KidsTek (Ad2 Denver Public Service Campaign)

Project Description

{branding + visual identity + brand implementation}
Contributing to Ad2 Denver’s annual Public Service Campaign, b.todd | creative principal Brad Todd donated his talent to the pro bono project, featuring top young professionals from the Denver advertising and marketing industry. KidsTek was chosen as the not-for-profit client, and we were tasked to rebrand the organization amongst other initiatives.

KidsTek is a Denver based NFP that provides computer education and training to underserved youths around the city. They run programs in several schools and work with students from K-12.

KidsTek’s old identity was too “childish” and the color palette was rather dated. They needed something that spoke technology, resonated well from adolescents to teens and lastly inspired their students to reach higher. It also needed to engage potential donors. After teaming up with some talented people and developing over a dozen concepts collectively, Brad’s submitted design was chosen by KidsTek as their new identity. Brad also designed a print ad campaign for the project.

The following people deserve credit for their direct contributions to this brand identity project:

Garrett Beach (Art Direction)
Naomi Wilcox (Art Direction)
Karen Morris (Art Direction)
Nick Neels (Strategy)
Noemi Wilson (Writing)
Lexis Graap (Strategy + Design)
Keith Watts (Strategy + Design)
Anais Mares (Design)
Phillip Camillo (Strategy)

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High Point Academy

Project Description

{brand implementation}
b.todd | creative was again tasked with designing High Point Academy’s annual report. This year was a special one for the school, as they cut the ribbon on a brand new building, saw attendance rise and placed more positive development programs for their students. We wanted to help them celebrate their recent accomplishments by highlighting the new building and the ribbon cutting ceremony on the cover.

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Now fonts can’t be just thrown around anyway you choose. In order to get the most out of a typeface, it needs to be used appropriately and in context. We’ll give you some hints on how each FFOTW can be used effectively as well as uses you may want to avoid.

Font Type: Retro Decorative
Type Foundry: Eben Sorkin
Free Font Weights: 1
Commercial Use: Yes {View License}
Best Uses: Display, headlines, decorative text, especially for a Art Deco, classic Hollywood or retro feel. Great for posters and signage. Also usable as a webfont!
Not So Great For: Body content, small sizes
Appropriate Industries: Great fit for entertainment and service industries. Could work for a variety of other industries, as long as the brand is right and the design makes sense.
Probably Not a Good Fit: Anything that needs to come off as professional or serious.

Construction & Development Advisors

Project Description

{visual identity}
It’s not normal to rebrand a company only a few months after launching, that is the case with this project. Only a after a few months of operating, our client Goulding Development Services partnered with another construction company and GDA was absorbed. A new company was formed to operate in the same function as the old GDA entity.

What started as a simple change out the name and slightly modify colors type of project eventual turned into an additional brand discovery process. We quickly realized that the current logo did not fit the needs of the brand. Although the imagery remained, we revised the look and feel into a more straight forward and professional identity approach.

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If you want to get more out of your marketing collateral and come off as a professional, engaging and strategic, avoid these overused stock image clichés:

The Hand Shake

What you’re trying to say: We are all about relationships and putting you first. Trust us.

What you’re really saying: We are middle of the road, we do and say the same as everyone else. We don’t really have anything new to offer you…trust us?

Even worse if: It appears on your ‘Contact Us’ page or around contact info

The Puzzle Pieces

What you’re trying to say: We solve your problems. We are cutting-edge.

What you’re really saying: We’re masters of the obvious and not very creative. We still depend on imagery popular in the 1990′s, and we haven’t changed the way we work since then either.

Even worse if: The puzzle pieces have embossing, gradients or are 3D

The Random Skyline

What you’re trying to say: This is the city we’re located in!

What you’re really saying: We really have no idea what else to put here, so we’ll indicate the city we’re located in even though you already know that instead of trying to meaningfully engage you.

Even worse if: It’s a poor quality, pixelated and sits in the top right corner of your website header

The Hip Businessperson Silhouette

What you’re trying to say: We are ultra hip and modern

What you’re really saying: We’re trying way too hard to be ultra hip and modern. Our culture and approach is forced.

Even worse if: Silhouette’s are standing next to giant graphs or puzzle pieces

The Old School Compass

What you’re trying to say: We are experienced, traditional and will help guide you where you need to go

What you’re really saying: We are old. We think old, act old and do not like change or progression. We have giant mahogany credenzas. If you like doing business like they did in the 50′s and 60′s, please hire us.

Even worse if: accompanied by an “Old World” map

Now fonts can’t be just thrown around anyway you choose. In order to get the most out of a typeface, it needs to be used appropriately and in context. We’ll give you some hints on how each FFOTW can be used effectively as well as uses you may want to avoid.

Font Type: Modern Sans Serif
Type Foundry: Vissol
Free Font Weights: 4: Regular, Medium, Bold & Black
Commercial Use: Yes
Best Uses: Display, logos, headlines, decorative text as well as body text in certain cases. Also usable as a webfont!
Not So Great For: Should work fine as body text in most cases, but avoid small text displays like footers or fine print.
Appropriate Industries: Very versatile across many industries and uses. Could see anyone from boutique technology firms to corporate using Maven Pro. Probably better suited for modern styles and a premium look.
Probably Not a Good Fit: Again, very versatile typeface, but would probably avoid pairing it with classical style fonts such as Caslon or Baskerfield. If you own say a classical type French restaurant, you probably won’t want to use Maven Pro

AlexOrganize

Project Description

{visual identity}

AlexOrganize is Alex Kuisis, a professional organizer and consultant. She specializes in residential and office organizing services around the Metro Denver area. As AlexOrganize has grown, her need for a consistent visual identity has grown with it. Alex came to b.todd with a solid brand position, but needed our expertise to execute the design into a usable system that captured a sense of neatness and organization along with Alex’s personality, since she offers a personalized touch to her work.

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Now fonts can’t be just thrown around anyway you choose. In order to get the most out of a typeface, it needs to be used appropriately and in context. We’ll give you some hints on how each FFOTW can be used effectively as well as uses you may want to avoid.

Font Type: Rounded Slab Serif
Type Foundry: FontFabric
Commercial Use: Yes {View License}
Best Uses: Display, logos, headlines, decorative text. Will work nicely combined with a sans serif like Helvetica, Frutiger or Franklin Gothic
Not So Great For: Body text or large chunks of content. We’d probably go as far as using it for an opening summary or paragraph, but switch to a type more suited for body content.
Appropriate Industries: Great for service industries such as restaurants, hotels, festivals, travel. Could also see a lot of creative and interactive firms utilizing Weston.
Probably Not a Good Fit: Professional services such as CPA firms, law and financial

AdSwerve

Project Description

{branding & visual identity}
AdSwerve is a rapidly growing online ad management company and certified DoubleClick by Google reseller. They help online advertisers and agencies who have smaller ad impression volumes with education, implementation and support they otherwise don’t qualify for directly from DoubleClick. They are virtually one of the only companies in the country who do what they do. AdSwerve needed a cleaner and more professional brand identity to attract the larger clients they were starting to get while also appealing to advertising and interactive agencies. b.todd developed a simple and subtly lighthearted brandmark that appealed to the more casual agency culture and directly communicated the services of AdSwerve. We also developed a tagline and identity system for AdSwerve that played on a double entendre of “making impressions”. This “Impressions” brand system gives AdSwerve a humorous side that highly appeals to agencies while directly addressing their brand promise of creating online impressions for their clients.

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