Tag: Concepting

CoveyLaw / Tamizdat

The problem: Making an arts law firm look hip as well as professional. Starting as the nonprofit cultural exchange organization Tamizdat in the late ’90s, and then expanding…

Carleton College Career Center

The problem: Getting the Career Center the attention it deserves. In their most recent strategic plan, Carleton College placed a top priority on their career center, an office…

Jenny Arneson

The problem: Expanding Jenny Arneson’s image from neighborhood mom to high-profile civic leader. In 2010, first-time candidate Jenny Arneson was running for Minneapolis School Board against a better-funded…

Brad Bourn

The problem: Turning a nice idea into a usable brand. When Brad Bourn challenged a sitting park board commissioner in 2008, he was a relatively unknown candidate with…

Will Morgan

The problem: Sheer quantity of pieces, coordinated with other agencies, while maintaining coherent brand and message. State Representative Will Morgan was in the unenviable position of representing a…

Theatre de la Jeune Lune

The problem: Finding a new audience. When I took over as marketing director for this highly-acclaimed theater company in 2007, they were suffering from a declining and aging…

Thrivent Financial

The problem: Getting 2,500 small business owners to make the right marketing decisions. In 2017, I was contracted by Thrivent Financial’s newly formed integrated marketing department to build…

Jessica Peterson

The problem: Succeeding with “different.” In 2006, I managed the Minnesota State Senate campaign of Rice County Commissioner Jessica Peterson. Because the candidate was an old friend, and…

Bookstores

The problem: Amazon. Kind of. I like bookstores. Few things in the commercial world feel as deserving of good promotion more than independent bookstores. Most recently I created…

Not For Tourists

The problem: Making good design repeatable. The Manhattan-based guidebook publisher had published a single edition of one title when I joined their team in 2000. For the next…

Kirsten Gillibrand

The problem: Expressing a new candidate’s classiness to equally classy donors. Much political advertising is uninspiring at best, and amateurish or downright crass at worst. I entered this…

Something Fierce

The problem: Putting the whole history of a band into one small package. Something Fierce were a mildly successful Twin Cities band in the 1980s, releasing four albums…

Logos

The problem: Capturing everything about an organization in one simple image. I suspect there are very few graphic designers who don’t love designing logos. I certainly do, but…