In addition to our fine art (located at krandallwilcox.com), we are developing a line of merchandise that is primarily Over-the-Rhine themed. Our first items are greeting cards that are perfect for the holidays, with images we shot last year during our first major snow here in Cincinnati. They are from the viewpoint of our front door on Main Street,  one looking north towards Orchard and Liberty Streets, and one looking south towards 14th Street. We also have an image of berries from a tree on the corner of Main and Orchard.

We have 8.5 x 5.5 glossy cards for $4 each (available at Art Beyond Boundaries), and 5×7 matte cards for $3.50 each or mixed 8-packs for $21 (available at Park+Vine). If you aren’t in the Cincinnati area, you can purchase online or just contact us!

You can like them on Facebook here. We’ll post a demo for their mobile app, as well as their presentation, SOON!

We talk with so many small businesses who either tell us they don’t need any help with their brand messaging (the “I’m just going to do it myself” crowd), or that they don’t think it’s important (the “I just need a logo, I don’t need to get all fancy” group). But here’s the thing, folks: it IS important! It’s like a facial tattoo for your business, and since everyone is going to see it and make a judgement about your business when they do, you ought to put some thought, time, energy and money into creating it. Most of us spend a little more when we expect to have something last a long time (a wedding ring, furniture, a kitchen remodel) — so if you expect your company or product to last a long time, why not invest in quality design for your logo?

When we create logos, we do extensive work with the client to determine who they are as a company, and what they are trying to represent. We talk about target audience and future goals of your company, as well as your current and future marketing needs. We understand font and color and because we’ve been doing this for a while, we will probably ask you some questions that you haven’t yet considered. And I  guarantee you, those online “get your logo for under $300 in a week” places aren’t doing all that. They also don’t view themselves as part of your team, like we do.

Look, we love small businesses (we are one as well), and we understand the economic limitations. But if you amortize the cost of using professional design for your logo (and other marketing materials) over the life of your business, it’s like any other start-up cost. Over five years it would cost less per month than your cell phone bill!

Once a great logo is established, we can use it for your website, your brochures, business cards and any other materials you have. We also provide a style sheet, so you can see the fonts and colors you need to use to stay true to your brand in the future. All this helps give clear, consistent messaging for your brand, which makes your customers feel more secure with your product. And if they feel comfortable, they will keep coming back.

Good visual branding really does make a difference, and it is worth the investment. We’d love to be a part of your team!

Soon after we arrived here in Cincinnati, we started reading Soapbox Cincinnati, an online magazine that covers everything that is Cincinnati. We have learned so much about our town through it, and now we are a featured story! We feel like, though we didn’t go to high school here, we have still been embraced by our community–and we are thrilled. Read the article here!

We are almost finished with our 8-week SpringBoard Cincinnati course, which is part of ArtWorks. What a great experience! The class is geared towards business start-ups and though we’ve been in business for 10 years, we felt like a start-up after relocating to Cincinnati from Los Angeles. SpringBoard came at the perfect time, taking us back to basics by helping us rework our mission statement and business plan for our new environment.

We were also thrilled to meet local business resources like realtors and lawyers, as well as like-minded artisans who are passionate about their work and our neighborhood of Over-the-Rhine. In fact, being in the same room with folks like Olive Branch Metals, VisuaLingual, Such&Such and DixonBranded from Losantiville, MamLuft & Co. Dance, Susie Brand Designs, Audreyesque (and a couple others whom you haven’t heard of–yet) led us to realize how passionate we are about working with local artisans. In turn, this helped us redefine our mission as a company: to strengthen communities by equipping local businesses with the visual tools to succeed.

I highly recommend this program to new businesses, as well as existing businesses who want to strengthen their foundation or re-evaluate their current direction.

One of the best parts of this site is the incredible (and hysterical) animal photography! We can’t take credit for the idea or the photos…but we love the idea of barnyard animals next to John’s fantastic furniture design and craftsmanship. We can (and will) take credit for all the retouching of the photos in the “products” section.

When we first started talking with RSW/US, the project was to migrate their current blog from Blogger over to WordPress. We told them that WordPress had grown significantly, and now it was a great way to build the ENTIRE site, not just the blog. Then they mentioned that there was another part of their company that had grown so much it was taking on its own identity, and we decided to build that one too–with a very similar look and feel to the main site.

The major twist with this project is that our clients felt their blog had a strong brand of its own, and wanted not only to keep the blog’s separate domain name and have it point to the new location…they wanted to keep the blog domain and hosting package separate from the main website. We wanted to give the user a seamless  experience whether they were on the main site (rswus.com) or the blog site (agencynewbusiness.com), with everything linking to each other so it was easy to move around.

Then of course we had to do it again with the second main site (rswagencysearch.com) and its blog (agencysearchfirm.com). Just a slight color change, but still true to their logo and brand.

We are proud to have worked with this great company!

While we were at it, they asked us to create the end credits for them as well, thus adding two new services we hadn’t offered before.

Now we are working with their distribution company to create DVD packaging for the release of the film. Stay tuned for that!

The Television Academy Honors recognizes “Television With a Conscience” — television programming that inspires, informs, motivates, and even has the power to change lives.

The Hall of Fame award goes to the inductees of the Television Academy’s Hall of Fame, which celebrates the pioneers of the most important and influential medium of our time, whether in front of the camera or behind it.

The College Television Awards is a nationwide competition recognizing excellence in college student produced video, digital and film production, and are administered and produced by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation.

We wanted to show this brochure we did for the Restavek Freedom Foundation.

They are an amazing organization that addresses the issue of child slavery in Haiti–a legal, culturally acceptable phenomenon that is deeply ingrained in the society. Being a “restavek” means you don’t get to have a normal childhood; you have to do all the chores for the family, you don’t get to go to school, and sometimes you don’t even get called by your name. Restavek Freedom Foundation does great work in addressing this difficult issue, providing mentors for these kids, helping them get into schools, and working at a governmental and societal level to work at changing the Haitian perspective.

Though they spend a lot of time in Haiti, they are based here in Cincinnati, so that is how we got involved with them. We are proud of our work, and hope that what we’ve done will help communicate their vision more clearly, and help more restaveks!