3VERB Dives into the Next Decade The author Graham Greene once said: “There is always one moment in childhood when the door opens and lets the future in.” That sentiment is certainly true for me. Sometime around 1982 a generous neighbor noticed my intrigue with the Sinclair ZX81 he had somehow managed to acquire and gave it to me. It still was the age of room-sized mainframe […]
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I Got You
The Power of Observation and Prediction in Customer Service When colleagues visit Chicago, the first stop is usually downtown. I’m proud of the city and a walk from North Clark or along Michigan Ave reinforces that: tourists on their way to “The Bean,” the start of Route 66 (America’s Highway) across the street from the Art Institute, the striking orchestra musicians playing outside Symphony Hall just down […]
Black & White
On Location for Aldila Golf in California Glad to spend a few days shooting for Aldila Golf outside of San Diego with the super-talented adventure photographer, Mike Calabro, this January. A great way to start the year: enthusiastic client, lucky weather, and a stack of quality photos to support social media outreach for a legendary brand. Shown here decked out in his black and white […]
Thankful
Sometimes the Flowers Arrange Themselves On site with David Edwards Clothier — importer of fine Italian cashmere and couture menswear — here in Chicago. It’s 8:30 on a cold, November Saturday morning. Two floors of windows, at left, are allowing the natural light to outdo even the giant softboxes at our studio on North Ave. A group of good people, good food, coffee, sodas, a […]
The Long Game
Meeting Consumer Expectations Means Getting on the Same Timeline For manufacturers going consumer-direct, the benefits are obvious: better margins, the opportunity to interact with enthusiastic consumers and important trends at ground level, and the chance to unplug from an entire layer of distributor logistic hassle and slow payments. But, the journey can also be a harrowing experience with a steep learning curve, too. It’s often […]
Engaged
Are Your Consumers Offered the Excuse to ‘Learn More?’ A large part of our work involves finding the perfect moment in a photograph; sometimes that’s the obvious and authentic laugh of a subject, other times it’s a still life that finds a perfect reflection. But that’s often just the beginning. Given the flood of content flowing across social channels these days, the big trick usually […]
As Seen on TV, Part II
You Can See Our Designs from a Distance We love to work with clients to bring joy and meaning to their corporate messaging and logos. We have helped countless companies reframe their position to demonstrate renewal and vibrancy: a color tweak here, a full overhaul there. We’ve designed packaging for products from food to cycling components and had the opportunity, just a few years ago, […]
People. Product. Profit. People.
Screen Share Can’t Capture the Essence of a Business With many new clients, I take the time to visit the business from the outset. In fact, I generally bake the idea directly into the initial proposal. I’m eager to meet the crew and start to understand not only the business workflow we aim to support with marketing and technology projects, but also the people and […]
Shoot
One year ahead of launch, on location in Chicago with Stonewear Designs Originally a rock-climbing brand from Boulder, Stonewear is widely recognized for producing women’s activewear – including their popular pants and skorts – of incredibly durable and unique fabrics. Now based in California, we decided to shoot the last two season collections (Fall 2018 and Spring 2019) here in Chicago to add a bit […]
Nomenclature
It’s Your Brand, Start Acting Like It Over the last several years, crowdsourcing has shifted the paradigm for both agencies and brands: You can fund the launch of a new product with a Kickstarter campaign and order a dozen corporate logo concepts for $99. I guess that’s good news in some regard, especially if you want three mediocre and nine awful logos. At the same […]