Congratulations!  It’s nice to see the hard work paying off.

At GROW, we have a lot of big plans and goals for the year which we are excited about. Some changes that already have taken place in the office are having Jennie Thede share our space. Jennie owns Nimble Copy and has partnered with us in the past on website content. It is so great to have her talent and skills in instructional design and writing right at our fingertips! We hope you will come by and meet her.

We appreciate each and every one of our clients so much. Thank you for working with us in 2009, and we look forward to helping make 2010 a successful year for you!

Amy and Jonathan

For this design, we wanted a sleek, minimal sophisticated design so that the wine is the “statement”. After reviewing ways to minimize the paper’s visibility, we worked with Crush Creative Packaging to create a silkscreen label. We were able to actually see a bottle sample before having them produced which was very helpful to make sure the look reflected the premium wine, and for small quantities, it really was a great solution.

Chehalem Statement Pinot Noir

Here are some things to keep in mind.

1. Know who you are. It is essential that you have a business plan or all the information that is needed to create the materials for your brand. If you haven’t laid the foundation, it will harder to build anything around it.

2. Don’t be afraid to tell us what you like, want, your budget. Some people want it to be a magic curtain where we create an amazing solution for them without their input. Some want to tell us exactly what they want, some are afraid that if they tell us too much about what they want, we won’t be creative with the solution. We need to know a lot of information about your target market, your goals, your competition and your general aesthetics to then create the original solution for you. Instead of telling us exactly what you want it to look like, we’ll ask for information that helps us determine your best solution. We work as a partner with you, but also the expert in what we do.

3. The best projects have a strong need and a firm deadline. That is not to say things don’t shift due to external factors, but we have found that projects keep on track when they have momentum. Timely responses on both sides is key.

4. Outsource anything that is not an expertise. One of the hardest things to do is your own self promotion. Maybe it is being too close, or just the pressure. There are many websites that just need some writing or photography that the person in-house wanted to handle but just does not have time on top of their workload. Also, the quality of work you get from professionals is worth it. If you are investing in redoing your website or brochure, the additional cost of photography or writing is money well spent.

5. Let us guide you through the process. For example, unless you have created 100 identities, we probably know the best method for working through the project. No matter how much you want to jump ahead and see a color logo designed with the business card, trust us that the logo needs to start in black and white.

6. Have just one or two core decision makers. Too many cooks in the kitchen is never a good thing. Make sure that anyone who is critical to the decision is involved early enough in the process.

7. Finally, once you receive your style guidelines or brand spanking new website, please keep all that hard work and investment intact by adhering to it religiously. Be careful of corrupting your brand with new fonts, colors or adding things to your website in an unorthodox way.

That’s it. And if you recognize yourself in any of these, rest assured, I am probably not even thinking about your project- these are quite common issues.

Pacific Rim specializes in riesling, and truly has wines for every price point and taste palate from bone dry to sweet. We love working with them- their creativity and innovation extends from their wines to their original ideas to educate and promote these delicious wines. We have much more to say about some fun projects we are helping them with, it is always interesting!

Riesling Made with Organic Grapes

I am glad even more people will be trying these exceptional wines- they are so deserving to be in the top echelon.

Here is the before and after of the home page design. It was buried within the larger parent organization, and did not have it’s own look and feel to match their diverse international audience. They now have their own url and can easily update their site with news and information since it is built using Wordpress.

Old Web page

After redesign- color!

It was a great project to work on, we had previously designed a printed brochure for them, and the bright colors and textures transferred to their website beautifully. We hope that the new design will help promote the life-changing services they provide and encourage more families to be involved.

Thank you Lutheran!

Facebook and Twitter do more than convey news and create networks of people, they help build your brand by giving you a personality. Each message you send conveys more than the words- are you wild, funny, quirky, intelligent, or just serious? I’ll be the first to admit I am not an early adopter of these applications. While I am on Linked In, I don’t necessarily “work” it. I do have a blog- la voilá! My Facebook page is limited to a smaller social network where I can talk about daily matters, but also gives me an instant network for reccommendations, needs (such as a cell phone drive), and keeps me up to date on trends or topics such as Susan Boyle (you should know who she is). GROW has a facebook page that is not being utilized at the moment. We are also on Twitter (growcreative), and by we, I mean me. Through Twitter I can learn about last minute deals- such as when Indie Fest offered a huge discount during the last two hours of their event, I can also find out if the work out room in our office is finally available thanks to our little building group #OMCC.

Depending on your comfort level, time, and enjoyment of updating there is a fit for you in the large social media networks. We’ll discuss your needs and ability and help you choose the best path to take. Bon Tweet!

We have been working, since the very beginning, with EVOO Cannon Beach, a cooking school, catering and gift shop created by Bob Neroni and Lenore Emery. I have personally attended a variety of classes from wine dinners to hands-on brunches and they always exceed my expectations. Bob’s passion and expertise as a chef is apparent with his creative and exquisite menus, always featuring local, in-season ingredients. Lenore teaches a variety of interesting classes and keeps everything running! We are happy that they are celebrating their 5th year this summer. And if you haven’t visited their delightful location in downtown Cannon Beach- well, what are you waiting for? We have had the opportunity to design their identity, website, t-shirts, packaging, and all sorts of fun projects.

The website redesign refreshes their image, has larger images, and is much easier to update using Wordpress. Check it out, and sign up for their email newsletter if you want to know the latest culinary adventures available at the Coast!