Recently, our client Little Dixie Construction converted an empty factory into a state-of-the-art green building for IBM’s Delivery Center in Columbia, Mo. VANGEL was proud to create educational signage throughout the building to highlight its green design, construction and silver LEED certification.

Here’s what the site looked like before.

And here is the building after Little Dixie worked their magic.

Little Dixie and IBM tapped VANGEL to develop informational graphics to educate employees and visitors about the building’s green features.

Our first step? Dumpster diving.

In the spirit of reduce/reuse/recycle, we visited the IBM job site to scout for construction debris.

Lucky for us, our Italian intern Carlo had come along. He volunteered to scale a construction dumpster and haul out a primer-gray, 8-foot electrical door panel. His fine Italian sweater may not have survived, but he can proudly say he got his hands dirty on the job in America. (Ti ricordi, Carlo?)

Here is the metal panel.

With the basis of a cool sign in hand, we enlisted the crew at SignsNow, for a plexiglass panel we would use to tell the building’s green story. The two pieces were then joined and mounted on the wall at IBM.

Next, we needed a way to maintain awareness throughout the massive building. The solution was a series of 12” x 12” plexiglass pieces that feature 3-dimensional items illustrating the building’s green features.

Simple and intriguing, the pieces also serve as “objets d’art” at IBM. There’s nothing like a chunk of concrete, an elephant, or a beer bottle sliced in half (thank you Village Glassworks) to get people talking.

VANGEL is proud to have been a part of this innovative LEED project. Ever wondered what creative, compelling ideas could do for your office space? Try dumpster diving.

Or give VANGEL a call.

Did you make it to the Columbia Chamber of Commerce Chamberopoly event at the Whiskey Wild Saloon?
We did. What fun!

Despite the challenges of a different location and an entirely new theme for their annual fundraiser (it was previously known as the Twilight Cruise), the folks at the Chamber made sure Chamberopoly was a rockin’ good time and saw a great turnout.

VANGEL was proud to be the Chamber’s marketing partner.
We created a multi-media campaign to introduce the Chamberopoly theme and generate excitement for the event. The components were designed to create a sense of fun, conjure up memories of playing games as kids, and establish an identity for the event.

Here are a few examples.

Save the Date Email

Print Ad

As with everything we do at VANGEL, the materials are creative, consistent and compelling. It’s just how we roll. Give us a call today and let us make sure your company’s marketing efforts can say the same.

Being the visually-oriented, right-brained type, I’m constantly judging things by the way they look. Yes, that may sound, well… judgmental, but it’s the truth. I’ve even been known to pick one item over another at the grocery store, depending on which packaging I like better (commence mockery now). This girl definitely judges books by their covers, at least when it comes to material things.

Part of the reason is that, as a designer, I know how much effort it takes to make great design. I respect other designers who put thought, heart and soul into their work. Great design can make even the most mundane things seem incredibly appealing (well, to me, anyway.)

Here are a few examples of great design that make me drool:

The Cole Haan Logo
I’ve loved this logo since I first saw it in Harper’s Bazaar, back when it would have taken me an entire year of babysitting money to afford a single pair of Cole Haan shoes. I didn’t even really care what their shoes looked like, I just fell head-over-heels (ha-ha!) in love with the simple elegance of the logo. I’ve always been a sucker for handwritten type, and something about this example is just perfect to me. It pains me to think of spending that much money on shoes, but you can bet if I ever do, it’ll be for a pair of Cole Haan’s, just so I can display the shoebox in my closet.

Thymes Packaging
Whoever designs the packaging for the Thymes line of bath and body products is my design soulmate. I just can’t get enough of these beautiful bottles and jars. The packaging is what really got me hooked, but fortunately, the products themselves are amazing too. I’m partial to the Kimono Rose collection, both for design and scent, but you really can’t go wrong with any product in this line. (If you’re a fellow CoMoian, Thymes products are available at Makes Scents on Ninth Street.)

The Bahamas Identity
I’m pretty sure I squealed with delight the first time I saw the identity system for the Bahamas. It’s pure genius. It just screams “Caribbean beach vacation” to me, and that, my friends, is music to my ears. I love that each island has its own mark that is a variation of the whole. So… who wants to pay for my trip to the Bahamas this winter? We’ll call it “market research.”

Penguin Classics by Coralie Bickford-Smith
Reading is already one of my favorite ways to unwind, and I consider myself a connoisseur of fine book jacket design. So when I saw these hardback beauties by Penguin Books’ Senior Designer Coralie Bickford-Smith, I again squealed with delight. Even better? Some of my favorite titles are included in this series. Heck, I might even be able to finally finish Great Expectations, if I could pause every few pages to ogle that beautiful cover!

So, there you have a few things that bring me great visual joy. What about you? What’s your eye candy of choice?

How do you tell the story of a powerful financing product with a catchy name like the “504 Loan Program” without, well, without bringing on a snooze-fest? You put a human face on it and give it a compelling voice. The success stories we created for the annual report of our client, RMI, do both.

With great photography, clean design and stories that people can relate to, we managed to keep everyone awake and, in the process, offered up some good information about an important financial resource that helps build businesses, create jobs and encourages community growth.

Learn how RMI helped the Totsikas family—originally from Greece—achieve their American dream in this profile featured in the RMI 2009 Annual Report.  Click here to download a .PDF of their story.

You can find a whole slew of inspiring entrepreneurs and small business success stories on the spiffy new website we created for RMI at rmiinc.org.

Ever wonder what exactly designers and printers mean when they mention a PMS or Pantone color? Here’s a rundown of the basics.

Pantone Inc. is a company that created the Pantone Matching System (PMS) to establish color consistency in the printing process, be it on a brochure, business card or billboard. With their system of color codes, a designer can pick out a color swatch in their nifty PMS Color Guide book, show the swatch to any print shop, and expect the final piece to have the right color—regardless of the equipment used.

In traditional 4-color printing, CMYK (Cyan, magenta, yellow and key black) inks are layered to create color images. This works just fine in most applications. But when the “perfect color” can’t be achieved—whether it’s a beautiful bright green or saturated deep orange—it’s usually because CMYK can only reproduce a small segment of the visible light spectrum (see illustration).

PMS inks are valuable because they are pre-mixed using 15 pigments, which vastly extends the number of colors possible in the printing process. So that beautiful green or deep orange can really stand out on your business card with PMS 375 and 1655 inks, but they’ll look dingy or dark when printed with CMYK. (Depending on the application, a PMS color can be used as a spot color in combination with CMYK printing.)

Pantone colors are often used in branding—a specific PMS color can become as important as a logo or typeface. If it’s too dark, too light, not bright enough, or just doesn’t seem right, it can diminish the consistency and effectiveness of your brand.

Pantone colors are richer, crisper, bolder, cleaner, brighter, more pure… basically, color that makes you drool. There’s not a whole lot out there that can compete.

And there’s a Pantone color out there for you! Have some fun discovering your Pantone Colorstrology. (Mine is Arabesque! Sounds fancy. And they claim I’m “ingenious,” so I’m totally on board with that.)

For more information about Pantone LLC and PANTONE® Products, visit www.pantone.com.