. I think the root, however, goes much deeper than those reasons. My personal opinion is that many of us feel this way due to a constant comparison to others. Though some people say that the feeling of being unsatisfied creatively drives them to become smarter, faster and stronger, I think that most of us would agree that it’s actually quite daunting. It’s this daunting feeling that pushes us to measure ourselves against our peers and covet their talents and project opportunities. Surely nothing good can come from that.

As someone who struggles with never feeling consistently satisfied from a creative stand point, I’ve finally decided that my perspective on this concept needs to change. The fact is, my life can’t fully revolve around being “creative”, or my work in general. I’ve got a family and other responsibilities outside of my career that, quite frankly, take much higher priority than achieving this ultimate artistic goal. So I’ve decided it’s time to look at my current creative rankings from a different point of view. My goal in this is to never define my standards of creative satisfaction by the work of someone else, but rather, to look at my life as a whole and reflect on how I’m doing with all things considered.

The danger that lies within comparison to others is the inevitable trap that it comes with. When you’re motive is simply an effort to keep up with everyone else, you start to lose the personal character within your work that only you can create. You cheat yourself and end up becoming yet another clone who has followed a trend down it’s rabbit hole. I assure you, there is very little satisfaction found here.

I think that an important part of life should be personal growth and maturity in everything you do. If we lose our desire to grow, and stop maturing all together, then there’s really no reason to get out of bed in the morning. However, the idea of chasing after this ideology that leaves us feeling empty, is simply futile. Especially, when in reality, if we’re doing what we love and pouring our hearts into our work, then we’re likely a lot closer to this fulfillment then we even realize.

One year ago today, I woke up feeling equal parts excitement and anxiety. That pattern continued for quite some time. The good thing about experiencing patterns like this is that you can start to analyze them if you’re able to acknowledge their existence. So I did just that. I considered the path I was allowing myself to go down if I continued to let anxiety be a daily part of my life. So I made a conscious effort to change that.

This morning, exactly one year later, I woke up with my continued feeling of excitement being complimented with confidence and motivation rather than anxiety and stress. Anxiety still creeps in from time to time, but for the most part I feel like I’m standing on solid ground and I would not trade that for anything.

This, of course, all rooted from the decision that Jon and I made a while back to open our own business, Iron to Iron. The planning of the business itself took the better half of a year, but the official start date was just one year ago today; November 1, 2010.

Throughout the course of this past year my faith has been tested on a daily basis. I’m actually starting to get used to it. Now, however, I can tell you with confidence that all the time I spent worrying and being filled with anxiety was nothing short of waste. Once I finally began to hold an optimistic’s point of view and truly surrender my trust to God, things went smoother. That’s certainly not because God simply made my path perfectly straight, but rather, my perception began to be more flexible. As obstacles presented themselves, solutions became much more visible.

I realize that a typical year in review article might look slightly different than what I’m getting at here. I originally considered reviewing very specific things that I’ve learned over the year that related to business and design, but Jon already did a great job doing that in his personal recap. So I wanted to take a slightly different approach and cover a topic that’s a bit more personal to me.

This past year has been one that I’ll honestly never forget. Iron to Iron will continue to grow and produce good fruit; that I’m sure of. However, this first year will always hold a special place in my heart beyond any future success. I’ve witnessed both Jon and his wife along with my wife and I overcome many trials. Some individually and some directly related to business. I’m proud to report that while we’ve each had our low moments, we’ve collectively come out with our heads high and our faith strengthened. That’s really a great feeling and it gets me excited for our future as a team.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned in this past year, it’s this: No matter where you are in this life, you’ll be presented with challenges and obstacles. The way in which you handle yourself during these trials is what will dictate the outcome. Your character follows you in these instances. If you go in faithful, then you come out on top – every time. In contrast, you’ll likely also be blessed with experiences, relationships and conversations that will inspire you to think in ways that you never considered before. Hold fast to those and become accountable to them. Then, after a generous period of time, reflect on those moments to see how they’ve shaped you. Metal is only refined after it’s spent sufficient time in the fire. Human’s are the same way. You’re not defined by one single instance, but rather, a collection of experiences. If you’re able to continually withstand the fire you’ll come out more refined than you’d ever imagine.

All that to say I couldn’t be more proud of where Iron to Iron is as a company in this very moment. More importantly, I couldn’t be more proud of my personal relationship with both Jon and my wife. Each have been refined over this past year through the enduring of tests as well as the celebration of victories. Seeing those relationships prevail are more valuable than most things in this world and I feel like a lucky man for that alone.

I honestly cannot wait to see what happens in year two. Stand by.

At first, this made sense. After all, the majority of company websites in our industry open up by featuring their best client work. While I can understand the initial logic behind that approach, I actually believe that we’ve all tricked ourselves into thinking that’s what the end user wants to see. In reality, if the end user is really looking to invest in our services, they’ll likely care much more about who we are, rather than what we’ve done.

Think about it this way: If you show up on your first date with someone and instantly start talking about the past relationships you’ve been in, the date probably won’t go so well. On the other hand, if you show up looking your best, being attentive and polite, you’ll have a much better chance of turning that date into an actual relationship.

Our Brand Comes First

A client’s brand is likely one of their most valued assets. They’ve spent years trying to associate positive feelings and emotions to it. So making sure their brand is left in the hands of someone who understands this is a huge must. If that’s true, it makes complete sense to focus your site completely around your brand – not someone else’s. The notion of promoting someone else’s work before your own actually feels ridiculous to me. I’m not quite sure how that trend got started, but it’s flawed… big time.

After realizing all of this, Jon and I decided that we didn’t even want our portfolio on our site when we launched. We really wanted our reputations to be derived from who we are rather than what we’ve done in the past. However, we knew there would still be many potential clients and colleagues who would want to see our work. So we did create a private portfolio, but it could only be seen by request. This protected our philosophy, but also felt accommodating when necessary.

This approach worked really great – especially in the beginning. I’m sure it bothered some people that they couldn’t see our work right away, but it helped us feel more engaged with visitors right from the get-go. It also gave us a really good understanding of how significant or necessary a portfolio really is. To prove a point: it’s been over 10 months since we opened our doors and launched our portfolio-less website and we’ve yet to be without a client project to work on. Some of those clients requested to see our private portfolio before working with us, but many did not.

Things have changed a bit though. We’ve grown as a company (through experience, not size) and the bulk of our time in the office is focused on actual client work rather than business development. Our reputations seem to be carrying a bit more weight, so a locked down portfolio was starting to feel like a barrier to entry rather than a good ice-breaker.

Iron to Iron, Evolved.

So now, as of this morning, a public portfolio is included on our site. We still feel as though it needed to remain somewhat secondary, because we firmly believe in our philosophy that a client should get to know us, before they get to know our work. Regardless, our site has in-fact grown to accommodate our growth.

With that said, updating our site to include the new portfolio was quite fun. Our concept was simple: The bigger, the better. No crops, just fully displayed work and quick access to launch the actual site. There’s a time and place for cropping your work; it’s called dribbble. Beyond that, there’s no reason to hide any detail. Every single design element on one of our sites was put there for a reason, and we want to show it all off – and as close to full size as we can.

We also wanted to exhibit close attention to detail in our portfolio. This includes subtle (and not-so-subtle) animations when appropriate, as well as unique arrangements of work for each project.

So please, take a moment to browse through our latest addition. Above all, we’re really just excited to have a place to show off all of our hard work. We’ve got work in the pipeline that’s inches away from launching and we plan on keep this portfolio as fresh as possible.

The final step to all of this goodness will be making the whole site responsive… But, we’ll save that for a rainy day.

If there is one place on Earth that can fulfill this formula, it’s Paris. The city glows with lights to illuminate their monuments and cafés. I felt like a kid in a candy store during my visit there last week. I kept my camera and tripod handy while my wife and I walked around exploring the city. As soon as dusk hit, I couldn’t help but to pull my camera out and start shooting. I could have honestly spent a month there shooting all the cobblestone side streets, corner cafés and glowing monuments. It really is a good looking city.

Had I not interceded with my daughter and simply let her have the book, she wouldn’t have pushed herself to accomplish something that was even better than what she originally set out to do. Looking back on the past six months, I can now clearly see how God has been using a similar tactic in my life.

Jon and I both knew that starting Iron to Iron would have its own set of obstacles that we’d have to overcome. Regardless of how foggy those obstacles were at the time, our minds were set to ‘determined’ and the inevitable obstacles seemed like a small price to pay. As time went on, our figurative “book” kept being pulled further and further back on the table. Once we accomplished one feat, another would present itself. This was our refining process. We’re not out of the fire yet, but we’re 6 months in, and I can say with confidence that we’ve hit our stride.

In The Beginning

There were many days within the first few months that I found myself sitting at my desk staring deep in to my monitor – way past the design that was currently on my screen. My mind would wander and fill with anxieties while I pondered how the issues we were currently facing would ever resolve. Whether it was our project workload, inquires, proposals, meetings, legal matters, taxes, billings or general client relations, there always seemed to be way too many things that had to be dealt with in each day that passed. When the inevitable creative block found it’s way into that formula, my days would feel overbearing. I was familiar with creative block, but adding business operations to the equation was quite a bit out of my league.

On the flip side, there were also days that Jon and I looked at each other with our jaws on the floor after landing jobs that were nothing short of dream projects. With that said, the first few months were a bit of a roller coaster.

The tough days came with complimentary temptation lingering at the bottom of my gut telling me to give up and find a job where I’d only need to worry about a fraction of the tasks on my plate. My heart, on the other hand, kept promoting me to move forward. When push came to shove, I knew the path I was following was the right one – for so many reasons. So I pressed on.

The First Concern

My first, and probably most understandable, concern with starting a business was where the work would come from. At past jobs, the work was simply handed to me and my job was to fulfill it. Now, the fulfillment suddenly became the easy part, while getting the actual project seemed to be the real challenge. To this day, I can’t fully explain where the work has come from, but it has been steady, and at times, over-flowing. Countless times I’ve heard other professionals preach warnings of not watering yourself down by taking on too many projects. I couldn’t agree with this more. However, when you’re first starting out and you’re not sitting on a bloated bank account, it’s almost impossible to turn down a job. I still feel conflicted with this concept for startups though. If I had to plant my flag in any camp, I’d simply say: do what you’ve got to do to get off the ground. Once you’re off the ground you can start dictating your project schedule a lot more.

Since our start date we have launched 10 full sites along with a few other side projects. With every project, comes a new lesson to be learned. Each lesson, however, is becoming more predictable with each experience.

Where We Are Now

While we still have a lot of lessons to learn and a lot of refinement to under-go, we’re now working from a solid foundation. The days filled with anxieties and stress are becoming less and less while the fruit of our initial dedication is really starting to show. I love Iron to Iron and the potential that is has offered us. I honestly can’t believe it’s already been 6 months. More so, I still can’t believe I’m a “business owner”. While that’s got a nice ring to it, it actually doesn’t mean too much to me. What mean’s the world to me, however, is that I get to design to my own standards while partnering with an individual who I know will represent it well.

Our titles don’t matter and our vacation time is not recorded. We work hard and proudly refer to ourselves as either designers or developers – that’s it. When we feel like we’d be better off spending the day at home with our families, rather than in the office working, we do it – no questions asked.

We’ve got big plans for the future, but right now we’re just taking things day by day. We both feel blessed but have no idea what the future will really hold for us. We can speculate, but we’ve learned that it’s just a waste of time. As soon as I attempt to plan out the months ahead, something changes – throwing it all off. So we’ve learned to shift our focus to the work.

Business (in general) will always be around to get in the way of itself. Putting too much emphasis on it distracts from the root of what we’re here to do; design. The one thing that’s proven to be true time and time again in my life is this: Consistency yields results and passion fuels consistency. Sitting back and reflecting on the past 6 months, I can see that this concept has proven true to me once again.

This was the topic of discussion with our friends Packet Tide as we were all hanging out at Iron to Iron headquarters. We had just finished collaborating on a project when they mentioned that they were interested in having us re-design their ExpressionEngine add-ons storefront; EEHarbor. I was beyond pumped when the request came up. Not only would EEHarbor be an awesome project in itself, but I knew that since we already had a good level of trust established within our relationship, this project would have tons of potential. We concluded our meeting with the confirmation that the ball was in my court: Structure, concepts, design direction, it was all my call… That said, I got to work.

Freedom Equals Pressure

Though having free-reign to design however I see fit opens a lot doors, it also adds a lot of pressure. The final results would be completely on me. They would be my ideas from conception that I would have to see through to the end. So being sensitive to the needs of the end user was certainly on the forefront of my mind. These products are almost exclusively for EE developers / users. This was my focus.

After I had established this seemingly obvious revelation about the target audience, I had quickly concluded that I wanted this storefront to feel different. The easy answer would be to have this site feel familiar to the end user by mimicking all of the other typical software sites out there (add glossy buttons, use subtle gradations & soft shadows, you know… all that web 2.0 stuff). I wanted this site to stand out amongst the crowd though. Why blend in, anyway? What real benefits are there?

With that logic in place I started establishing the overall structure. I wanted these products to be center stage – showcasing a lot of detail up front. After all, that’s what this is all about. Find the product that you need, get the details, buy the product, get out. There were a few more layers of complication that were necessary to address though. I wanted the transition between product listing to product details to feel seamless. So I came up with some transition ideas that would not only provide a quick and easy user experience, but also create a level of excitement and creativity.

Once this structure was mapped out, it was time to start adding some styles. The only facet which gave direction was the name: EEHarbor – specifically the “Harbor” part. I toyed with the ideas of creating an oceanic theme, but found myself feeling more at ease with using nautical hints rather than going full-fledged with a water concept. Using a grey, blue and yellow palette not only helped establish the nautical feel, but also matched the EE interface nicely. After settling on that, I circled back to my anti-web 2.0 commitment and made some buttons that felt nice and flat. These buttons will be screaming “click me”, but not because they’ve got a mile high bevel on them. Nope, I’m just relying on stark color contrast combined with some straight forward verbiage to do that trick.

Sweat the Small Stuff

Though it might not be super noticeable at first glance, I added a light layer of texture to almost every element on the site. The background, buttons, icons, you name it – they’re all rocking some subtle texture. Regardless of their simplicity, however, I do feel that they add a level of depth that went missing when I removed them. So, around they stuck. It’s details like this that I love. Subtle details are what take a design from good to great.

This may go without saying (and probably should have been mentioned at the begging of this article), but EEHarbor did not have any sort of logo, brand or any other element to work with. This project was truly a start from scratch. Part of the deal we cooked up was that I would create some sort of simple, text based, logo after the design was established. This felt liberating. Normally, the direction of a site design would be dictated by the pre-established brand of the company. In this case, however, I worked backwards. It was a nice change of pace and I was happy with the end results. The “logo” which I created was a simple wordmark that was born as a product of the typeface I chose for the main headline copy. It seemed to be a good cohesive fit that stood tall on it’s own feet. I’m excited to explore this option more often for clients who don’t yet have a brand and don’t have the budget to invest in a full brand campaign.

Keeping a Balance

Throughout the entire process of creating this site, I kept circling back to my initial motivation to create a site that would stand out as unique within a semi-crowded market. It was tempting to go off the deep end, but I had to continually remind myself to use retrain. My balance fell between a unique design style and a common structure – a little something for everyone. Regardless of your design preference, the product you were looking for would be easy to locate and purchase. Over all things considered, this was the one underlying principle that could not be compromised.

When I first showed the client these designs, this was something that they immediately appreciated. I explained to them my entire thought process and I believe they were in agreement with all of my decisions. The balance that was kept, however, was the key ingredient that would help this project be successful beyond anything else.

In the end, I was able to fulfill all of the project goals (mine as well as the clients), within a fairly quick turn-around. Working off of our pre-established trust as the foundation of this project helped expedite everything while create a project that we could all feel satisfied with. See the full site in and all of it’s details at www.eeharbor.com. Be sure to buy some products while you’re there!

This past January, Terra Nova celebrated their 5th year anniversary. This presented them with a particularly good opportunity to not only step back and  reflect on their growth, but to also give thanks for their blessings and begin to anticipate what the future holds. What better way to celebrate an event such as this with some new, bright and shiny graphics?

The concept started small. We thought it’d be great to create a t-shirt that in some way reflected the past 5 years. The solution, came quickly: Turn the tagline that has had such an impact on the church into some sort of organic type treatment. So that’s exactly what I did. Doing so, however, paved the way for a bunch of other graphics and needs to follow shortly after: presentation slides, posters, post cards, various advertisements, a wall graphic and a 2010 annual report (which will be reviewed later).

An Evolving Brand

Keeping up with the branding behind an active church is a full time job. Not only are churches constantly going through different series (which all require their own set of graphics), but they’ve also got plenty of separate ministries, missions, classes and in this case, celebrations which all require the same amount of attention. Each separate ‘event’ typically carries it’s own separate feel, but for obvious reasons, still needs to work cohesively with the foundational church brand. It’s a tall order to say the least. With that said, it’s always good practice to create graphics that can both stand alone but also play nicely with others.

In a way, this was part of the ration behind the already obvious decision to use “Life. Place. Meaning.” as the t-shirt graphic. Doing so, proved to be not only effective, but really efficient in the long run.

The Details

I’m a t-shirt guy. I’ve always been one, too. So anytime someone comes to me and requests a shirt design, I’m more than happy to accommodate (even if the payment is only a few size mediums). If there’s one thing I like more than t-shirts, it’s simplistic t-shirts. These days, there are so many graphic tee’s that are beyond cluttered, it can be hard to tell one brand from another. With that in mind, I wanted to keep this design minimal. I wanted to place a focus on the text, while putting an organic spin on the concept.

After a few rounds of sketches I had a good idea of how I wanted to break up each letter in an effort to create something that, at first glance, seems abstract, but then becomes more apparently clear over a time.

The resulting design seemed to do the trick. As planned from the begging, it was also versatile enough to be reworked for the needs that came shortly after completion – presentation slides, posters, post cards, various advertisements and a wall graphic (not all shown here).

Photo by Jonathan Christopher (shot with camera+ on his iPhone)

The Next Phase

The beauty of this project not only lies within the fact that I was pleased with the results, but also the fact that I’ve got some more ammo in my church design arsenal that I can reuse when appropriate. Shortly after the completion of this project came the need for Terra Nova’s 2010 Annual Report (as I mentioned above). The Annual Report required it’s own sort of feel, but still needed to be connected to the Terra Nova Roots. Using the “Life. Place. Meaning.” treatment as a prominent element throughout the report acted as the visual glue that held the whole campaign together. More on that later…

Down-the-Road Thinking

This is what design and brand is all about: Creating a path for an organizations visual identity to follow, while contemplating how that visual treatment will pan out further down the road. What direction will it take? How long will it last? How will the organizations internal changes affect the path you’ve set them on? All of these questions (and more) are worth considering when working on any project you care about. Doing so ahead of time, will most likely save you many hours when directional changes inevitably surface in the future.

It’s true that the hub of any well thought out marketing campaign is some sort of web component. How can it not be? Everyone’s on the web, all the time. So where does print even fit in? I like to think of ‘print’ as the icing on the cake. Not just regular icing though – extra special icing. If you don’t have it, it’s no big deal. If you do have it, you better be sure it’s over-the-top nice or else you might have wasted your efforts and resources.

Pulling out all the stops

A client I’ve recently had the pleasure of working with understands this concept. They were in need of a corporate brochure and they were insistent that I did what it took to get the job done right. The content had to be targeted, the design had to be effective, the dimensions had to be strategic, and the paper choice (as well as the printing techniques) had to display quality. All sounded good to me.

Though the company is complex in itself, I had a fairly good understanding of their needs as I had created their website about a year prior to this. Their corporate brochure was essentially a streamlined version of their site but with a few updated design elements to better represent it’s printed nature.

I’m a firm believer that in terms of design, the web and print are two completely different playing fields. With print, you can rely on the sense of touch to provoke and action. In contrast, the web loses this element completely and exclusively relies on visuals. Therefore, a seemingly flat design can be very effective when printed, but fall on it’s face when put on the web. So it was a great experience to be able to extract the look and feel that I had created for their site, then modify it to work for their brochure.

I focused on bands of colors rather than gradations. I made the images bleed off the edge, rather than confining them to boxes and I kept the palette bold and dramatic in order to drive home the messaging.

This projects finished size is 9 x 12 and it came in at 12 pages. It consists of a built in pocket folder and back page cover flap which folds over all pages onto the first inside spread. Printing Specs include: Offset printing throughout with embossing and clear foil stamp on the cover.

Clean Living vs. Nostalgia

Our lives are becoming more and more digital by the day, so it get’s harder and harder to create something that somebody will actually want to keep a physical copy of. I certainly don’t think print is going anywhere though. Just like the fact that futuristic meal replacements (in pill form) will never overcome a legitimate steak dinner, print will always prove to be an effective tool of communication when executed properly.