Alberta Design Blog

Most of our clients receive email one of two ways: on a Microsoft Exchange Server, or through POP/SMTP. For those that use an Exchange server, there is likely an IT staff involved, or at least an external IT supplier like Bulletproof Networks handling the email. For those without IT support, POP is the likely method of email transfer.

Now, Redpoint is not an IT firm – we are a creative agency. We host websites for clients, and help with email config within our scope of expertise. Usually, that includes a couple devices. read more

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A month or so ago, the gang here went up to Edmonton to the Graphic Design Association of Canada’s Edmonton Chapter’s charity auction “a Creative Cause“. It was an art auction raising funds for a notable shelter in Edmonton. It was awesome.

I love art auctions. My wife and I used to go to the Red Deer College “Affairs of the Arts” read more

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OK, so let’s be honest here. Advertising, marketing and design are crafts that constantly drive towards the next “innovation” or the next “big idea”. Market segments are competitive within themselves to attract customers, and these days the holy grail of advertising is a spot going viral. I personally think this is good and bad at the same time – good because you can reach a market far bigger than you can with standard media, bad because the game is that much harder, and innovation is that much harder to come by. Well, maybe not bad – maybe we should just call it harder. But the game remains the same:

1. analyze the creative brief
2. drink coffee
3. shine brilliance upon the problem
4. drink coffee
5. use adept mastery to produce visuals
6. watch viral media do 90% of your work for you
7. drink coffee
8. watch the masses stampede toward your marketing goal
9. receive key to the city, and perhaps a pallet of gold bars as well

Sounds simple. Well here is an example of something really innovative. And I find the best ads always seem so logical and natural and your first thought may be “How was that never done before?”

An ad for the Nissan Sentra does all this an maybe more. A car commercial showing how fun a car can be with no car. So logical, you’d think it would have been done before.  Have a look here:

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The design industry has come a long way in 20 years. Heck, it’s come a long way in 10 years. On holidays this summer I noticed something while whiling away the miles on the Trans Canada. We seem to think only computers can render type these days – its a rare thing to write a letter, particularly in business, and the world ceases to exist when an email server goes down. The only thing average people actually write anymore is a grocery list. But there was an age where sign painters created an awful lot of marketing by hand and brush. I’m a little young to really have lived in this era – when a skilled calligrapher could hand letter in various fonts and sizes with accuracy – but somedays I’m jealous of their craft. The last remaining thread of this line of craftspeople is perhaps the window painters that appear around Red Deer on Westerner Days and Christmas.

There was an age where sign painters created an awful lot of marketing by hand and brush. I’m jealous of their craft.

So we thought about this at the studio, and Kayla and I went out and photographed some samples of hand painted signs in August. Here are some samples of the original graphic design: hand created signs:

Cut wood sign, built from a hand lettered logo at Buchart Gardens, Vancouver Island. «I suspect this sign was machine cut»
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We meet all kinds of different people in the design industry. Some people just need a business card and some need more complex communication solutions like large websites or trade show booths. One consistent thing that pops up more and more is the actual act of “communication” – the realization that what we say gets read and what we do gets noticed. More and more of our clients ask things like “you tell me what to say”.

The result is two types of clients:

1. Clients ready to work with (and pay) for someone to help create “communications”, be it a planned program of marketing, or simply a few pages of well written words; or
2. Clients who’d rather manage this on their own – come what may.

People are either passionate about their company’s communication, or too busy for it, but we’ve learned that everyone cares.

Enter Aaron Sheppard from Career Assistance Network

One of our longtime clients, is the managing partner at the Red Deer Career Assistance Network – a company that serves workers and employers all over Central Alberta. Aaron offers front line service to clients, and facilitates group programs for “work”. For “fun” he markets his company well, creates programs and diversifies his company into new niches at every opportunity. read more

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So much of the design and communications industry is based on speed these days. Printing presses are built for quick turnarounds, websites are updated in moments and twitter sends information in seconds. Well today we saw the completion of a project that has actually been on the books for over two years!

The Red Deer Museum + Art Gallery has been undertaking a massive revitalization for the past 3-4 years with major renovations, new staff, new programs and a new ability to host national level exhibits, the MAG is truly not the Museum we might remember. We were asked in the midpoint of 2008 to start looking at new exterior signage for the building. We had a couple of good shots at solutions over the years, but nothing was ever approved.

With the major renovations came some 2″ steel frames courtesy of the architects and one of Red Deer’s fine welding shops. Now we had a complete frame to work on, and these banners finally came together. Today they were installed and we couldn’t be happier. The signs are elegantly designed and the graphics look sharp against the classic brick building. The banners actually look small in these photos, but are 3′ x 12′ in size – actually quite large for a banner.

Sometimes we’re fast, and sometimes we’re slow, and all the time we’re happy to see a terrific finished product!

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Today I went to McDonald’s in Red Deer for the first time since an emergency stop on the I15 in Salt Lake in 2003, which was arguably one of the most terrifying experiences of my life – an American McDonald’s – I shudder at the thought even now. It was pretty scary almost hitting a herd of Elk or Moose or something near Delburne in 2005, but Salt Lake was life changing terror.

But I digress… It has been nearly 7 years since my last mono et mono with Ronald. A birthday party drew us today. I was utterly shocked. The restaurant, Red Deer’s first, looked more like Earl’s than McD’s – wood trim on  everything, new booths, even easy chairs and a fireplace! This place has gone uptown! New menu boards tout a myriad of new healthy products – photos of grilled chicken and salad have replaced the Quarter Pounder and the Big Mac.

Then we had the birthday party, and we even had a personal server! Super fun – terrific Playland! Wow! This is clearly not the McDonald’s I remember. Is it? Then the food came for the kids: same happy meal (with milk and apples for an option, mind you). Same branded toys trying to imprint on the kids.

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Many of you have visited the Redpoint office. It is bright, open, and even has a “homey” feel. It is a space that we love. It gives us room to grow, create, move, work, and hang out. On the negative side, the walls are in need of a paint job. The baby blueish grey washes out colour, and mixed with fluorescent light can make one’s complexion look blotchy and translucent. The colour also just dates the office, and hinders our creative environment. Or maybe we’re just being picky? An office makeover may be in the works… so we have to ask the question, to paint or not to paint? read more

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I visited the retirement swaré for a long-time client yesterday and it was a bitter-sweet experience. It’s sad to see friends retire, but it’s good to think of the times we’ve had working together over the years.

Redpoint bids a fond adieu to Lois McPherson of Red Deer College after 22 years of admirable service. Here’s looking for the third hole in one!

The laughs and smiles at events like that are always heart warming. It’s great to hear the stories and laugh at the tribulations people have endured. I was standing listening to the account of a woman who has had a large impact on my career (mostly by booking photoshoots that require me to sprint from one end of the Centrium to the other multiple times) and I found that as I wiped the obligatory tear, I was moved by the impact each person has in their careers, communities & colleagues. I don’t think we as designers, creatives, and communications people realize what we are doing most days. We are creating visual history every day we come to work.

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I’ve been talking a lot about content lately and  thought to myself this weekend: “I’ve got another good point… Photography!“

I wrote last year about photographic creativity, so this is not so much about that. This is more about how to manage the photographic process as it relates to marketing. Most marketers have two avenues for acquiring photography assets: professional and in-house. Professional photography always gets better results.  In house photography is always cheaper  and results are questionable, and this age of large mega-pixel digicams proves bigger isn’t better.

Now, I’m not trying to say I’m a good photographer with these tips, but I am a pretty good art-director (and modest, too), and I’ve seen a lot of interactions with clients and ‘photogs’. For a photographer’s thoughts, read this comment to one of my previous posts. What I really want readers to get here, is that the process takes time and money, but it means the difference between a mediocre piece of communication vs. something that truly moves people and will illicit a reaction.

Let’s break it down. read more

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