That reverie is the result of an incredible collaboration between our team here at Anabliss, an architecture and interior design firm with an office in Denver named Box Studios, and a new restaurant concept out of Houston named Jerry Built. That concept, the brainchild of a father-son team, was rooted in making a burger with the highest quality ingredients (think organic, local and seasonal) whenever possible. Not exactly your typical Texas burger joint.

Anabliss’ challenge was to first create an identity for the restaurant, and then to work together with Box Studios to help incorporate the new brand into the design and architecture of the space itself. Our first step in tackling the project included creating a set of style boards to present to the client. Style boards function much like a visual strategic plan, laying the groundwork for colors, textures, key attributes and other elements that will continue to serve as a reference point for customers who interact with the Jerry Built brand.

The end result of these style boards incorporated a focus on their fresh produce (later showcased by Box in beautiful crates like at your local supermarket), the people and farmers behind the food (check out that painted wall!), and hand-crafted style (eventually reflected in elements like hand-written chalk boards and other signage throughout the space).

With the style boards complete, Anabliss took to producing an identity representative of the company’s newly-defined character. After crafting a series of potential logos, and during a process in which (we kid you not) one of the restaurant creators asked us to make one that looked like it might have been dreamed up during “an acid trip,” we finally landed on a stellar mark that eventually lent itself to the brilliance that is the neon-lit cow, now gracing the Houston skyline and known locally as “Jerry.”

We think it’s proof that something magical happens in the process of collaboration, and we look forward to the opportunity to work together with Box again in the future. Not only that, but Jerry Built is incredibly pleased with the overall result.

As Chad, the son in the father-son team, remarked, “Working with Anabliss was a pleasure as they were able to grasp our concept and come up with a great logo. They had the ability not only to listen to what our requests were, but also the talent to execute a finished product.”

“We built a brand and corporate chain around the centerpiece: our logo. Need I say more?”

We think that just about says it all.

Thanks to Jerry Built, and thanks to Box Studios for such great teamwork. Now, how do we get one of those burgers delivered to Denver?

Photos of the Jerry Built space, credit to: Eric Sauseda

The Akha are a people group spread across several countries in Asia, including China, Burma, Laos, and Vietnam, though the vast majority currently call Thailand their home. With a deep history rooted in a beautiful and complex culture, the Akha often live in mountainside communities amongst their home countries. Unfortunately, they’ve faced decades of human rights abuses and are generally not counted as a legitimate people group among local citizens, though they number an estimated 2.5 million in total. The Akha Foundation, established in 2001 by Dr. Aje Yaebyangu and his wife, Nancy, seeks to serve this people group through outreach and education, as well as an orphanage for abandoned and underprivileged Akha children from surrounding villages.

More than six years ago, Matt had the opportunity to visit the Akha Outreach Foundation in Thailand to gain firsthand knowledge of the organization. In the several years following his first trip, he’s since become a Board member of the foundation and has returned to Thailand twice. During a Board meeting last year, he saw a dramatic need for the foundation to increase support through sponsorship, and wanted to expand their donor base by using a new website to showcase the heart of the organization’s work.

Though the organization has seen incredible growth, Matt believed that building a website as a portal to communicate the amazing things happening with the organization would provide a level of credibility and legitimacy that would spur increased involvement and support. More than that, it would honor the rich history of what the foundation had already established.

Sponsorship provides the opportunity to invest in the life of an orphaned, abandoned or at-risk Akha child in Northern Thailand and it was important to use the new site as a gateway to connect sponsors with not only the foundation itself, but the children they help to support. With this in mind, Lauren helped to throw a fundraiser for the organization and Anabliss began designing a site that would meet many of the foundation’s needs. Paired with their incredible photography, the end result is a great reflection of the incredible work of the Akha Outreach Foundation and we’re honored to have been able to provide such a helpful tool for such an extraordinary group of people.

Because Anabliss believes that great branding always follows great strategy, we started by conducting interviews with key stakeholders from the club and determined several clear guidelines for moving forward. First, we focused specifically on the club’s name. Country clubs often conjure up stuffy and elitist imagery, and Rolling Hills is anything but. While it is certainly best-in-class, its casual elegance is inclusive of all family members from a wide range of ages, even boasting the best youth programs in the state. Due to this, Anabliss felt that a shift to “The Club at Rolling Hills” more clearly positioned the club with its audience and strayed away from any negative connotations they were seeking to avoid.

Additionally, the club has a distinct location advantage. While most country clubs around Denver are located either directly in or just outside of the city, Rolling Hills is tucked in the foothills of the Rockies and enjoys frequent visits from local wildlife, including elk, deer—and, yes—even turkeys. The club’s architecture also harkens to its surroundings, with exposed wood and tall ceilings, giving members an experience often found in a mountain ski lodge. As this is an advantage no other local country club could promote, Anabliss knew it would be essential to tie in imagery that reflected the natural beauty and wildlife constantly present at Rolling Hills, and the image of a buck turned out to be the perfect fit. Both revered and prestigious, a buck is the quintessential representation of an outdoor mystique and and rugged elegance that the club cultivates. It also worked well as an icon on its own, a must-have for all of the applications and products that the club has available (like golf balls and hats).

Finally, we were given two specific visual directives: don’t create anything too golf club-specific, and be sure to include a nod to the “rolling hills” referenced to in the club’s name. Because Rolling Hills is so much more than a golfing experience (though it does take pride in its 18-hole championship golf course), we didn’t want to simply highlight one of its programs while ignoring all of the club’s other offerings.

With that said, Anabliss developed a new identity for Rolling Hills that we believe accurately expresses the energy of the club, and we’re thrilled with the results. After finishing the new identity, we also created a set of brand standards, a manual that the entire staff could use in order to represent and communicate their new identity with confidence and pride. This set of brand standards was then expanded into a unique product offered by Anabliss, the Online Brand Manager. The Online Brand Manager comes customized based on need and houses brand standards, imagery, identity versions, and documents (like PowerPoint templates), as well as frequently asked questions and contact information. Simply put, it’s Anabliss’ proprietary online asset manager, completely company-branded with the guidelines necessary to successfully manage an organization’s brand.

It was great to work with Rolling Hills, and we can’t wait to see how their new identity and branded materials help to establish it as the high-class club that it is.

We’re a bit biased, though, so what do you think of Rolling Hills’ new look?

The teams began the daunting task of setting branding goals and formulating communication strategies. While each team had a strong concept about what their campaign should convey, they needed the insight of a designer; thankfully, Anabliss was there to lend a hand.

Each team presented their campaign at the competition, complete with Anabliss’s produced pieces, to a panel of judges: Brigette Schabdach, Brand Strategist at Spin Creative Studio; Peter Murane, President & Founder at Brand Juice; and Toti Cadavid, Co-Founder at Xcelente Marketing. The winning team, “Add Some Altitude,” focused its campaign around current Colorado CEOs, using their testimonials to encourage other CEOs to join them in Colorado. Below is a clip from the winning team’s presentation.

This partnership allowed students to gain real-world experience working with a design agency. Several of Anabliss’s talented designers were assigned to the class, donating over 60 hours of design time to this important rebranding effort.  Each team had a different strategy to employ, and each Anabliss designer was able to put those ideas into riveting concepts. Anabliss was responsible for key images, logo creation, and typography; they also helped to broaden the students’ ideas, such as leveraging technology to expand a simple brochure into a fully-integrated iPad application. From beautiful photos of Colorado’s scenic landscapes to whimsical imagery of businessmen in bike shorts, Anabliss offered their years of experience to the teams in order to create dynamic campaigns.

Anabliss has been a vital business partner to the Business School in so many ways, but their efforts and support with this rebranding campaign have truly reflected the impact the collaboration between the two organizations has had.  It also made an impression on the OEDIT: “The Governor’s Office was thrilled to learn that Anabliss was working with [the University of Colorado Denver] to help execute the graduate-level student’s vision plans for their branding exercise and competition,” David Thomson of the Global Business Development Division explained. “The level of creativity and execution was well above our expectations and we certainly appreciate Anabliss’ efforts in helping make this such a success.”

This partnership has been so meaningful because each entity is invested in building and sustaining a strong, cohesive Colorado Brand: “The partnership we’ve had with the University over the last 10 years has been extremely meaningful and we were excited to share our expertise with the marketing students at UCD. This project in particular gave us the opportunity to partner together in encouraging and supporting local economic growth through new job creation, an interest we both share.” Matt Coffman, President at Anabliss, explained. Anabliss’s commitment to supporting higher education has been instrumental – and greatly appreciated – by the Business School and we are looking forward to more opportunities to partner in the future.

We’d also like to thank Erik Stenbakken who helped support team two with custom photography.

View videos of the teams presenting their work here.

Read more about the competition here.

2012 marks Anabliss’ 15th year in business! So, to celebrate we partnered with our friends over at Tewell Warren Printing (it’s their 50th year in business) to create a very special calendar.

Each month features advice, wise words or ideas that have helped us succeed over the years. Paired with each quote is a beautiful, distinctive image. But you really need to hold this year’s calendar in your hands to get the full effect. We used different printing techniques to create a unique, tactile experience every month.

It’s hard to do it justice with only photos and my limited descriptive vocabulary. So, email us and we will send you one for free. I have a feeling you’ll like it.

Please send your name and address to calendar@anabliss.com and we will get your calendar* in the mail as soon as possible.

*While supplies last.

“We were thrilled at the opportunity to breathe new life into such an important institution in the Denver community,” said Matt Coffman, founder of Anabliss. “Our assignment was to refresh the essential elements of the logo while retaining the brand recognition the logo had established over the last 35+ years. Determining what elements to keep within the new solution was an essential discussion in the development process.”

The new DPS logo integrates the tagline Discover a World of Opportunity and removes the repetitive “Denver” used in the previous mark. While in one DPS focus group we noticed an employee with the DPS logo embroidered on his shirt. The logo had to be 5 inches tall for the type and graphics to be legible – It was extremely validating to see the need for a more usable logo. The new identity can now be used on smaller-scale applications and has a Spanish version that can be used in Spanish-specific communities.

“It has been so exciting to launch a refreshed logo for Denver Public Schools,” Said DPS’s Director of Marketing. “It was very important to us to honor the history and tradition associated with our former logo, while giving our identify a modern and approachable feel that our families can relate to now and in the future. Based on the overwhelmingly positive feedback we’ve heard, we feel our updated logo does just that!”

In addition to the usage challenges, the DPS logo had progressed without the guidance of a brand manager or corporate standards. As a result, the identity components lacked consistency or any real adherence to brand standards. This, in turn, diminishes the credibility and professionalism of such an institution. Anabliss was able to create a brand standards guide and a logo toolkit which will allow key users and outside vendors to implement the new logo with fidelity and consistency.

Anabliss is excited about the potential of the new identity and is currently working on additional collateral to help re-establish the credibly and recognition of the Denver Public Schools brand in the Denver community.

In the Archetypes handbook, we chose 21 different well-known and commonly used brand archetypes to represent. What’s an archetype, you ask? The dictionary defines it as, “A very typical example of a certain person or thing.” But we define it as a component or characteristic that is essential to every brand, because it’s what connects brands with their particular set of values and beliefs. It’s a brand’s character. And whether the audience is aware or not, every brand has one. That’s what makes great brands so successful! Because brands aren’t just a name and a logo. They’re an attitude. They’re a feeling. They’re a personality.

Download the Archetypes PDF here.

Since 2004, Anabliss has partnered with Girls Inc. of Metro Denver to design collateral for their largest fundraising event of the year, Girls & Guys Night Out. In the past eight years, the event has hosted over 6,600 guests, and has raised over $2,382,000 for Girls Inc. of Metro Denver and the girls they support. With the help of Anabliss, Girls Inc. of Metro Denver has produced the Girls & Guys Night Out event to such success that it funds almost 15% of their yearly operating budget.

“Girls Inc. of Metro Denver couldn’t be more grateful for the partnership with Anabliss, and for the hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars they have donated to GIMD, and to our girls,” said Brenda Stewart, Girls Inc. of Metro Denver Director of Development. “We thank them for helping our events become stronger, smarter and bolder with their amazing talent! From every last minute cry for changes to the tiniest detail, to the patience of the Anabliss staff with our evolving needs, we couldn’t be more grateful to the truly amazing Anabliss team.”

Anabliss couldn’t be more humbled by and impressed with the outstanding work of Girls Inc. of Metro Denver. We are thankful we can be a part of it and we enjoy supporting Denver non-profits. Thank you Girls Inc. for helping us become strong, smart and bold.

Matt, Scott, Margie, Lauren, Gressa and their guests were treated to an evening of cocktails, food and laughter. While they ate the delicious meal, the festivities started. Girls Inc. President and CEO, Carol Bowar, welcomed everybody and opened the evening with a haiku. Then three, now-grown, Girls Inc. “girls” shared their inspiring success stories and their journeys over the past decade, including serving time in the Air Force, attending college, and planning to go to law school.

Next, everybody was treated to “celebration cupcakes” as John Heffron took the stage. A winner of the second season of NBC’s Last Comic Standing and featured on several Comedy Central specials, his material was fresh and funny. He covered the gamut of relationship woes (“Did you know that when you get married, your wife makes you get rid of stuff … like your roommate?”) and had everybody choking back tears with childhood anecdotes about cross-country car rides with chain-smoking parents (with the windows rolled up, of course) and enduring “the middle hump suck seat.”

Like good design, we encourage all girls to be strong, smart, and bold, and look forward to next year’s Girls & Guys Night Out!

The new site makes it easy for them to add content and photos, helping to keep the site current and accurate. And Salt Lake Smile Design’s attention to detail is represented throughout the site with customer testimonials and reviews, step-by-step explanations of their processes and before and after pictures. The subtle design details help illustrate the in-depth approach they take with each patient, and also help create a comfortable, professional site.

If you have a chance, take a look through the site. The transformations in some of the before and after pictures are hard to believe!

I don’t know about you, but I sure want to schedule an appointment.