We make useful tools

We work with people in organizations to make tools they can use to do their work and reach the organizations' goals. We create communication tools that help connect you to your audience, convey your message and accurately reflect you and your organization. We do this by taking your team of decision-makers through a brand development process, which is followed by the design work on your specific projects. The results of the brand development process directs the design work.

Brand development and design is a translation process. We design the symbols that represent who you are and what you believe. We tap into your knowledge and expertise about your organization, your product and your audience, and then translate your meanings, values, and intentions into graphic tools that resonate with your audience — tools that feel right.

We believe that your tools should not get in your way.
They should help you move forward.

We believe that too many organizations are missing an opportunity to use readily available tools that will help them reach their goals. They say the wrong thing about themselves when they use sub-standard design, stories that don't feel natural, and stiff writing that doesn't do enough to inspire their audiences.

Our focus is to work with people who are in the business of improving lives. The range of our clients include the arenas of medical technology, healthcare, and life sciences (but we have some outliers in completely unrelated fields too). We believe that organizations that are doing this important work deserve tools that will help them reach their goals, and not hinder them.

Design may seem fluffy when compared to what goes on in the lab, the operating theater, or the boardroom, but we know that design can make the difference between your end results being heard, seen, understood and adopted ... or not.

What we do: the bullet list

• Brand development: We start from scratch to help you articulate your brand and create the entire brand toolbox for your organization. We take your organization through a very interesting and rewarding process that results in a creative platform that will resonate not only with your audience, but also with the people within your organization.

• Design: of any type of visual communication you can imagine

• Brand maintenance: We watch the brand and create items you need over time — always in keeping with your brand

• Brand expansion: Some organizations have a few brand elements they are dedicated to, but need to expand their toolbox intelligently and seamlessly in order to make their supporting materials more relevant and resonant to their audiences. We expand your brand toolbox without losing the elements that formed the original foundation of your brand.

• Brand re-development: Sometimes brands are developed organically over time, and eventually the elements become disparate. We provide an assessment, and develop a plan to redirect your brand to a place that really resonates, and gets all the pieces working in concert.

• Brand adherence: In some cases clients want us to take over from a previous firm. In these special cases, we carefully adhere to the previously established brand guidelines to maintain consistency for you, and then suggest improvements where needed.

• Naming: Some clients don't have a name yet — in our books, this is great! Involving us in the naming process helps you get a name that works really well, especially from a design perspective. Believe it or not, some words and phrases just look better than others.

• Special projects: Most projects relate to a specific brand identity, but some stand on their own

What we produce

First and foremost, we produce ideas! But ideas need to be translated into tools you can use in your work — and that is where our work comes in. Our work is produced with technical acumen, clear communication and good project management, and manifests in:

• Logos
• Identity systems
• Websites
• Printed collateral like catalogues, posters, brochures, etc.
• info-graphics
• Packaging
• Email newsletters
• Trade show booths and accompanying items
• Illustration
• Copy-writing — in special cases