the Loft

Operation Sunscreen Branding Identity

2010-11-03T08:17:00.000-05:00

In 2007, Karen Irwin, wife of a Missouri National Guard soldier who commands 2,000-plus soldiers, founded Operation Sunscreen, sending hundreds of Care Packages that include toiletries and letters of appreciation to soldiers deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. Operation Sunscreen is a non-profit, volunteer-based corporation, funded entirely by private donations. Karen started the corporation in her home where she and other volunteers personally put together Care Packages to send soldiers. The majority of her company awareness was through word of mouth. She needed a complete branding identity to help her continue to grow.

Karen met with the Loft to discuss her brand identity needs: company logo, business cards, letterhead and envelopes, post cards, certificates, donation boxes, and a website! The Loft team chose to incorporate the idea of a soldier Care Package into the Operation Sunscreen logo. The organization initials “OS” are also built into the Care Package logo. Finally, the left panel that includes the “O” with a star in the center represents the deployed soldier flag. We carried the completed design over to all of the pieces to create a consistent and memorable look.

The Loft would like to give special thanks to Garlich Printing and Thrasher Printing for donating several print jobs to Operation Sunscreen’s cause. Have a look at Operation Sunscreen’s complete branding identity design and visit www.operationsunscreenmo.org

Electropolis Mobile Site

2010-08-06T11:41:00.000-05:00

Our most recent project was to develop an iPhone optimized site for Electropolis, a St. Louis-based audio company specializing in creating and recording high quality audio for global broadcast, film, television, and more. Electropolis wanted a mobile site to better connect with the growing number of iPhone internet consumers.

Specifications for the site included simplicity and quick loading time. They also wanted to be able to add and update their own work. In collaboration with Halski Studio (front-end graphic design), we created three sections on the Electropolis mobile site: Work, About, and Contact. In the “Work” section, you can see videos of commercial pieces using a variety of Electropolis audio recordings for major companies including Budweiser, Ameren, AT&T, McDonalds, St. Louis Children’s Hospital, The Hartford, and more. In the “Contact” section, we enabled direct links to email and the Electropolis phone number for quick connection. In addition, we included detection scripts to adjust to the orientation of an iPhone. Have an iPhone? Check out the site: http://m.electropolisglobal.com.

ReStore Spot

2010-05-21T13:09:00.009-05:00

The Loft recently produced a 30-second regional cable TV spot featuring Habitat for Humanity’s ReStore that began airing in mid-May. The ReStore sells new, used, discontinued, and salvageable donated building materials to the public at discounted prices. The proceeds support the efforts of Habitat for Humanity to help build decent housing for low-income families. You can learn more here: http://www.habitatstl.org/supportus/restore/

Our focus was on making a piece that is personal and relatable. The spot features Elizabeth, an actual ReStore customer who used items from the ReStore to renovate her home. Her purchases are connected with the ReStore’s commitment to support Habitat for Humanity and its efforts to help low-income families realize their dreams of owning a home. The call to action is simple: You buy a bargain. We build a home.

We would like to send a special thank you to St. Louis-based Clayton Studios (preferred studio for the Loft) for donating their time to this cause. They were eager to provide an engineer, some studio time, and a voiceover talent at a discounted rate.

Noonan Services Group Ltd Poster

2010-03-11T08:09:00.014-06:00

The Loft was recently commissioned by Noonan Services Group Ltd to design a poster promoting green cleaning. Noonan Services is one of the first green cleaning and maintenance integrated facility services companies in Ireland.

The purpose of the poster is to communicate Noonan’s commitment to truly effective green cleaning practices. The Loft designed this hand-illustrated piece with an organic feel and text clearly communicating Noonan’s services and goals. This poster will be placed throughout the University of Limerick’s campus in Ireland and, ultimately, additional facilities to further spread its important message.

Habitat for Humanity St. Louis

2010-03-08T16:22:00.013-06:00

In 1986, Habitat for Humanity St. Louis was formed by a group who wanted to take action against sub-standard housing in the city of St. Louis. The purpose of Habitat for Humanity is to help provide funding to build houses for low income families, offer low-cost building materials, and reuse construction and household materials, keeping them out of landfills and protecting the environment.

Habitat for Humanity St. Louis’ ReStore is a retail outlet that offers new and reusable building materials for the general public to purchase at significantly discounted prices. Materials sold by ReStore are often donated from building supply stores, contractors, demolition crews, and others who want to support Habitat for Humanity. The proceeds from the ReStore help fund the construction of Habitat houses within the community.

Habitat for Humanity St. Louis has more than 5,000 volunteers each year in addition to volunteer committees. The Loft team recently got involved as one of those volunteers. The ReStore was in need of professional photography to showcase the variety of items they sell. We spent the better part of a day finding and shooting the best materials and angles. Habitat for Humanity St. Louis is using the photographs in a brochure promoting the ReStore. Have a look at some of the other photos on flickr.

Earth Day Logo

2010-03-05T13:20:00.006-06:00

Recently, it was Earth Day logo design time at the Loft! Our team submitted favorite designs, we voted, and Chad is victorious again! Check it out.

With each new design project, Chad gets out his drawing pad and pencil, steadily brainstorming by way of “doodling”. Thinking of obvious connections to Earth Day, globes, leaves and recycling ran through his head. He wanted a fairly simple design due to the fact that part of the rules were to incorporate this text: “40 years later, living Earth Day, every day!” Chad chose white plus a bold color, thinking of its versatility in anything print-related. Then he decided on an organic font to tie in with the theme. Chad’s design naturally made him the winner.

Edge Hair Salon

2010-02-03T16:18:00.009-06:00

At the Loft, we keep our creative juices flowing with fun side projects. Our latest involved designing the identity of a fictional hair salon. Each member of the Loft team based their design on this creative brief. We chose the winning design internally, and here it is (Congrats, Chad!).

Chad knew he needed to appeal to the masses, so he wanted to keep his design fairly simple. Wanting a modern feel, he browsed through several sans-serif fonts without finding “the font”. He decided to create his own by drawing rounded, simple shapes. He liked the idea of somehow incorporating scissors into his design too. When he created the ‘g’ in Edge, he saw the scissor handle symbolism right away. The end result is a smart, modern, unique logo, and the winner of the Loft’s latest creative exercise.