A sea of bold graphics

This Independence day, I ask that you not only enjoy the pageantry of men in grilling aprons, the whiff of a sizzling grill or a heartedly chorus of yankee doodle — I ask you to soak in all the graphics. Our flag in all of is glory, is a really nice strong brand. The colors alone evoke such heavy polarized emotions. Can you name any company, rockstar or athletic team brand that is more recognizable than the USA’s stars and stripes — red, white and blue?

I’m not trying to be a patriotic zealot, bent on displaying egocentric bombastically charged nationalism, I’m just talking about recognizable visual brands. I am partial though… I do heart the USA. I am also aware there are living people in the states that could tell me what the golden arches represent but might not be able to tell me what the stars and stripes represent. By no ignorance on their part mind you, there are just that many companies, federal agencies, clothing lines, auto dealers and so on that are riding the powerful USA brand’s coat tails. Since forever, our national graphical elements have been used to sell so much and convey so many messages — ponder how so many brands borrow from the USA — does it hurt the image of the USA? Or for a designer are these elements trite and to be avoided?

It’s no secret that designers (especially in the DC area) are constantly trying to freshen up the graphical symbols of America but in the end we succumb to the proven graphical elements – stars, stripes, eagles, blue fields… and that’s okay because as you will see this fourth of july, its a strong brand.

The herald Ceagle

Here at openbox we did a mash-up of our beloved majestic eagle and our secondary American love — the cow. We refer to is as the “ceagle.” Will this new image become the seal of a new federal agency… we hope so. Secretaries of agencies, we await your phone call… we await your call too dairy farmer associations.

Wrapping up

National Wildlife Federation is about to launch its crazy sized blog – over 32 separate blog sites merged into WordPress MU and openbox9 is designing and developing it all.

9Marks will shortly launch its extreme web makeover that we designed and developed in Drupal

WeSupport is a great new start-up that is about to go public in late april that we helped with its full branding and online application design

eCards, ecards eCards – we just finished up the designs and are going into development for NWF’s eCard offering AND we designed eCards to help celebrate Earth Day for Bank of America, Entergy, Alcoa and Pew Center!

Basics Conference 2010 is almost here so we are in the final thrust to complete the print materials.

Wrapped up

Access Partners are the proud owners of a new website, brochure and exhibit booth design – to quote the client: “YAY! This makes me so happy! It looks so good.”

Bank of America’s Make an Impact design is off to the developers and should launch soon

Imagine Schools across the nation are getting fresh brochures in both english and spanish – oh si, we speak espanol… no we don’t but we love formatting spanish copy.

Just started wrapping

The GraceDC church plant website design… 9Marks eJournal cover designs… Convio donation form study with NWF… flash animations… Tilev Design portfolio site (should be hot)… preparing taxes… eating some pie… don’t worry, we have time to help you with your endeavors – contact us today!

openbox9 will be joining National Wildlife Federation (NWF) this spring in a Convio sponsored “donation form optimization study.” In short, we will evaluate the Convio form, modify its behavior and test variables. Even the slightest changes can increase percentages which for NWF could be substantial. Ever wonder what’s the most optimal order of credit card icons? We’ll be testing it

Because other major like-minded non-profits will be participating, we will get to learn from their tests too and gather valuable best practices. Some of the others that are participating with us are: PETA, WWF, the Nature Convervancy, Care and the Defenders of Wildlife. We are humbled for sure to have the opportunity to learn from these great organizations.

The study results by Convio will not be ready until the fall of 010 – until then there are fine things to read to pass the time.

Can addressing gender issues in the marketplace improve the programs that USAID is implementing overseas? Can these countries gain economic growth and lasting poverty reduction through understanding these gender inequalities as obstacles? I do not want to spoil the reading of thousands of hard worked research but… yes is the answer to both.

December saw the end to years of research for the folks working on the “Greater Access to Trade Expansion (GATE)” project under the Women in Development IQC funded by USAID’s Office of Women in Development. openbox9 was brought in the autumn of 08 to assist in the design of reports, interactive CDs, posters, folders, a major website and the crown jewel — a 150 page handbook filled with charts, examples and diagrams.

Throughout all the pieces, openbox9 maintained a consistent brand for the GATE project while also staying within the brand of USAID. Developing this “sub-brand” for GATE illustrated that within USAID there was wiggle room to express a unique subject. We at openbox9, personally appreciated the challenge of connecting all these pieces into one cohesive study.

Our hope is that these reports and websites have a meaningful impact — one that can shape the future of USAID’s programs and ensure that trade-related efforts encompass the poor and women of those nations.

We are by no means celebrating openbox9 but more giving thanks for all the incredible work we’ve been blessed to work on. Without our clients we are openbox-zero.

Here’s what the folks at openbox9 will be doing on this grand day of nines (in case you’re asking):

1. Wrapping up an annual report for a charter school organization making a difference in the lives of 37,000 students — Imagine Schools.
2. Continuing our efforts designing websites for the org that is helping preserve the wildlife for our children – National Wildlife Federation. To date we’ve designed over 30 unique screens and 6 subsites. Not to mention some branding work.
3. Hard to think about Christmas on September 9th, 2009 but we are designing the online catalog for Food for the Hungry where you can purchase needed gifts on someone’s behalf to help feed the poor.
4. John Calvin you’re 500 years old. We are fortunate enough to design the promotional materials for the “Calvin in the Capital” speaker series at Christ Reformed Church.
5. Our grand friends at Parkside Church will soon have a welcome booklet hot off the printing press.
6. We will also be brainstorming ideas for a buck-rogers themed Crossroads church gathering. Last year we did an elephant on a tightrope for the bigtop theme… submit ideas please!
7. A community cannot thrive unless both genders play a part in development. This is the study of USAID and we are in the midst of designing a plethora of materials including a 100 page field handbook.
8. We’ll be checking in on the BEFORE project google ad buys and making necessary adjustments.
9. Then nine small tinkle tweaks to Taggle’s social-networking site design; nine push-ups everytime someone says nine, nine, nine; and the putting the final touches on a interactive website filled with databases galore (you didn’t know we programmed? Oh yeah we program with vigor and panache).

Those are the nine things we’ll be slinging our computer mouse’s to as we sing to the band The Ting Tings. What nine things will you do?

Craving more updates from openbox9 – check out the refreshed portfolio.

openbox9 is providing usability and fundraising strategy for their upcoming new website (to launch later this summer). While we are not designing the site we are proud to have a small role in helping Doorways communicate their passion to help the families in Virginia.

Our experience in this cause, started last summer with the redesign and development of Tahirih Justice Mission’s new website. While different organizations, the two organizations have made an impact on us with the stories of tragedy and victory. If we all start seeing each mother in harm’s way, as our own mother, I know we can end the cycle of violence.

The challenge was simple – no images of Easter lilies. Harder to avoid than one would think — people love those flowers. We thought the bunny could help out in a new way by helping play with the our concept of “hop(e) – What are you hunting for“. Fun, meaningful and … well cute. This maybe the first and last pastel colors used in a design by openbox9.

A full communication campaign was deployed as openbox9 produced mailers, invites, webpages, newspaper ads, outdoor banners, and a church bulletin design.

Do you have your Flag Day marketing campaign yet? Contact us today!

openbox9 is currently working on their printed materials as well as their website – stay tuned for the unveiling.