Every so often a project takes a path that none expect. A good friend, James Robertson, approached me with a fun idea to design a rub-on tattoo in celebration of his upcoming birthday. He wanted a unique SWAG item to give as a token of appreciation to his party guests. The concept presented was this:

He’s a follower of FilmDrunk.com a movie blog written and edited by Vince Mancini. Vince is known for his “tell it like it is” approach to critiquing movies. James noted that in some of the posts there are images of a dog in a birthday party hat incorprated into an occasional image (placed in for fun). James found it clever, noting how the dog looks like a true professional model, straight face and all. From this he requested creating a tattoo style logomark for “Birthday Dog”.

Long story short, we pulled it together and produced a fun illustration and he ran 2,000 tattoos (he has lots of friends!). They were a big hit, especially with the ladies!! About a month later James contacted me and said he mailed some to Vince at FilmDrunk as a gesture of his appreciation for the blog. Vince was pleased with the gift and asked if he could use the logo for a FilmDrunk promotional t-shirt. James agreed and said it’ll run through encompus. Vince connected with me to work out the final details of adding his blog’s logo treatment. A few renditions later and we had the final art. The t-shirt has been well received by fans of FilmDrunk.com and it is given to a select few who post a comment selected for FilmDrunks “comment of the week”.

First look at Birthday Dog.

The finished tattoo.

FilmDrunk.com

The final art for the FilmDrunk promotion.

T-shirt concepts

Christopher Mintz-Plasse aka "McLovin" from Superbad sporting a new FilmDrunk tee on the red carpet.

It is the pervading law of all things organic and inorganic,
Of all things physical and metaphysical,
Of all things human and all things super-human,
Of all true manifestations of the head,
Of the heart, of the soul,
That the life is recognizable in its expression,
That form ever follows function. This is the law.

~ American architect, Louis Sullivan 1896

A hand axe discovered in the Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania is over a million and a half years old. As a metaphor for the first thing made by man, it prefigures the whole world of making and shaping. No earlier artifact exist on earth. All art and technology began when early man chipped an oval stone flint with symmetrical precision to produce a point and extremely sharp edges. The prosaic name given to these exquisite objects is the Acheulian hand axe. In a world where tools might have been the most important things made, their qualities were sometimes brought to a perfection far beyond the needs of practicality. Craft, symmetry and elegance speak of pride in creation, pleasure in contemplation, prestige in possession. There are three factors which set this particular artefact apart from other prehistoric tools. Firstly, it does not reflect the natural shapes of stones nor is it the result of natural fractures. There is nothing accidental about the design. Secondly, the design seems to be the result of a shared aesthetic as these tools are found all over Africa, the Middle East and Southern Europe. A vast distance at the time. Thirdly, they were made with a painstaking refinement which far exceeds practical requirements. They are ‘the first real evidence of style’.

encompus teamed up with Ron Miriello of locally based Miriello Grafico to launch 100worldsproject.com. 100 Worlds Project is an exhibition of globe-inspired sculptures made by Ron, in collaboration with a community of craftsmen, makers, photographers, and other like-minded people. In the spirit of collabaration, and using the existing identity created by the team at Miriello Grafico, we designed a website that remained true to their image and pushed the design in “big and small ways” (as Ron might say). The website launch was strategically planned to officially kickoff the exhibit opening. For a new perspective on a global event visit 100worldsproject.com.

Yes, brand awareness, cost-effectiveness, and high-quality legal services do go together. The Trademark Group, a law firm specializing in United States and International trademark registration and protection will agree. Having handled nearly ten thousand domestic and international marks for their clients, Founder and Attorney Marnie Wright Barnhorst, said “it was time to turn its focuse internally”. One prerequisite, to keep the original global concept they started with in 1997. Teaming up with encompus, we created a new Brand image for The Trademark Group that held true to the original concept and reaffirmed there global perspective and continued growth.

We kicked off the re-brand with a new logo-mark. Accompanying the globe icon we paid particular attention to the typographic style and simple color pallet as it carried over to the business card design and collateral. The outcome was on target and the new image well received. We followed up with a new, organized and structured website design. The website development included: site mapping, user interaction, content organization, copy writing, on-site photography, and HTML/CSS programming. We closed out the project by updating all of The Trademark Group’s internal documents and Microsoft Word templates including; a cover letter, terms and pricing sheets, detailed proposal layout, trademark registration forms, and a virity of other documents.

In the end, we increase The Trademark Group’s perceived value as a leading provider of cost-effective, efficient, and high-quality legal services. If you’re looking for a trademark registration and protection team, we highly recomment The Trademark Group.