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February 7, 2012

Bringing Monet’s Water Lilies into the classroom

Recently, the St. Louis Art Museum approached us with an interesting opportunity: help the Museum create an online resource centered around one of the key works of art in their collection, Claude Monet’s Water Lilies.

The timing was perfect. The Museum had recently launched a new exhibition, giving the public our first opportunity in 30 years to see Water Lilies as the artist intended: together with the additional two original panels to form the Agapanthus triptych, a sprawling 42′ immersive environment. Monet become best known for his deep exploration of light and color, especially when it came to his water lily pond, which he obsessively painted for 25 years. This was an exciting opportunity to further explore this work and the connections surrounding it.

We thought about it for a half a second and accepted.

Visit the site: discovermonet.com.

Intended to live on after the exhibition concluded, this online tool needed to allow teachers and educators to dig deeper into themes surrounding Monet’s life and work. From the onset, we approached this project with curiosity and discovery in mind. Visitors have the option to explore by theme–investigating connections between Monet & Japanese art or parallels in Water Lilies and works of later Abstract Expressionist artists. Alternatively, users may explore by date–scrolling through important works and events on a timeline, or switch to the location view to see how everything relates on a Google map. In the resources section, worksheets and learning guides are available for download and use in the classroom.

Built with WordPress, Museum staff can edit and update all aspects of the site, which means that over time this resource will continue to evolve and grow.

We truly enjoyed every aspect of this project! While we hope this teaching & learning resource helps people develop a deeper understanding of Monet’s life and work, we think Monet said it best himself:

“Everyone discusses my art and pretends to understand, as if it were necessary to understand, when it is simply necessary to love.” – Claude Monet

-nate

New Work, Website Share

January 12, 2012

Experience Kanaval!

It’s almost mid-January and we’d be remiss to let another day go by without mentioning that February 18th is Meds & Food for Kids’ inaugural gala and auction: Experience Kanaval!

Over the years, Almanac has worked closely with Meds & Food for Kids to develop their Local Hands, Bright Future campaign, and we couldn’t be happier with the momentum the campaign has seen. When MFK approached us to help name their very first gala and develop the invitation, programs and other materials, we looked to marry the brand from the campaign with colorful textures meant to evoke the paper mache masks worn during Haitian Kanaval celebrations.

Dinosaur masks at Carnival in Jacmel, Haiti
Photo by Lindsay Clark, ProjectExplorer.org, 2011

This truly unique event will draw inspiration from Haiti’s carnival, featuring Haitian music, dancers, food and art. A wild time for sure! Even better, it supports a dynamic organization with some pretty ambitious goals: ending malnutrition and igniting economic development in Haiti. Funds raised from Experience Kanaval! will help build a new factory—look, they’ve already broken ground!—in Haiti for production of Medika Mamba, MFK’s Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF).

Here are the event details:

Meds & Food for Kids’ (MFK) plan to end malnutrition and ignite economic development in Haiti begins with YOU. Join us on February 18, 2012 for the first annual MFK Gala–Experience Kanaval. The event will celebrate the culture of Haiti with authentic fare, entertainment and art.

MFK saves the lives of Haiti’s malnourished children and other nutritionally vulnerable people by developing, producing, and distributing highly nutritious foods, including the gold-standard Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF). We make our food products in Haiti, using Haitian workers and, whenever possible, Haitian raw materials.

Date/Time:
February 18, 6:30-10:00 PM

Location:
Donald Danforth Plant Science Center
975 North Warson Road
St. Louis, MO 63132

The Plan
6:30 PM – Cocktails & Hors d’oeuvres
7:30 PM – Entertainment & dinner
9:00 PM – Program & Auction

Purchase tickets to the event
Visit mfkhaiti.org for more information on Meds & Food for Kids.

We’re proud of the great work Meds & Food for Kids continues to do, and we’re honored to be a partner with them. Hope to see you there!
-nate

Branding, Design, Events, Social Entrepreneurship, St. Louis Share

September 6, 2011

Mini Pink Book—The Stylish Side of Curation

When we met Nicole Benoist for the first time last spring and heard about her idea to develop a web site that would deliver her picks on the most stylish places to dine, shop, and visit in cities around the country, we knew she was on to something. Nicole had long been known by her friends as the go-to gal if you were looking for a great place to take your visiting relatives for dinner, in the market for the hottest fashion, accessories or furniture, or wanted to indulge in spa treatments that were sure to be worth the money. After years of e-mailing around excel spreadsheets, Nicole, a writer and fashion industry insider, decided to jump in and create MiniPinkBook.com. And that’s where we came in.

Almanac helped her further define the MiniPinkBook brand and website strategy. The content that Nicole creates via Minipinkbook.com is delivered in a number of ways including the curated city lists, blog entries, a weekly deal for subscribers, and interviews with interesting and inspiring people. The city lists are designed to be easily filtered, so you can quickly drill down to the experience you’re in the mood for, with fun quotes from Nicole guiding you along the way. Focused around its founder’s sense of style and desire for memorable experiences, MiniPinkBook.com should prove to be a valuable resource for anyone who wants to zero in on the best of the best.

View more shots of the project here. Or you can catch Nicole introducing her new website on KMOV’s Great Day St. Louis on 8/12/11.

Design, New Work, St. Louis, Website Share

July 14, 2011

The Daily Hookup – Social buying gets cheeky

Almost 6-months ago we began an adventure working with a new Washington DC based startup company, The Daily Hookup. Devoted to creating amazing opportunities for trendsetters in the gay community—and those who follow their lead—The Daily Hookup (TDH) came to us with a request to help position the company, develop its brand identity and create an engaging website.

“It was established very early on and repeated often, “if we offer you a Brazilian, he’ll be smokin’ hot!”

The idea for The Daily Hookup grew out of CEO Mario Correa’s realization that 99% of Groupon offers he received were irrelevant to him and his gay friends. He wanted TDH to be the antithesis of Groupon, so instead of a Walmart approach, The Daily Hookup employs a team of “curators”—on the ground trend-setting experts in each city—who hand-pick unique products or experiences relevant to their members. Some of the initial offerings include tailored shirts from Hugh & Crye or premium wine samplers from The Tasting Room. And The Daily Hookup is serious about keeping its offerings unique and on-point. It was established very early on and repeated often, “if we offer you a Brazilian, he’ll be smokin’ hot!” And best of all, a portion of each purchase is channeled to non-profit organizations in the community.

Through months of many intense design sprints, changes in direction, trips to DC, conference calls with a growing staff spread out across the united states and coordination with a programming team based in Chennai, India, we worked closely with TDH founders we developed a versatile brand, one that is urban and playful, one that works well with the cheeky company messaging and copy that accompany each offering on the website. We extended the brand to promotional materials for events and sales collateral, all with a focus on the curators, who at the time of posting this entry total 13 in four cities.

As is often the case when you aren’t working with your own trusted web development team, the final website misses some of the nuance in our design and the team still has some kinks to work out in the UI. But they’ve made great progress and we’re so glad we had the opportunity to help create this unique brand and experience, from the ground up!

View more shots from the project here or visit thedailyhookup.com.

Photography, video and music by DP Daryn DeLuco.

Branding, New Work, Website Share

May 24, 2011

ALMANAC INCLUDED IN THIS WEEK’S AIGA DESIGNER BUSINESS ROUNDTABLE

I’m happy to be included as a panelist in AIGA’s “Designer Business Roundtable” on Thursday, May 24th., but truth be told, I’m even happier to learn from successful business owners like Eric Thoelke and Traci Moore.

Here’s the scoop from AIGA’s website:

————

We’re bringing together an intimate group of passionate creatives to discuss key business issues related to design. Our intent is to foster honest and open conversation that will connect us as a community and inspire us professionally.

Our first round table is titled:
Too Big, Too Small, Just Right
How to grow your business, how to decide if you even want to, and what to consider.

Selected panelists representing various stages of growth, from freelance to large firm, will speak to the challenges and joys of their own business development. Open discussion will focus on how to determine the “perfect size” for an individual’s business and strategies on how to get there.

When: Thursday, May 26th, 7-9pm
Where: Centene Center for the Arts & Education
3547 Olive Street St. Louis, MO 63103
4th Floor

RSVP by May 24th to dc@dianncage.com

————

Hope to see you there. I’ll be the one taking copious amounts of notes!
-nate

Almanac, St. Louis Share

May 3, 2011

THREE ALMANAC ENTRIES INCLUDED IN THIS YEAR’S ANNUAL AIGA DESIGN SHOW

Above: Evan and Paige of Sleepy Kitty.
Outtake from KDHX photoshoot. Photo by Douglas Garfield.

WHEW! We’re still recovering from a busy last couple of weeks but didn’t want to let too much time pass without posting reflections on the first ever St. Louis Design Week. Although we didn’t get out to all the events, it was obvious how much time and effort went into organizing this week-long celebration. Thanks to the St. Louis chapter of AIGA and all the many other partner organizations and volunteers (you know who you are) for all your hard work.

Among the beautiful work on display, we’re proud to have three of our projects included in this year’s annual AIGA design show at Mad Art Gallery. The Promoting category included our work for KDHX’s capital campaign; Branding included our very own branding work for Almanac; and Informing showcased our brochure for Meds & Food for Kids. We are truly honored to be included in such great company. The work coming out of St. Louis is imaginative and inspiring. For a list of the entries in the show, click here.

For a great “write-up” of the show, check out the above podcast from Seán Collins, live from Mad Art. As an added bonus, our work for KDHX is highlighted, (about 8:40 into it), specifically the beautiful photography from Douglas Garfield.

Almanac, Recognition, St. Louis Share

April 19, 2011

GET OUT AND GET INSPIRED AT STL DESIGN WEEK!

There’s no doubt about it, St. Louis is a creative city. Thanks to some combination (I still haven’t pinpointed it yet) of unique and historic neighborhoods, a low cost of living and an abundance of affordable building stock, there exists a culture of opportunity for artists, designers, restaurateurs, business owners or anyone else looking to do something interesting. During a recent photoshoot, Evan of Sleepy Kitty said it best when he described moving from Chicago to Cherokee Street in St. Louis as “..moving from a big city into a dream.” You can get things going here that you couldn’t in other cities.

So you’ve got an entire city full of these little nodes of creativity, interconnected and ready to burst…what’s missing? Often times it’s a celebration! A simple way to highlight and reflect on all the great things happening in our city. A week of inspiration.

Enter: St. Louis Design week. Organized by AIGA St. Louis, STL Design Week runs from April 18-23 with each day designed to “highlight the ways design impacts our community, influences commerce and improves our lives. Don’t miss the daily studio tours and nightly events designed to inspire.” Lots of worthwhile events happening all week, find the full schedule at stldesignweek.com.

Elijah, by Jay Fram

Capping off the week of festivities, our good friend Jay will have his studio open Saturday the 23rd from noon-1pm. In addition to offering a wide variety of snacks and beverages, we’ve received word that Jay will be shooting free portraits on his remaining stash of Polaroid film! If you get a chance, stop by and pay your respects.

-nate

Inspiration, St. Louis Share

March 10, 2011

PR ROUND-UP

Today we were surprised to get an email letting us know we’ve been chosen as today’s Site of the Day on Awwwards. (In fact, I checked with Nate to make sure it wasn’t a hoax…it’s the internet, you never know.) It’s fun to see our site making the rounds…in the last couple of weeks we’ve popped up on How Magazine’s Top 10 Sites for Designers, siteInspire, and a few other website inspiration galleries. And a few weeks ago one of our favorite blogs designworklife featured our identity.

We’re pleased and honored that our work resonates with so many people.

OK, back to work!
-Angie

p.s. We apologize in advance to Sean Thomas from the Old North St. Louis Restoration Group for the unfortunate screenshoot chosen by Awwwards. Sean, you’re a good sport.

Almanac, Recognition Share

February 18, 2011

NEXT RESTAURANT

Above: Screenshot of NEXT video, be sure to check it out!

While building a moodboard for a project we’re working on, I came across this interesting restaurant concept called NEXT. Looking to open this year in Chicago, NEXT will explore world cuisine by changing its menu—and the entire design of the restaurant—several times throughout the year, offering diners an experience based in great moments in history or the future. You might be dining in Paris in 1912 and the next time, Hong Kong in 2036. If that’s not enough, rather than take reservations, NEXT will be selling tickets! Prices will depend on time of day/day of the week, and each ticket will have a flat fee covering your 5-6 course meal.

Next Restaurant will serve four menus per year from great moments in culinary history – or the future. Our team of chefs will investigate, test, refine, and present authentic menu interpretations from cultures, places and times. Depending on the cuisine, meals will be 5 to 6 courses and will include food, beverage pairings, and service. Our goal each season is to present the best possible menu from each culinary inspiration. We want to take diners on a journey to the foods we find exciting, delicious, and important.

Creating an entirely new experience from scratch four times a year seems ambitious, but I’m interested to see if they can pull it off. I love the notion of selling tickets at a flat fee! Here’s what we’re offering tonight and here’s what it costs. Simple.

-nate

Inspiration Share

February 4, 2011

Social Media Stories

Photo: handmade social media pillows from Craftsquatch

Our last blog post shared some thoughts on social media and a few things to think about as you prepare to dip your toe into those sometimes murky waters. Today, I’m sharing a couple of brief stories of organizations that have seen the value in connecting to their audience in this way, but have also been aware of their own limitations and took the long view of this tool.

As we began working with a client recently and digging into their capabilities, we (and they!) discovered they had three facebook pages and had tweeted about 25 times, but no one knew who was tweeting for them! Not as unique a situation as you might think, with so many organizations jumping into social media any way they can without a plan or goals in mind. Lots of times, anyone who wanted to help was given the green light, but eventually the initiative ran out of gas, or was “re-prioritized” to the bottom of the list, due to lack of staff, time, and measurable goals—no one knew if it was working!

But, we still had to stop and think. What was our social media personality? And how is it different from who we are personally? Or is it? What would we have to say or share that people would find interesting and valuable?

We were aware that these folks didn’t have much time to devote to managing their social media presence, but because their work is international, and two of the goals we helped them define were to build awareness and connect donors to their new financial needs, we recommended that they focus at least some of their efforts in this area. Social media has a knack for connecting people with great causes and this was a great cause. By shifting some of the responsibilities of an intern over to facebook, plus enlisting an “on-the-ground” staffer familiar with Twitter, they found more time to devote to posting and tweeting. We helped them streamline and focus on one facebook page, worked on developing an upbeat, casual, and knowledgeable voice and put together a calendar of recommended topics and ideas to help them tell their story in well-spaced small chunks.

Now that they’ve spent some time with it, they’re starting to see the benefits of social media and its value in helping them reach their goals. In two months—and with minimal effort—they’ve seen an increase of 62% in the number of people who “like” their facebook page (about 100 new people), and combined with increased twitter usage, are steadily sending more and more interested people to their website where on-line donations are way up.

OK, so the other organization is us—yep, Almanac. As creative types and people-about-town we knew what was up with facebook and twitter on a personal level. I’d found long-lost high school friends, seen some pretty darn cute kittens, been invited to events and kept up with some of my favorite companies, people and organizations thanks to social media. Nate’s had a personal twitter account since 2008—hasn’t tweeted in about a year, but he’s in there. We get that social media is an important shift in the history of communication and we recommend it to many of our clients as a critical component in getting the right message to the right people. However, I have to admit that while Nate didn’t exactly DRAG me into using it as tactic for Almanac, I just wasn’t as sure about it as he was. In the end I agreed we should jump in. But, we still had to stop and think. What was our social media personality? And how is it different from who we are personally? Or is it? What would we have to say or share that people would find interesting and valuable? Isn’t creating good work enough?

We began with a facebook page, sharing photos of our work, good news about our clients or about our agency. We’ve since developed this blog and started tweeting. We’re still growing into our voice, and Nate’s taken on most of that. We talk about what to say and what others are saying. To give ourselves some structure, we put together a flexible calendar of topics that we can develop into blog entries or facebook posts, with the freedom to chat about whatever’s relevant or important to us on any particular day. Just being intentional, and keeping our audience in mind as we go. Today as I spent some time on twitter (yes, I’m on—it keeps urging me to “Write your first tweet!” no thanks, not there yet), and read all the tweets coming out of Cairo, I’m realizing more and more the place that social media has carved out for itself in our lives, and I’m more convinced than ever that genuine, honest communication is what people want, no matter how it’s delivered.

-Angie

Almanac, Social Media Share

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