Case Studies

In the fall of 2007, we received a call from sisters Katherine Kallinis and Sophie LaMontagne, who both left their corporate jobs to open a gourmet cupcake shop in Washington DC: Georgetown Cupcake. The sisters needed a logo that projected an elegant and upscale brand identity for use on the shop awning, menu, merchandise and other materials. Several logo concepts were developed and quickly narrowed to the final design which included three icons – graphic representations of their signature cupcake frosting decoration.

NYU Langone may oversee births on a daily basis, but the recent delivery of one project marked a particularly special occasion: the Medical Center’s first printed Annual Report.

Mergers and acquisition are certainly nothing new in the world of biotech.  As communicators we recognize that clarity and thoughtfulness of communication before, during and after a merger or acquisition are essential to successful integration. For small, publicly traded companies, the corporate website, investor presentation and annual report are key vehicles to “get the story out,” particularly in the wake of M&A or strategic shifts in the business. ViroPharma.com is an example of a recent corporate website redesign, driven in part by the acquisition of Lev Pharmaceuticals, that gets the new ViroPharma story out effectively.

In our second year producing an AR for Burst Media, we’ve had the opportunity to create a design scheme that reflects the vibe of the company and presents information in a graphic form.

CareScout®  is an innovative service firm focused on helping people make intelligent, informed decisions about eldercare.  Founded in 1997 and acquired by Genworth Financial in 2008, the firm continues to grow and expand.  A rebranding initiative was kicked off in 2009 to launch CareScout as more modern and approachable for consumers; we were selected to assist them with this effort.  The CareScout rebranding story is a good example of the way we work and the results we like to deliver. It’s a matter of process, visual continuity and product.

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CYCLE Kids is a nonprofit organization based in Cambridge, MA, that
promotes healthy eating and exercise among children. Their
bicycle-based curriculum covers riding technique, road safety, and
nutrition to give kids a big-picture understanding of the benefits of
an active lifestyle.

These days, content-managed web solutions are the norm. Few, however, can easily integrate with pre-existing corporate databases. We worked with our client Brooklyn Law School to create a custom solution which transparently integrates CMS content with information from two internal school databases.

One of my favorite writers, Italo Calvino, published a book of essays about fiction in 1985 called Six Memos for the Next Millennium, that describes the characteristics of what fiction can and should be. The titles of his essays can serve as a useful construct for many creative endeavors, including websites. Asked to speak about trends in web design at Boston College in September, I used Calvino’s construct to talk about those trends.

Given the opportunity to design a presentation, most of us might respond with a polite, “Thanks, but no thanks.” This is understandable knowing what typically comes to mind are bulleted talking points, crude diagrams, org charts…and PowerPoint. We all love to hate it, especially designers. A PowerPoint presentation done right, however, can capture the audience and be memorable –- it’s just that you have to leverage its strengths, have deep content, a good script, and a presenter who is comfortable in front of a large audience and able to engage the audience.

We’re pleased to announce that our Contexticon site for the New Testament Language Project has been selected as a finalist in the Education and Learning category for the 14th Annual MITX Interactive Awards. Held annually by the Massachusetts Innovation & Technology Exchange, the MITX Awards recognize excellence in the creation of web innovations designed, produced or developed in New England.