Happy Holidays. All around the world!

Windlab commissioned me to create a holiday e-card for them. The challenge: Create a concept that can work for the snowy regions of the world as well as those that are full of sun and sand for the holidays.  Serendipitously, I had a meeting with an Aussie here in Portland while working on the project and picked his brain about what Christmas means to him. He said, "The beach and BBQ." Very opposite of my experience, needless to say! (I grew up in the Midwest.) Thanks to him and some Google image searches, I captured the essence of an Australian Christmas. One of my new life goals: Celebrate the holidays in Australia sometime. Upon the request of the client, we also arranged the stars to resemble the Southern Cross, the most familiar constellation in the southern hemisphere. It even shows up on the Australian flag.

May all your holidays be bright, too! Hopefully some of it due to wind power!

A couple preliminary options:

Windlab Website Design Revamp

Windlab, the global wind energy development company, has undergone a digital facelift. With the help of Agileware out of Australia, the site's been lightened up and brought into alignment with the official Windlab style. And I think it's turned out quite lovely. The previous site design can be seen below.

Kudos to Skype for enabling all of us to communicate across countries, oceans and time zones. Without you, all this international business would be a lot harder to do.

Windlab Air Mail

Windlab, the global wind energy development company, has new business cards! Now the West Coast office, the Canada office, the Midwest office, the two Australia offices and the South Africa office all look like they're a part of the same company. Good move. But how were we supposed to get the cards delivered to those offices? I couldn't really jaunt around the world dropping care packages from the plane. Although I wish I could. And it costs an arm and a leg (well, at least the cost of a designer handbag) to send thousands of business cards to Australia. Hmmm.

Then Alisa, the Regional Director for the West Coast had a great idea: One of Windlab's Australian employees, Ranmadhu, was working locally for a couple weeks. What if he could tote the cards home with him? Yes. That could work.

We called the printer and rushed through the approval process to get them done in time for him to grab them and still catch his flight out last night. With Brown Printing's help, the mission was completed. They turned these cards in 2 days flat. 3,750 cards + 5,000 preprints. Awesome. Once again they save the day.

Windlab, I have a great idea for you: Start an air mail service. It just makes sense: wind power + air mail. Right? Especially if it helps you afford a new designer handbag.

Windlab Systems | Style Guide

Just a peek into a corporate style guide I've been working on. It's final form is a digital booklet. They actually requested it, believe it or not. Consistency is king. They understand that. (If you want to know what a style guide is, read about it here. Then you can decide if you need one. Wink, wink.)

Wind Power is the coolest thing ever.

I’ve been learning a lot about this renewable energy resource and I’m just enthralled. Wind power is a conversion of energy. Turbines are used to harness the power of the wind and convert it into usable electricity. A piece of property with numerous turbines strategically placed across it is called a wind farm. Wind farms are typically connected to an electric power transmission network which allows the electricity to be accessible to consumers. Wow.

The northern crest of the Columbia Gorge in the Northwest is lined with turbines. They look like countless little white pinwheels. In reality, they’re about 442 feet tall from the base to the tip of the rotor. And they're amazing! Modern wind turbines are equipped with high-tech computers that process over 200 types of data - from wind speeds and oil temperature to voltage dips on the grid.

About 85,000 people are employed in the wind industry today. As of May 2009, eighty countries have implemented wind power. Wind energy is a growing industry. This isn't news to Windlab Systems. They are a global wind energy development company based in Australia and they've been identifying, securing and developing sites since 2003.

I was connected to Windlab Systems through Alisa Patterson, their Regional Director for the Western United States. Since they’re in the business of leasing land for the construction of wind turbines, they needed some communication materials to help them do their job. That’s where I came in. We’ve been working on establishing a style for Windlab and applying that style to several printed communication pieces. The first is a presentation folder.

This is the job you may have seen on press here last week.

Windlab will now be even better-equipped to continue as an international leader in the wind industry. Thank you for involving me in the process - I heart wind power!

Brown Printing + Windlab | Press Check

This morning Alisa Patterson of Windlab Systems and I got to press check a project we've been working on for the past few months. I don't want to give too much away, so you'll have to wait until the project's done and I can post more to learn more about Windlab and the part they play in the amazing wind power industry. Meanwhile, I want to share some shots from today's press check. We're working with Brown Printing in Portland, Oregon. I go to them for many of my projects - especially those with shorter runs. Brown consistently offers above-average quality - from customer service to craftsmanship.

L: Isn't color a beautiful thing? This project is being run with 5 colors. 4-color build + a spot color.

R: It's running on Brown's new Komori press. Pretty + clean.

L: That's what 1,000 sheets of paper looks like all stacked up.

R: Since I can't show you the finished piece yet, here's a little peek at one of the plates. Believe it or not, Brown uses a chemistry-free process for plating. They're one of only a few who do in the Portland area.

And I just had to share these so you can see the contrast between the new press and the old presses. 

L: There's a father-and-son pressmen team working on letter press.

R: The Heidelberg letter press is dirty, old, loud and smells like years of ink and paper. I love it.

Brown gets a blue ribbon from me. Call them next time you need something printed.

And if you like learning about the printing process and are craving more, you should check out Pocket Pal, a little handbook produced by International Paper. It's the perfect 'handy book of graphics arts production'. No wonder it's currently in it's 20th edition!