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. 

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!

urban sketching

property of Disney-Pixar / Up artists painting scenery

So several months back we were watching the special features for the Pixar film Up when Billy was inspired by one of our favorite artists, Ronnie Del Carmen, who had a mobile water coloring kit. Billy decided that he would like to have one, so after some quick googling to identify what Ronnie Del Carmen was using, we headed over to the only art supply store in our hometown, Michael's, to see what we could find.

While we could not find the exact same Winsor & Newton "field" kit, we did find something comparable and we ended up purchasing it (it didn't hurt that we also had one of thos Michael's 40% off coupons, either).

Since purchasing the compact water coloring set, we've been having lots of fun walking down as a family to our neighborhood park and enjoying some time outdoors.

A couple weeks ago Billy decided to paint our favorite home in the neighborhood...he plopped down in the park grass facing the home and began sketching...

We spent about an hour and a half playing at the park while Billy got everything inked in before we lost all our light and headed back home. The next day we returned for another hour or so while he began to add watercolor to it....

On the third and final day we came back and Billy completed the illustration. What was really neat was that when I had instagrammed a photo of Billy working on this, someone knew the woman who had grown up in this home (her father designed and built the home and still currently resides there) and it was actually someone that we distantly knew, and she was so sweet she actually reached out to us and offered to purchase the painting to gift to her father for Father's Day.

While Billy had initially planned on keeping this painting (we adore this home! The modern lines remind us vaguely of The Incredible's home), we were thrilled to see it go to the home owner himself.

Since picking up the compact watercoloring kit we've actually purchased a few more items to make painting on the go easier for Billy...I will have to share those fun purchases in a future blog post! 

All in all, it's been very relaxing to step away from the computer, or the iPhones, or the TV screen and go create some art in the great outdoors....even if this was just down the street from us. :) 

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!

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.  

tuff stuff jerky company

While Tuff Stuff Jerky Company has been around for as long as I can remember, it recently went under the new ownership of Pete Stocker.

Pete contacted us shortly after taking over and wanted to find a way to keep using the iconic "Tuffy" logo but in a refreshing, more modern, clean way.

We started out by cleaning up some of the lines on Tuffy and we played with a couple ideas Pete had...how about that cigar smoking Tuffy? :)

We then set out designing new labels for the jerky packaging. As you can see the old labels were rather gaudy and cluttered and they didn't do a good job of portraying the fact that Tuff Stuff Jerky is actually an all natural jerky, free of artificial ingredients, nitrites, and MSG.

We also wanted to make a clear distinction between flavors because there's nothing worse than accidentally buying one flavor when you wanted another because the packaging doesn't do a good job of distinguishing between different flavors!

The evolution of Tuffy.

Old label.

Picture by Sunflower Natural Foods Market, where you can purchase Tuff Stuff jerky.

Photo of the new labels we designed.

We are now currently in the process of getting a web site going for Tuff Stuff Jerky Company and getting Pete some new business cards that will match the updated look of his company. 

Thanks for thinking Different By Design, Tuff Stuff Jerky Company!

Bright Futures

We recently had the honor of working with the lovely ladies over at the Sutter County Children & Families Commission again.

We designed business cards for them several months ago and more recently they came to us for a 4'x8' banner and 6" circle postcards for a conference they are attending this month.

While we did not design their logo, we wanted to keep in being consistent with their color palette so we continued using primary colors and green in their collateral.

Probably the number one mistake we see small business owners make the most often in their marketing is not staying consistent. Everything from changing your logo colors with each new season or color trend to using multiple fonts that are not cohesive to your brand image weakens your marketing efforts.

We thoroughly enjoyed the challenge of finding a fun and playful way to continue enforcing the Bright Futures and Sutter County Children & Families Commission's branding in a refreshing way. We chose to use "block" shapes on the poster to also play off the wording of "building" bright futures and we love how the imagery and bright colors is appropriate for the audience as well as being eye catching.

You can learn more about the free services they offer through their Bright Futures program over at www.sutterkids.org

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!

sunrise motors

We recently had the honor of creating a new logo design and accompanying collateral for local car dealership Sunrise Motors.

Ezra, the owner of Sunrise Motors, felt that his current logo design felt too "mom and pop" and he wanted to step up the businesses' image by having a logo design that was distinct and memorable. He was open to anything and just asked that we keep with the yellow and black color palette he was already using.

The new logo design we created moved Sunrise Motors away from using only a logotype by also incorporating a distinct emblem into the new logo. We cleverly combined the Sunrise Motors initials, S and M, into a shape reminiscent of both a car steering wheel and popular car logos.

We also took Ezra's idea for a clean, simple billboard and created this billboard design which can be seen at their HWY 99 and Bogue Road location in Yuba City, California.

We're currently working on other business collateral for Sunrise Motors and we can't wait for everything to come into alignment with his new branding. Thanks for thinking Different By Design, Sunrise Motors!

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!

leave it to google

I was pleasantly surprised when I clicked onto Google last week, on June 21st (the fist day of summer!), to be specific and instantly recognized the art work of Japanese artist Takashi Murakami.

It reminded me of the Murakami Louis Vuitton pieces commissioned by Marc Jacobs a few seasons back.

Not exactly my personal taste (though I was obsessed with the panda he drew for Louis Vuitton), but you have to admit those cherry, bright colors make you smile! Very fitting to kick off one of our favorite seasons, Summer!

*top image taken from Google, bottom image is a result from a Google search

just a friendly reminder!

we ALL did it! hooray!

Yesterday was our Grand Opening party for the studio. I can't think of just one reason why everything didn't get done in time, but it just seemed as if a ton of tiny things just overwhelmed us and there was simply not enough time in the day!

Thankfully the guests that arrived early were SO sweet and orchestrated helping out and getting the food table set up and helping with some light picking up around the studio.

Sadly, Billy was not even able to make it by 6 pm (when it started) because he was out grabbing ice and the cake! Because I absolutely needed his help for some things, we simply had to accept the fact that we weren't going to have the studio just the way we wanted it but you know what?

God is good! And everyone had a great time. It was so nice to see all the friendly faces of our clients, friends, and family!

I will do a more thorough update once we get some photos back from our lovely photographer and friends who took photos that night. I literally did not take one!

Just wanted to stop and say THANK YOU to everyone for their encouragement. On top of our lovely local guests, we had several guests from Chico, California and one guest that literally flew in from Southern California just to attend the opening. You all push us to be better in everything we do. Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!

walking by faith

In the past month we have had one of our all time favorite clients die, our identity stolen/business accounts hacked, Erik's wife (our building owners) grandmother pass away which brought Erik and Suzie all the way to Montana unexpectedly Saturday (they should be getting back to YC on Friday..Grand Opening..night), a baby with an on again/off again fever, a cellphone lost/stolen, and more marital fights then we've had in the last 7 years!

Needless to say that God is still good. In fact, He is amazing! He is our fortress, our refuge, and our strength! I don't always know why some things happen the way they do, but I do know this: God is working everything out for our good and His glory.

What a relief that we can hand over our cares to a loving God. Every time I have felt overwhelmed or stressed I have been able to stop in prayer and give my concerns to God. And you know what? He has never let me down. He has provided faithfully and given me peace when I should otherwise be "freaking out".

At Different By Design we hope to always reflect the glory in all we do back on God. Without Him we are nothing!

Happy Wednesday everyone! We are so excited to share the studio with you at the Grand Opening this Friday!

*cellphone pictures of the progress on the bookshelf Billy built

moments to remember-me and mine magazine ad

Michelle contacted us a few days before needing to submit an ad for her booming photography business to our local family magazine. Michelle is one of our original clients and we absolutely love that she continues to choose us for the shaping of her brand image. We were happy to relieve her of worrying about the looming deadline!

Because we were behind the executing of her rebranding, we know her brand values and aesthetics inside out. We designed her last full page ad that ran in Me And Mine, but this time she had a new ad space size. She had a previously designed ad before her rebranding that would fit in the new ad space, but asked us to "update" it so that it would line up with the new look of her photography studio.

We left her photo layout the same as per her request and then updated the rest of the ad to reflect the new and improved look of the MTR Studio.

Thank you for your continued trust and support of Different By Design, Michelle! And Be sure to view her site..she is always running amazing promotions!

garrison-der wedding

I think more often than not couples think that custom invitation suites (wedding invitations and corresponding rsvp cards) are a luxury that they will not be able to afford.

I would like to challenge that idea and encourage brides to shop around and before committing to cookie cutter, one size fits all designs, to seek out local, professional designers for custom wedding designs.

After all, what should be more personable than your wedding day? The wedding invitation is the first information a guest will receive about your upcoming day...it sets the tone for everything that follows...you deserve to have invitations that reflect you as a couple.

When Amy first contacted us about designing for her wedding we were so excited! After our initial consultation and before beginning our research these 3 things Amy said really stuck out to me:

1. She mentioned more than once that she and Kevin were "simple" people and desired a simple, clean design with easy to read fonts

2. She told us that Kevin came from a Chinese heritage and although they were not having a traditional Chinese wedding, they would be passing out Chinese party favors at the reception

3. When I asked how Amy met Kevin I thought it was very cute and interesting that they met while going through the teaching credential at their college together. Both Amy and Kevin are teachers! :)

I also of course took note of Amy's wedding colors: Oasis and Truffle. With this information in hand I set out and began researching the double happiness symbol that is traditionally used in Chinese weddings.

I loved the idea of using this symbol on their invitations and rsvp cards but instead of having it feel generic, we decided to make Amy and Kevin into the double happiness symbols to add a playful touch.

We kept true to Amy's wishes with clean and easy to read fonts and incorporated Amy and Kevin's story of meeting while pursing their teaching credentials into the rsvp cards.

Invitation suites should be a reflection of the couple they represent and I think these fun, simple designs do just that for Amy and Kevin. Since they both LOVED the designs along with Kevin's Chinese family...I think its safe to announce them as a smashing hit!

Thanks for thinking different with your design needs, Amy and Kevin! We wish you a lifetime of happiness..make that double happiness!

If you are interested in having custom invitations and rsvp cards designed for your big day, you can contact us at different_by_design@ymail.com.

connecting the dots

In a powerful speech given by Apple Inc. cofounder and chief executive Steve Jobs said,“You have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future."

So today I am blogging the first entry of Connecting The Dots; an ongoing series you will find here on the Different By Design blog. Brace yourself! I'll try to be brief but I don't want to leave out too much!

What many people do not realize is that apart from all the work we do at Different By Design, we also have other huge and time consuming responsibilities. Billy is a manager at Sam's Club where he works 50 plus hours a week. We have 3 young children that do not attend day care (though one does go to school) but I am the primary caregiver of them 365 days a year. As if we weren't busy enough, last summer I started making hair pieces for my younger sisters and then literally that hobby turned into a business that just took off.

They say when you start a business it takes around 3 years to become profitable. However, with hair pretties they were an overnight success. Originally I started out giving one to anyone that asked about them because I wasn't planning on starting a business. After I gave away over $400 (my cost) in hair accessories I knew something had to change! So in a blink of an eye I suddenly had another business to operate.

Because other than raising our children and Sam's Club, our main goal has always been to focus on the growth and the maintaining of excellent service to our clients at Different By Design, I began to force myself to slow down on making hair pretties. Some of these steps included not going the usual route of opening up a full time etsy shop and turning down offers of being carried in stores. I also chose to move the hair pretties facebook page from a public page to a private one so I could better control the communications between hair pretties and my wonderful customers.

These last few months have felt like we have had 0 free time as a family. After putting in over 10 hours a day at Sam's, Billy is home and I am briefing him on where we are at with all our clients and design jobs. After that everyone is off to bed and then I am up into the early hours of morning fulfilling dozens of hair pretties orders! I made a resolution in 2011 to change that and to limit the amount of orders I am taking.

I finally got to the point where I was ready to announce that I was taking a hair pretties sabbatical when I went in to accept a new friends request on the hair pretties facebook page. It was from a man and I assumed it was on behalf of his wife. I decided to visit his his facebook page since it is far and few between when men are putting in friends request to hair pretties!

I saw that he had listed Pixar (yes..that amazing animation studio that we have to thank for Up, Toy Story, Cars, The Incredibles and every other amazing children's movie in existence) as his employer.

I sent him a quick message thanking him for the friends request and mentioned that my kids were going to think I was a celebrity since a Pixar employee was a friend to hair pretties!

To wrap up that encounter, the Pixar employee's lovely wife who was referred by another favorite hair pretties' customer Natalie (she graduated Chico State with Billy) ended up ordering some hair pretties for their adorable little girl and her husband later wrote back to say that though they were busy now with Cars 2 preparing to release, he invited us to come down and meet his family and...tour the Pixar Studio!

I nearly died when I read his message! When Billy was a student at Chico State he had the honor of touring a couple of top notch design firms...we were recently discussing how we would LOVE to tour some true creative studios but weren't sure how to go about doing that.

Then just like that, all because I started selling hair accessories we had an invitation from a Pixar employee to tour their studio. In our eyes, Pixar is king of creativeness...to think we are going to get to actually visit their work space and environment is truly a dream come true.

                                                                                     
And while I absolutely LOVE all my hair pretties customers, I do still plan to announce a break from hair pretties soon. However, I am so thankful to God for connecting those dots. When I "started" hair pretties it was (and for the most part still is) really something I did just for fun.

I would have never dreamed in a million years that hair pretties would have provided an opportunity for us to visit the Pixar Animation Studios, but I feel incredibly blessed it worked out that way.

SO. Though we don't always realize it when we are going about our day to day lives, I fully believe that there is a reason for everything and that in hindsight we will be amazed how the dots in our lives connected. Did you know that Steve Jobs also cofounded Pixar? How's that for dot connecting! :)

*second photo of the Pixar Animation Studio found on techeblog.com

supporting the relief efforts in japan

One week ago Japan was hit by one of the largest earthquakes ever recorded. If you were like us, I'm sure hearing and watching the news left you heartbroken and wondering what you could do to help those in Japan.

Different By Design is proud to announce that we are donating ALL the profits of the sale of our specially designed card to the Billy Graham Evangelical Association relief efforts in Japan.

With lots of watercoloring, scanning, and drawing in Illustrator, we created 5x5 folded cards. On the front of a card is a Japanese origami crane. The crane represents peace and hope in the Japanese culture. The words of Jesus can be found underneath: Peace be with you.

It is our prayer that even in a dark time of destruction, when all feels lost...that those suffering will feel peace and hope.

We decided to create a card instead of a print because if you want, your gift can be a gift that keeps on giving. Not only when you make a $10 donation will you helping those in Japan, when you receive your card you can choose to also mail that out.

There are few things better than a nice handwritten letter. Write your old best friend. Your widowed grandmother. Your coworker who's going through a divorce. Your friend who is battling cancer. Whether you choose to give your card or put it up on your own fridge...we hope that Peace will be with you!

You can purchase the cards directly on our site at www.differentxdesign.com and when you are done be sure to grab a facebook default button over at www.facebook.com/differentxdesign

Thank YOU for your generosity and for giving to those in need.

Gifties.

If you follow us on facebook, then you know it's no secret we love giving gifts! Or as we like to say "gifties".

*disclaimer I (Tiffany Wilson) like to call them gifties, Billy would like to clarify he has never said "giftie" in his life

So when we came across these blackened brass bull card holders, we knew they would look perfect sitting on the desks of our lovely clients over at Randy Meyer Investment Management, LLC. 

We are pleased to report that they loved them as much as we did. We also delivered their new appointment cards today, and needless to say those were a hit too!

I once saw a Paul Rand interview where he said you know you have done good work when your client wants to hug you. Well guess what? We got hugged today. And it made us feel fabulous.

Do we really even need to tell you how much we love our work and clients? Okay. Well, we do. Very much.