To most people, a photo is just a photo: you shoot it and it’s done. But to an art director, a photo is just a beginning: raw material to be transformed, in ways big and small, on the way to a finished design. A recent ad we did for our client Passionfish (a great restaurant in Pacific Grove,California) shows what I mean. We're lucky that Passionfish co-owner Cindy Walter is a … [Read more...] about The Secrets You Never See: How a Photo Becomes an Ad
Uncategorized
How We Used Animation to Help the Feds Help Veterans
It's a message from the federal government. About taxes. And labor rules.How would you explain it?"It" was the Work Opportunity Tax Credit, or WOTC "Watt-see"). WOTC could help veterans and other deserving people get a job -- if only they, and their potential employers, could learn about it in a way that didn't sound impossibly complicated.Working with our client Social Policy … [Read more...] about How We Used Animation to Help the Feds Help Veterans
The Social Impact Movement: Designing Nonprofits to Succeed
Also published at the Huffington Post. Recently, I raised an awkward question: "Are Nonprofits Designed to Fail?"As I wrote, for all the good work a nonprofit may do, it's often hard to tell if a it's really making a difference: fixing the underlying problem, rather than forever treating symptoms.Now almost by definition, the challenges that nonprofits tackle are hard ones. … [Read more...] about The Social Impact Movement: Designing Nonprofits to Succeed
5 Reasons for Hope From a Gathering of Nonprofit Leaders
Also published at the Huffington Post. People who set out to change the world often get the feeling they may have to settle for a few square feet.Poverty, violence, hunger, disease and injustice are made of resilient stuff, to say nothing of self-interest, bureaucracy and sheer complexity.That's why an event like this year's Nonprofit Management Institute conference is so … [Read more...] about 5 Reasons for Hope From a Gathering of Nonprofit Leaders
Anatomy of a Logo
I love logo design, everything about it, but especially the thought that goes on behind the process - the 'why' of how a new logo comes to be. When our client Global Majority came to us to update their branding and message, this was a great opportunity to explore the connection between an organization and their goals, values, and promise.Global Majority's current logo was about … [Read more...] about Anatomy of a Logo