sapphire wellness

We recently had the opportunity to work with one of our long-time clients on the branding for their new business venture, Sapphire Wellness. 

We were hired to create the identity design for this new wellness program along with some accompanying collateral.

The initial idea presented by Dr. Afato and Eva about Sapphire Wellness was that the logo design should incorporate a Sapphire Hummingbird, as these birds are known for their active lifestyle, something that is embraced by the program. 

We also liked the idea that the name was also reflective of the sapphire stone, which is multi-faceted, and plays well into Sapphire Wellness' multi-faceted approach to health. 

We kept the design clean and simple, the trademarks of a good logo design. As always, Dr. Afato and Eva were a pleasure to work with. Thank you again for your business, Sapphire Wellness!

SketchCrawl

Last Saturday was the 42nd World Wide SketchCrawl. Unfortunately, we weren't able to participate in that one, however it was recently brought to my attention that I never posted Billy's sketches from the 40th World Wide SketchCrawl, so to remedy that...:)

For the 40th World Wide SketchCrawl, we decided to make the drive to San Francisco (roughly 2 hours away from our hometown). We started our day with a group of sketchers at the Ferry Building.

Here's some photos from the day...

Sketching across from the Ferry Building in San Francisco

Group Photo

And of course, some sketches!

Outside the Ferry Building, sketch by Billy 

Of course, no SketchCrawl is complete without sketching another sketcher...

Sketch by Billy from Japan Town

Because we had brought our young daughter Lily along (she had just turned 1 years old) we had decided to eventually split from the group and we went to Japan Town along with taking Lily to the ocean for the first time, and finally to Union Square before heading home. It was a such a fun, full day. Looking forward to the next one!

And, if any Yuba Sutter area people are ever interested in joining us, give us a call! We'd love to have a local group!

daystrom technology group

We are really excited to announce that Billy accepted a part time position as a graphic designer for Daystrom Technology Group!

Though Daystrom is located in Half Moon Bay, Billy will be working from home, which means we will still be maintaining the wonderful client relationships we've built through Different By Design.

2014 is already shaping up to be filled with new adventures! :)

Merry Christmas

Couldn't let the year end without designing our annual Christmas card. This year we decided to go with custom illustrations since we didn't have a current family photo (rounding up 6 people is just as much work as it sounds ;)) Thankfully Billy lovingly painted each of our little faces to produce our 2013 card.

rough sketches

love all those little faces!

final files, front & back / printed onto watercolor paper

Thank you to all of the wonderful businesses, organizations, and individuals who supported our small, local business this past year. We are so grateful to serve you. We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and we look forward to what 2014 holds. 

the blue umbrella

How beautiful are these "rejected" poster designs for Pixar's short film The Blue Umbrella? We love how each of these designs tells part of the story from The Blue Umbrella, though the text is minimal. It's true that a picture (or an illustration) is worth a thousand words. Often time businesses want to clutter their collateral or their advertisements with as much information as they can, but more often than not that line of thinking does more harm than good. 

"Simple can be harder than complex. You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end, because once you get there you can move mountains.” -Steve Jobs

* unsure of the poster design credits, but believe they go to graphic artist Cassandra Smolcic

let's go for a ride

So apparently we took an unexpected break from blogging because I just realized a couple of months have gone by without a post! Not to worry, we were just designing as usual and soaking up the last days of summer with our sweet children.

Nonetheless, it's time for a blog update and we're excited to share with you some recent work we created for a new film company named Let's Go For A Ride.

Let's Go For A Ride creates scenic road trip videos featuring some of the most beautiful spots in the United States.

We were commissioned to create an identity design for this company along with business cards and a DVD cover for their first film titled California Pacific Coast Highway. 

DVD design

logo design

business card design

Let's Go For A Ride wanted their branding to embrace the nostalgia of days gone by, where families enjoyed quality time together cruising along, all while enjoying the beautiful scenery.

Shelly, Chris, and Emily we had so much fun working alongside you on these projects. Thanks so much for thinking Different By Design for your business needs! We can't wait to see where your next adventure takes you!

SketchCrawl

Hi everyone! Yesterday, Saturday the 13th of April, was the 39th SketchCrawl and Billy participated for the first time! SketchCrawl is "a world wide drawing marathon event that gathers artists from all around the globe." It was started by Pixar storyboard artist Enrico Casarosa who also happened to directed the cute short La Luna.

We found out about this SketchCrawl through twitter the day before the event, so we already had previous commitments, however Billy did his best to sketch and watercolor wherever we were at. Feel free to follow the link to see a few pieces from the end result... and if anyone in Yuba City wants to get together for the 40th SketchCrawl in July, hit us up! The more the merrier!

Literacy Workshop Posters

Posters we designed for the Giving Voice to Children's Literature workshop sponsored by the Sutter County Children & Families Commission.

We had so much fun working on this project. We love a good challenge and with this poster we had a short deadline and we also needed a way to communicate a playful feel however we obviously did not have a license to use well known, copyrighted children's book characters...and we also didn't have a photo of the speaker, Francie Dillon to work with.

To solve this problem, we decided to just create our own little characters and we love the way the little boys (and overall design) turned out.

Once again we kept with the Sutter County Children & Families Commission color palette to reinforce their branding efforts...we kept the copy brief so the poster remains clutter free, making it easier for the reader to retain the information.

We watched some youtube videos of the speaker before we started working on this project and we just have to say that she looks like so much fun! The workshop is free and open to anyone who would like to attend.

There are countless benefits to reading to your children (expanding vocabulary, art appreciation, exercising the mind, increased concentration...etc.)...so if you have any children in your life (your own, nieces/nephews, kids you babysit...) do yourself (and them) a favor and attend this workshop!

hey, look!

That's us! We were delighted to open up our current issue of Chico Statements magazine and see a little shout out to our design business.

Thanks for the support, Chico!

louisiana oncology

Creating business identities is still one of our favorite projects to work on. Did you know since opening Different By Design we've created 23 unique business identities for different clients?

This is one of our latest logo designs for Louisiana Oncology. Louisiana Oncology needed a logo design that was simple, scalable, unique, and reflective of their state of the art, professional facility. We chose restful earth tones for the color palette to compliment their facility's interior and created a unique and memorable emblem using an abstract "L" and "O" to reinforce the initials of their business name.  

marquez & carlos

Our friend and client Tony Carlos recently went into private practice with another local lawyer.

We haven't really worked on any official branding with Tony for the law firm, but he was in a hurry to have some new business cards and it was a pleasure to work with him on them!

Thanks again for your business, Tony! We appreciate you and congratulations on making junior partner!

surprise!

We recently threw a surprise birthday party! My mother turned 50 years old and we thought it would be special to gather her family together to celebrate those 50 years! My mom is half Japanese and so we kept that part of her heritage in mind while designing these invitations. We also wanted to include some pictures of her throughout the years...we were short on time, but I think they turned out great!

Happy 50th, mom!

mtr photography studio

Web advertisement we designed for MTR Photography Studio here in Yuba City, California. We love working with Michelle and her staff! While MTR Photography Studio has taken adorable photos of our boys over the past couple years, we recently stepped in front of the camera ourselves to capture our last pregnancy!

MTR Photography Studio did an amazing job capturing this moment in time for us. In fact, we're certain if you book a Mother's Day Mini Session you too will be thrilled to have these fleeting moments saved in time. Thanks again for your business, MTR Photography Studio! We appreciate you!

identity design

Pulled a late night at the studio preparing for tomorrow's logo presentation.

Identity designing is probably our number one design love.

There's just something about creating a perfect visual identity for both start up businesses and established businesses that are looking to rebrand or invest in branding for the first time!

Here's a few samples of some of the logos we have designed. Not only do we have a thorough design process, everything we create is original and designed with your business needs in mind. We take pride in designing "on purpose" unlike the thoughtless clip art logo designs that seem so prevalent in today's markets.

If you're interested in branding your business, give us a call! We'd love to talk to you about how a strong brand image and visual identity can grow your business!

530.790.5762

tim collom-realtor

We recently had the honor of designing some business collateral for Sacramento realtor Tim Collom.

Tim is not your average real estate agent and so he needed business collateral that would help him stand out in a sea of standard 4x6 postcards and boring proposals. We were more than happy to give him a professional graphic image to match his professional personal image!

Here are the 6x6 promotional postcards we designed for Tim...he had a great vision for simplicity and we loved that we were on the same page with the idea of "less is more".

We also designed a 5 page pdf proposal for Tim. We're keeping our fingers crossed for him and there's no doubt in our mind he would be perfect for the job! Here's the "title page" we created for the proposal.

Tim had a logo designed prior to working with us, but we were happy to take the colors he chose for his logo and continue them throughout his marketing to maintain a cohesive look to all his collateral.

Thanks for thinking Different By Design, Tim!

hello february!

We've been busy little bees over at the studio...and it's true what they say. Time sure flies when you're having fun!

We recently designed these 4x6 promotional postcards for Moments To Remember Photography Studio. We first began their rebranding in 2010 and it has been a pleasure to continue working alongside them in guarding and promoting their new identity.

slide fire solutions-packaging design

Our studio has had the privilege to work with a United States gun stock manufacturer, Slide Fire Solutions, based in Texas on several design projects including lots of packaging design.

We carried a cohesive feel throughout this packaging to have a similar feel and color palette to some card headers we also designed for Slide Fire Solutions.

Color coding different products makes it easy for consumers to find the product they are looking for and it also serves to help the packaging jump off the shelf and be more memorable compared to other gun stock packaging.

We also kept some of the elements they were already using in their designs (including the American flag) as to keep with brand recognition they had already gained through their repetive use of the flag and also as a nod to their patriotism to our great country and commitment to products made in the good ol' U S of A.

Here's a few snapshots we took and we'll have some better pictures up when our new website launches soon!

One of the card headers we designed (picture from Slide Fire Solutions).

The former packaging to the left (we did not design this) with the new packaging design we created to the right.

Different packaging we designed for two different products.

Brian Yerkes said, "Some designers create things to show you what they did. I designed things to tell you what I solved."

If you have a design problem you'd like for us to solve for you, including packaging design, stop by our studio at 546 B Yolo Street in Yuba City, California or contact us by phone at 530.790.5762.

hello 2012!

Hi everyone! We apologize for the silence over here on the blog lately...we've been busy working on client and studio projects and we forgot to come up for air!

We are currently preparing to launch our new improved and web site! Thought we'd share a very early sneak peek with you...can't wait till it's completed and launched with some help from our friends over at Tandem Web Solutions!

Hope 2012 has found you off to a great start!

sunflower natural foods market-advertisments

A couple months ago, Yuba City's oldest and most loved health food store, Sunflower Natural Foods Market, contacted us about vectorizing a new logo concept by Dr. Afato (Sunflower is owned by the Afato Family).

After cleaning up and vectorizing the two designs, we took the initial concept of Dr. Afato and simplified it further. The end result ended up being the chosen concept, and with minor edits, is now the new face of Sunflower Natural Food Markets!

Needles to say, we were thrilled when they came back and asked us to design some advertisements for some free community events they offer.

We created text boxes playing off the organic feel of the letterforms Billy created for the new logo and found a way to cleanly present all the needed information.

These two ads will soon be published in our local newspaper. We also designed handbills and posters to further promote these awesome, free events! Thanks for thinking Different By Design, Sunflower!

eikon clothing

Surprisingly enough, we get a lot of inquiries from individuals and businesses who need to have their logo designs or their original artwork vectorized.

Vector files are created using mathematical equations...they do not use pixels. This allows for the image to be scaled indefinitely without sacrificing quality.

Recently we were contacted by Chris and Manuel Marin who needed to have their original artwork vectorized in order to have it screen printed onto shirts for a clothing brand they started called Eikon Legacy.

It was a pleasure working with these young men and we can't wait to see where their passion and dedication takes them!

Above you can see the original artwork (on the right) and the vector files we created for them (to the left). It's no surprise Billy has quickly gained a reputation for being the go to graphic designer for vectorizing thanks to his talented Adobe Illustrator skills!