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BUSINESS CARDS FOR FLORAL AND HOME DECOR STORE
Recently, we had the opportunity to design the identity, website and business cards for a new store: Forget Me Not In Stillwater. For the design, we drew upon a combination of trellis-style frames and old world illustrations with fresh, contemporary colors. Here’s the result:
TWO MIX CREATIVE PROJECTS REPRESENTED IN DESIGN ANNUAL
This year’s Graphic Design USA American Graphic Design Awards Annual (November/December 2011 issue—in print and online) features roughly 1,000 pieces, selected from among nearly 9,000 entries, from design and advertising firms across the United States. Featured categories include: annual reports, advertising, announcements/invitations/cards, brochures/collateral, calendars, catalogs, direct mail/direct response, editorial design, identity/corporate identity/logo design, internet, multimedia/broadcast, packaging, POP signs/environmental graphics, posters, public services, sales promotion, and students.
Mix Creative is proud to be among the firms represented, with recognition for both Corporate Naming and Identity Design (Ditto & Co), and Internet Design (Halleland Habicht, PA). Credits include Katrina Hase (art direction), Rod Wilson (photography), Diane Autey and Barb Prindle (copywriting), and Steven Ray (web development).
This year’s judging panel included leaders in the graphic design community, including Walter Porras (Walmart), Jenn David Connolly (Jenn David Design), Steve Perry (Bailey Brand Consulting), Lee Gobbi (Daymon Design), and Martha Heath.
A big thank you to Gretchen Ditto from Ditto & Co and Katheryn Gettman/Natalie Wyatt-Brown from Halleland Habicht for their insight and collaboration in their respective projects. Each of these companies truly understand and appreciate the importance of visual branding for reaching their critical target audiences.
Mix Creative is proud to be featured in the book, Visual Marketing: 99 Proven Ways for Small Businesses to Market with Images and Design. Here’s a little video about the book, available at most book outlets including Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble. Check out our examples on pages 159–160, featuring the work we did for Ditto & Co. Enjoy!
CONCERT POSTER SPOTLIGHTS CHOIR’S 15 YEARS
Mix Creative designed a concert poster for the upcoming Twin Cities Women’s Choir’s 15th Anniversary concert, Surround Sound. The concert will celebrate the choir’s 150 women’s voice and the richess of stories and sound established over the choir’s 15 years. The concert will blend with the gospel/jazz of the Bruce A Henry band.
In creating the design, Mix Creative’s creative director, Katrina Hase, conceptualized sound as waves, emanating from a central source: the choir’s 15 years. “Sound wave” design elements lead the eye toward the concert name, which is intentionally broken after the SUR- to emphasize the relationship between “round” and “sound”, thus implying a fullness of the auditory experience. Superimposing these graphic elements over a duo-toned image of the choir, the design captures a sense of the excitement of viewing the choir.
Hase referenced the Choir’s brand elements through use of the brand’s color palette, solid bars, brand mark, and brand fonts (text about location, etc.). “The challenge in designing a poster for the Twin Cities Women’s Choir,” Hase explained, “is to create an exciting and independent sub-brand—the concert—while staying true to the Choir’s overall branding.”
THIS QUICK VIDEO SHOWS HOW WE SELECTED PROPS FOR COMPANY BIO PHOTOS
Mix Creative owner and creative director Katrina Hase introduces Halleland Habicht’s Katheryn Gettman, who explains how each lawyer personalizes their bio photo with meaningful props.
See how the shoot turned out! http://hallelandhabicht.com/people/anthony-l-barthel/
Behind the camera (not shown): Rod Wilson
TWO ENTRIES SELECTED FOR GRAPHIC DESIGN USA AWARDS
Here at Mix Creative we’ve got some BIG NEWS to share! We’re pleased as punch to announce that two of our submissions have been selected as winners in the Graphic Design USA 2011 American Graphic Design Awards, including:
The winning entries were selected from over 8,000 submissions! The competition is open to ad agencies, design firms, corporations, institutions, publishers and more.
We happily share these honors with our clients, especially Gretchen Ditto (Ditto & Co), Katheryn Gettman, William Habicht, Natalie Wyatt-Brown, and Elissa Lindquist (marketing committee at Halleland Habicht).
Special thanks also to the Mix Creative team for their great work: Rod Wilson (Ditto & Co, Halleland Habicht portraits), Steve Ray (web development, Halleland Habicht site), and Barb Prindle (copywriting, Halleland Habicht).
Look for all of the winning designs in the November/December 300-page American Graphic Awards Design Annual, and on the GDUSA.com website (coming soon!).
MIX CREATIVE HELPS LOCAL FIRM GIVE THE GIFT OF TIME
Recently, Mix Creative had the pleasure to work with Minnesota Women in Networking’s 2012 Destined to WIN recipient, Deb Brown of Time Creators.
Deb came to us looking for an innovative direct mail campaign that she could send out to a select group of prospects in her target market, most of whom signed up to receive more information at one of her sponsor booths at networking events for women business owners.
Time Creators specializes in taking on the little things so [business owners] can do big things. “Little things” include some business-related, but more frequently personal tasks that would otherwise consume hours set aside for work. In essence, she provides the gift of time, allowing business owners to be more productive.
In brainstorming ideas for the mailer, we came up with the fun idea of literally giving gifts of real value that would result in saving time for the recipient. We liked the notion of having a package that the recipient could open, knowing how much fun it is to receive and open a gift. The first mailing, a notepad marked with grocery sections to make shopping easier, set the tone that future gifts would be of equal or greater value. A second mailer (shown below) included a small book of stamps, and the final gift (also shown below) presented a gift card to try Time Creators for three hours free.
Below are some examples of how the campaign was implemented. (more…)
Mix Creative is delighted to announce that our work for Gretchen Ditto at Ditto & Co will be included in the upcoming book, Visual Marketing: 99 Ways for Small Businesses to Market with Visual Design by respected authors David Langton and Anita Campbell. The book is set to be published in September of 2011.
Mix Creative is proud to announce the launch of our newest website design for the Minneapolis law firm, Halleland Habicht PA.
Rationale
The site design centers on the theme that Halleland Habicht is a part of their clients’ teams; Halleland Habicht staff go the extra mile, getting to know the client and their needs. The design expresses the team approach and a sense of going the extra mile with warm colors and dynamic images. Headlines emphasize the firm’s dedication to their clients, while the rest of the copy reinforces the underlying conviction that the client comes first. (more…)
2010 WIN AWARDS RECIPIENTS, INCLUDING KATRINA HASE OF MIX CREATIVE, share the impact of being nominated and receiving a WIN award (January 2011).
Award recipients (L to R):
Katrina Hase, Mix Creative (Destined to Win Award)
Kris Jamieson, Resourcefully Yours (Spirited Leader Award)
Maureen Heinen (Connector Award)
Video created by: Emily Schroder Orvik, Pro Re Nata Communications
