milan 2009
Every April, Mikayla (my Main Squeeze) and I spend a week in Milan during the Salone Internazionale del Mobile, the Modern Furniture Fair. Milan is the world center of design for both fashion and furniture, so the city opens its doors to an international design community of over 300,000 with hundreds of showrooms putting on special installations and events, in addition to the largest, most extensive trade show facility I have ever experienced. Las Vegas pales by comparison.
Foerstel doesn’t design furniture or interiors (yet), but all design projects share the same basic principles, and being immersed in the innovation, imagination and passion of the design culture in Milan for a week is unbelievably inspiring. I come back to work refreshed and with a renewed perspective and energy. more »
idaho shakespeare posters
Aspiring actor or a performance lover? Every year Idaho Shakespeare Festival has us design a poster that is not only displayed in the windows of local businesses, but as an added bonus, the actors autograph a few of them for the well-deserved community members who wholeheartedly support this nonprofit organization. Thanks to Tom (Foerstel), we’ve got a few of these autographed posters hanging around here. N-I-C-E.
holes in your font?
There are holes in your font! But that’s a good thing. In the spirit of Earth Day, we feel it would be a good time to let you know that the old beloved font Arial is now available with a lighter carbon footprint! By studding each letter with tiny holes—unnoticeable at 12-point size or below—you will use 20% less ink. Download here.
r.w. knudsen, sparkling essence
R.W. Knudsen is extremely pleased with the logo and brand architecture we developed for their new line of all-natural, lightly-flavored organic sparkling waters.
long haul nutrition
Long Haul Nutrition™ was founded with one simple goal: promote the health of long haul truckers with delicious and nutritious, all-natural products designed to fit the lifestyle of the Long Haul driver. We were brought in by our strategic partner Donahoe Pace to launch this new brand into convenience stores and truck stops. The first of several planned products is the Energy Plus energy drink.
evolution of a brand
Compostable picnicware that outperforms the plastic stuff, and it’s made from a combination of potato and other vegetable starches! Great concept, great product, great name, and all it needed was an effective launch strategy that included brand identity, packaging and a slew of marketing and promotion materials. Below is a selection of brand identity concepts that were presented to the client. more »
united dairymen of idaho
As a rule we won’t do spec work. But every once in a while an opportunity comes along that makes us break the rules. We were invited by one of our strategic partners, Donahoe Pace, to be a part of the team to pitch the United Dairymen of Idaho. The client asked for one campaign, and we gave them three! We felt that the demographics for milk, cheese, and yogurt each deserved a targeted message rather than a blanket approach. We would have loved to work with United Dairymen of Idaho, but have no regrets about the ideas we presented. more »
weaving an organic web
We have been pursuing an active personal and professional interest in the organic industry for over a decade–long before green was more than just a color and back when organic appealed primarily to hippy-types. When we started attending the Natural Product Tradeshows, Expo East and Expo West, for the most part, exhibitors fit the “crunchy” stereotype of wearing Birkenstocks, having long hair, and rolling granola (yes, granola!) in their booths. There was a lot of education needed to get the term organic into the mainstream.
In 2000, we launched AllOrganicLinks.com to connect people with resources for purchasing organic products (vote with your dollars!) and to facilitate connecting like-minded businesses with eachother.
Not long after, thanks to efforts throughout this passionate industry, organic demand started to grew, along with a need for consumer-friendly organic education. Organic.org was born as a result and seeks to provide factual information to consumers looking to make educated purchasing decisions.
