Category: Brand

Arizona Coyotes – Environmental Design

Arizona Coyotes

A Shutout on Home Ice

Positive brand reinforcement invites employees to be a part of something bigger. To be a part of the team. For the Arizona Coyotes, the experience off the ice is just as essential as game day. The brief was simple. Using environmental design, elevate the game of their hockey offices. Transform the space into an arena where they feel empowered to strategize, make executive decisions and celebrate wins as a team.

Read more To begin, we drafted a few conceptual plays of our own. The first blended the desert landscape with the idea that hockey belongs in Arizona. The second drew inspiration from the principal elements of hockey to echo the energy of the big game. Incorporating real hockey gear constructs a sense of preparedness and encourages the team's ambitious spirit.

Key messaging and a bit of history speak to what it means to be a part of the Coyotes organization. The environment creates a feeling of belonging – reassuring all who enter that they are part of the team.

SERVICES

Environmental Design, Print & Production

Arizona Coyotes Skates
pucks used in the environmental design

Our Pack. The Team.

The Team is a great deal more than the 20 players on the ice. It’s everyone. From the equipment staff to the production team, and from the sales team to box office – what happens off the ice is crucial to the success on the ice. The perpetual strategy. The frequent travel. The countless pots of coffee. The untold number of meetings. The X’s and O’s. The game. It all embodies The Team.

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Artboard 2 copy
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Building a Kachina

We needed one last element – a stand-out piece to finish off the room. Standing six feet, five inches the custom built, three-dimensional Arizona Coyotes Kachina sets the tone for the conference room. Walk into the next meeting and you’ll immediately realize they mean business. Watch the Kachina come to life.

Close up of kachina on wall
Our Pack, Our Team. Word art.
Environmental design conference room photo

Lumber and Biscuits

Confused? Don't be. We cleaned up at the yard sale. You know? When a hockey player gets hit so hard he loses all of his equipment. We employed real hockey gear and textures like grip tape, biscuits (hockey pucks) and lumber (hockey sticks) to add that authentic touch of the game to the space.

Wooden Hockey sticks with Arizona Coyotes branding
Kachina outline with Core Team Values
Arizona Coyotes Jersey Close Up Kuemper

Cruz Tequila Branding

Cruz Tequila

Affordable Luxury

A small, promising tequila label sought to share their craft with kindred spirits. By re-telling their story we gave new customers a chance to discover the Cruz Tequila experience.

Read more Photography, compelling writing and narrative-centric design create a genuine experience for connoisseurs. Our designs featured the history, passion and expert care taken at every step of the production process. A taste of Cruz Tequila is not only a sip of alcohol. It is a drink from bottles hand-blown by local artisans. A visit to a nostalgic plot of land, nestled in the highlands of Jalisco. Relaxing in a century old farmhouse turned tasting room. The spirit of Cruz lives beyond the confines of a bottle.

SERVICES

Brand Development, Strategy, Positioning, Web design, Campaign Development, Photography

Tequila Branding Let the Good Limes Roll
Website photography tequila branding hero shot

Carefully Crafted

The imagery on the website celebrates the time-honored tradition of distilling tequila. Our shoots resulted in warm, rich photography capturing the smooth and flavorful essence of the product.

From the
Ground Up

Tradition and patience are the two main ingredients that create a legendary spirit. Above all, the design is timeless, honoring the dedication to the product from start to finish.

Tequila branding a sense of place

Cruzcumber tequila cocktail recipe
Cruz is affordable luxury
Various cocktail photography

Constructing A Brand That Builds Our Community

Constructing a community is equal parts demanding and ambitious. Meet Desert Rose, the talented visionaries building our neighborhoods. By hand. Brick by brick.

They came to us looking for a way to gain recognition in a new market. The parent company, Rose Development Corporation, is a full service construction firm based in Chicago. Desert Rose is the new Southwest branch for commercial and residential building and remodeling. Upon entering the new market, we were responsible for constructing a brand for their new environment and audience in Arizona.

Three logo concepts for Desert Rose
Three logo concepts for Desert Rose.

Debuting the newly-minted Desert Rose Group posed a familiar design challenge common with subsidiaries. The brief made clear the need to develop a mark distinct to Desert Rose while honoring the existing identity of the parent company. This called for both visual alignment and careful differentiation between the two entities.

Trust in contractors is paramount, so we wanted to design a grounded, transparent representation of the company.  Taking inspiration from our surroundings, we began by shaping a positive customer perception. We leveraged the solid foundation the two companies had already built. The mark pays tribute to the planning and forethought required to create amazing spaces.

Desert Rose logo - full color
The mark reflects the value that Desert Rose is built on the foundation of quality construction.

The same building blocks used in their daily work became a metaphor used as the foundation in constructing a brand for their future. It was this approach that would create a meaningful connection with their audience.

Custom Business Card Design for Desert Rose.
Cards printed on ultra thick 260# stock with custom painted edges.

Utilizing an amiable typeface with classic roots is central to the logo design. Balancing type with a color palette that represents trust and vitality drove the finishing nail. The result is an identity that is capable and potent.

One that pays homage to the nature of building a secure and successful tomorrow.


Robert Rivera Fine Art Book Design

Robert Rivera

The Art of the Book

Art and storytelling are inseparable. The need to share values and ideas through various mediums has been a primal characteristic of humankind throughout history. This need drew us to the opportunity to work with the Torres Gallery and Robert Rivera. Through the lens of Rivera’s limitless work, we aimed to honor traditional tribal art with fine art book design.

Read more

Finding inspiration in gourds, Rivera stitches, cuts, breaks, scorches and wraps them to reveal new forms: medicine men, Navajo warriors, and Hopi butterfly maidens. Rivera takes otherwise mundane objects and transforms them into objects of beauty and power. 

To capture the majesty of Rivera’s work, we drew out the details through decisively lit photography, a complementary color palette, and layouts that focused on pieces as well as the whole of the work. All of these elements combined created a celebratory artist book.

SERVICES

Collateral, Photography, Print

Robert Rivera Gourd Mask
Robert Rivera soft book cover design

The complexity. The detail. The color. The dramatic elements. All the pieces of Rivera's work come together within this fine art book design.

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Splinter & Corkcicle. Of Course We Wood.

It’s no secret brands delight in seeing their name on things, so when we found some wood-grain-inspired tumblers from one of our favorite brands we couldn’t resist. Projects like this keep our creative edges sharp. Working with new materials and different printing constraints adds to the bucket of knowledge that we share with our clients. Plus it never hurts to have a little fun.

Our design was heavily influenced by printing techniques and limitations. We wrestled with all options for imprinting. From pad printed, to silk screen, and from router inlays to laser engraved. All techniques had benefits and their own restrictions. Our initial sketches explored printing a large logo that would cover an entire side of the tumbler and bleed off the top and bottom. We wanted a finished product that was bold and impactful, but it was the constraints of production methods that informed the final design, and what would be possible. We reverted back to the sketch pads to rethink on how to create the most impact with the wood product and smaller imprint area.

Close up of Splinter logo on wood Corkcicle.

A simple knocked out logo celebrates the wood-grain texture and gives our brand center stage. While visually it is not as forceful as the original design, it does impart a secondary message that the first concept was lacking – design reveals meaning. The knockout visual enhances the relationship between the word “Splinter” and the wood-grain texture. Which in turns strengthens the connotations of our name with you, our audience. This is always the intention of design though it’s usually less literal.

You have to admit, it’s a cool cup. We enjoy taking inspiration from our work lives to make something that communicates a little bit about what we do. From solving puzzles to taking notes, we’ve made a few thoughtful, and award-winning, promotional gifts.

Healthcare Trust of America (NYSE: HTA) Partners with Local Agency, Splinter

A growing portfolio, committed investors, and enthusiastic tenants. These three components are the foundation of Healthcare Trust of America’s (HTA) advancement in their field, and the value in becoming partners with Splinter. As the largest public owner and operator of medical office buildings in the United States, they are continually improving their portfolio and assets.

They came to us to transform their website and digital assets into a beautiful resource that caters to each affiliate’s specific needs. HTA becoming partners with Splinter allowed us to work alongside the Standard & Poor Global team to construct a new website design that would grow alongside them. The finished design is both beautiful and functional.

Having such a powerful tool that provides a wonderful user experience ushers even more validation for the HTA business model. The work we created and the final website features the strengths of the business and portfolio. The strong digital foundation will help support the future of the company, knowing that HTA has sustainable digital presence for years to come.

Real Estate Website Design & Branding SEVRAR

Connection, commitment and community are the values that drive the SouthEast Valley Regional Association of REALTORS® (SEVRAR). Their focus is to provide support to their members through education, advocacy programs and networking events. Our focus for this real estate website design project was to build an intuitive hub for members to access the many available resources.

Website design with beautiful landscapes shown on mobile phones

A multitude of information and assets are needed to support Arizona’s largest, local REALTOR® Association. An extensive array of valuable tools, from continued education classes to political advocacy and home tours, required thoughtful restructuring. The result was a new site architecture that was both intuitive and comprehensive for the end user.

The site navigation was meticulously curated to ease the user experience and provide a clear, logical path to the desired information. Hierarchy defined through type size, color and updated brand assets adds to the value of the SEVRAR website as viewed by the realtor community.

Landing page designs viewed on an iPad

Deviating from the expected imagery you might find with typical real estate website design work, and expanding the horizons of community, Arizona’s landscape fills this website with a warm, approachable feeling that says, “Welcome Home.” 

Breathtaking imagery, inventive navigation and clever details fulfill a design solution as thoughtful as SEVRAR’s mission. 

Bike Tree – New Product Brand Development

Bike-tree

TAKE BACK YOUR GARAGE

Riders unite for the appreciation of a safer and better way to store their bikes. When this simple but brilliant bike storage system debuted, the manufacturer needed a brand identity to accelerate their product launch into retail and e-commerce stores.

Read more Our goal was to pave the way into all types of cyclists’ homes, focusing on the simplicity of the product compared to other bike storage options. The positioning and distribution strategy called for the development of a full suite of collateral and brand assets.

The brand experience leverages a simplified color system, upbeat lifestyle imagery and compelling product photography, creating a relatable brand experience that showcases Bike Tree’s versatility and functionality. Whether you’re cruising the beach, racing or just learning, the message is clear. However you ride, store smart.

SERVICES

Advertising, Brand Development, Brand Management, Copywriting, Packaging, Photography, Print, Website Design

Hip Office with Bike

Jump into the Saddle

A big idea for small spaces from a team of inventors, engineers and cyclists. Transform any room with a useful storage system and get organized.

A strong challenge for our team was not only to show how the product solves a tricky storage problem, but also declutters their life through a clear design message. In a competitive market for home improvement and storage solutions, the clean visual identity aligns nicely with folks looking to bring order to their garage.

Bike Tree's Four Bike Stand with bikes
Bike Tree Masonry
Bike Tree trifold brochure

Framing the Bike Tree Story

Just as Bike Tree is a clever, compact storage system, our design solution called for something just as efficient and equally smart. Portraying various lifestyles, demographics and environments was crucial to the story of this product. A brand narrative tells the story of unity. No matter how you ride - in the city, on the trails, or around the block - you can store smarter.

 

As Bike Tree grows its market share, we will continue delivering their message to the market – a system that is built for helping people organize their lives.

Blue Beach Cruiser and Child's Red Bike
BikeTreeDevices_1
Woman on a beach cruiser

Thinking outside of the box. Literally.

The excitement of unboxing that perfect new addition to your life. The appreciation for easy-to-understand assembly instructions. Achieved through packaging with the modern aesthetic of Scandinavian design coupled with the industrial touch of cardboard and attentive type.

Bold, clean design all waiting for you at your front door.

Bike Tree Box Packaging
Hipster Businessmen on Fixies

Putting the Pieces Together, a Design Challenge

For our promotional project this year we invited people into the process of visual problem-solving. Great design is purposeful, it solves a problem through a combination of logic, creativity and ingenuity. Another important aspect of the design process is playfulness. It is necessary to explore different concepts, adjust them, and push the limits to see how elastic an idea is – at what point does it lose its context and become too unrecognizable? We wanted to find one item to embody all these ideas. Tangram puzzles were the perfect design challenge.

Tangram design challenge boxes

One puzzle consists of seven geometric pieces that combine to make a square. A deck of cards provides a series of figures, animals and landmarks formed by rearranging the seven pieces. It seems simple until you realize there are infinite ways to put the seven pieces together. We made it even trickier by including two puzzles with some cards combining all 14 pieces to make one design. One might call this an advancedgram.

Tangrams have seemingly endless possibilities and the final arrangements are very subjective. Two people may look at a completed puzzle and see two completely different things. This is similar to design at its heart and the challenges designers engage with during every project. Ultimately, we want our designs to be unique, but they also need to be recognizable to a wider audience. 

cards with design challenge images

In true Splinter fashion, we used wooden puzzles in wooden boxes with red and white cards. We kept the design simple so that the puzzles could be the hero of the project. We were overwhelmingly pleased to win a silver ADDY from The American Advertising Federation (AAF). But we were even more pleased to give a peek into the creative mind. Having a little fun while getting to the crux of the design challenge, that is our pointy genius.

Healthcare Trust Of America Property Management Website

Healthcare Trust
of America

Invested in Results

Owning and operating hundreds of medical office buildings across the country takes dedication and support. The Healthcare Trust of America (NYSE: HTA) website needed a contemporary update to reflect their industry-leading commitment. The new design showcases the value of the company to attract high caliber investors.

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HTA has built strong relationships with investors and tenants through their full-service operating platform. We were tasked with building an equally strong digital platform. The new design values accessibility, simplicity and a fresh approach to real-estate investing.

In collaboration with S&P Global, we redesigned the Investor Relations portal. The result is a well-organized, easy to use library of financials. An intuitive experience gives investors confidence in HTA and the future growth of the portfolio

SERVICES

Brand Management, UI/UX,
Web Design & Development

One Portfolio Two Perspectives

Two of the main functions of the HTA site are to deliver statistics to investors and celebrate tenants. Beautiful asset photography showcases HTA's portfolio in a manner that appeals to both audiences. Intuitive navigation helps users find content quickly within the corporate hub.

Healthcare Trust of America Web Design Desktop
Healthcare Trust of America Web Design Responsive Devices

Systematic Global Insights

Shareholder experience is paramount, as the site is required to grow with the company. In large part, the Investor Relations portal needed to be streamlined and built out to be a strong tool for current and prospective investors. Access to a multitude of resources including current and historical data, a library of documents and financial reports is available without feeling content-heavy. Collaborating with S&P to present all data accurately and with full functionality allowed us to focus on defining hierarchy and structuring navigation.

Healthcare Trust of America Web Design for Desktop
Mission Viejo new development brochure

Growing the Community

One focus area for HTA is to establish new medical office buildings in key locations. These facilities are strategically selected to further support and develop medical campuses. We designed a line of collateral to market the prospective tenant experience. Through architectural renderings, demographic data, and local maps, we constructed a detailed overview of how each new development fits into the existing landscape.