WORK: BLM x FUBU
It’s a Black Lives Matter Global Network and FUBU collabo! The two came together to create limited-edition merchandise that was released in early November at ComplexCon. At the exclusive Long Beach release, event goers had the opportunity to register to vote as we gear up for the 2020 Presidential election.
Our design team had the pleasure of assisting with producing the limited-edition t-shirts as well as developing the 2020 brand identity. We look forward to continuing to help build the brand by developing a social media activation plan and designing impactful marketing materials. To date, the opportunities with BLM have been limitless and that’s what we’re most excited about. Until then, thanks for checking this out.
WORK: Simply Pooka
Sometimes a new outfit (look) makes a big difference...
In January we wrapped up the first phase of a project with Pooka Pure and Simple, a skin and hair care product line. When Pooka approached us, they were already an established business with a look and a loyal customer base and had already set up shop in Whole Foods, kind of a big deal. Right?
Pooka came to us in need of a new look. The owner of Pooka wanted to maintain the heart of the brand while giving it a feel that made it stand out from its competitors. Boy did we deliver! We crafted a new logo and branding that spoke to the liveliness and vitality of Pooka Pure and Simple.
We are now working with Pooka to select the perfect jars and bottles for new packaging solutions. So, standby… Pooka will love it, and we’re sure you will too. ?
WORK: LA Matcha
We love cafés and consider ourselves well versed when it comes to the café experience
this was a fun and beautifully executed project...
In January, we completed work for an amazing café opening in Los Angeles. This project was like a match made in heaven.? Aside from the fact that we love cafés and this client of ours is THEE MAN when it comes to everything café, this project gave us the opportunity to pull ?out all the stops as we took the La Matcha brand from concept to manifestation.
When Royce (check him out in Urban Exploring Season 2, Episode 1), our client from LA, came to us for help with building his dream café, we were super excited. We developed three logo and brand concepts, each just as dope as the next.? We crafted a brand that fit nicely with the parent company Table Diaries. We wanted to ensure there was seamless integration between the two correlating brands.
We dove into the project head first. My two hittas, Iquan and Aaron, approached the design from two different perspectives. Iquan and Aaron, the two illest designers ever,?? approached the design from two different perspectives. We wanted to make sure we considered every angle as we created the perfect look, feel, and voice for this LA spot. Between the two of them, Iquan and Aaron crafted a selection of stellar concepts. Royce loved them all but of course decided on one. That was easy. (Disclaimer, creating through your passion can add a level of ease to nearly anything.)
Fast forward a little, Aaron and Migdale, our junior designer, were doing some research, scoping the scene for inspiration and BAM, they found a gem. Inspired by a small spot in Central Jersey, came the creation of the sketch treatment seen in the La Matcha branding below.
This project was definitely had the fun-factor, playing on our obsession with cafés and our love for design.
Introducing the CLAV
We got that good good, we call it the CLAV. After over 278 trips to outer space, we’ve got it figured out; to produce results for your brand, you need the CLAV method: Confidence, Look, Approach, and Voice. We’ve been killing it, beaming light and life into brands for over ten years now. If you do anything for an extended period time, you get good at what you do, you perfect your craft and you notice themes and commonalities throughout. For us Artoholik folks, we started to realize that we were consistently slaying them (translation: we were producing great results).
We noticed that our confidence in our abilities were rubbing off on our clients — good vibes are difficult to ignore — some of whom came to us during the infancy stages of their branding and others were well established. What we noticed was, our clients were being fueled by our excitement to dive into their brands and produce the results they sought us out for.
Not everyone gets the CLAV; but those clients who do, we manage them all around in their confidence, look, approach, and voice. It’s like a full-service car wash, undercarriage, wheel shine, vacuum, and air freshener included. Lol. The CLAV method is a framework for building a strong brand. These four components add up to a solid brand identity. Every client that comes to us is different. Undoubtedly there are many clients to whom we apply our handy dandy CLAV method but there is a small population of those who are already confident in their look, approach, and voice and exude confidence in their product. The confidence these cocky brands flaunt is what we aim to equip others with when we slap them with the CLAV.
As I mentioned above, many walk in the place with CONFIDENCE but may lack in other areas, such as look, approach and voice. This is where we come in. A little swag can make all the difference in the world. We take that confidence and apply it to the new look we create, the approach we plan out, and the voice we craft. An example of a brand we’ve worked with that has extreme confidence is Scotch Porter, a men’s grooming product line. When we began our relationship with Scotch Porter, they had confidence in their product and what they were on a mission to accomplish. In crafting the perfect look, approach and voice to communicate the SP brand message, their confidence went through the roof, leaving very little to be desired. Our work on their brand identity has made them whole by giving them a new tier of confidence, confidence in their look, confidence in the approach, and confidence in their voice, allowing them the space to flourish as a premier men’s grooming line.
Moving along to LOOK, this has proven to be a common struggle for a lot of brands. Many struggle with creating a cohesive look that gives them the distinction they are seeking. Leading up to a recent political election, we worked with a local politician, Councilman Jerry Guarino. His look at the time he hired us left much to be desired. There was no evidence of any effort put into the look of his brand (image), a critical component in solidifying his candidacy. We took the time to craft a look that expressed the confidence he already had in his political platform. Needless to say he won the election. Afterall presentation is everything. Although we don’t have a correlation analysis to prove it, we can say with great confidence that the look we equipped Councilman Guarino with played a large role in securing his seat at the table. We gave him a look that matched his voice and confidence, something the people could believe in.
APPROACH is critical, it’s the plan. Failing to plan is planning to fail. A brand can have confidence, a great look, and a voice that communicates the brand but all of these minus an approach that works is like having peanut butter and no jelly, bread and no butter, spring roll and no duck sauce (I like sauce), or all looks and no substance. Venturez, a record label we’ve been CLAV-ing out, came to us with vision, an approach that just needed some finessing and of course some correlating C, L, and V. Venturez had some knowledge on the direction they were going in and an idea of how to get there but just needed a comprehensive identity and some coaching surrounding their approach and how to mesh their approach with this new identity.
We recently finished a project, thefivewards.com, a HYCIDE magazine project. This project resulted in a resounding VOICE and overall confidence, culminated in the site we developed for them, showcasing the look and approach we meticulously crafted. For a project like this, mission heavy and community oriented, their voice is essential, with this in mind, we made sure the voice we brought out hit every necessary pitch and frequency.
In the delivery of proposals and pitches, we developed and continue to develop looks that WOW, utilizing approaches that work. Our style of active communication with our clients has resulted in strategic plans that lay out phases and actions that we get behind and our clients have no trouble believing in. In developing an identity for their brands and an approach for delivery and engagement, our clients subsequently develop a brand voice that speaks in tandem with their newly crafted look and approach. Kind of like the first day of school, you roll up in the place with your new outfit and fresh kicks, ready to flex on cats, that’s the swag our clients walk away with. So to recap, remember:
If a dope brand is what you desire…
Try spittin that CLAV Method fire.
Confidence in your Look, Approach and Voice
will make sure you never feel a void.
drops mic…