Dotson Studios — widgets & stone | Graphic Design and Branding Agency in Chattanooga, TN

Collective Action Drives Change

Benwood Foundation Rebrand

The Benwood Foundation has long been a “silent giant,” bringing a wealth of insight, knowledge, and generosity to the community it serves. With a new President and strategic plan in place, its Trustees decided that the time had come for the foundation to step out front, in a leadership role. Asking brave questions, funding Betas, and sharing risks.

Widgets & Stone, along with collaborators 26 Tools and Tubatomic, were asked to help position this shift, through messaging and a strategic web rollout of their new identity. Building upon a presentation of education research that we developed in 2013, we helped redesign the foundation as a convener of challenges, and the table around which people gather to move forward.

The new identity design was based on a straightforward, honest and plainspoken personality. Clean and simple typography based on a basic grid system, with hints of color applied sparingly to accentuate photo-journalistic black and white photography by Dotson Commercial.

When it came to the web site we thought: why not a new kind of homepage? Rather than just presenting projects and priorities, benwood.org is a living dialogue between 15 community members who represent all corners of the city – and are working in key areas. Engaged to point to real community needs as well as encouraging progress, these writers are sparking conversations about what is, and what’s possible. With new articles posted every 2-3 days, the home page is quickly becoming a hub not just of hope, but of connection and actionable insights.

See more images on Behance.

Creative Direction: Paul Rustand, Mandy Meredith, Caleb Ludwick, George Bairaktaris. Design Direction: Mandy Meredith, Paul Rustand; Design: Ben Dicks, Amy Trumbull, Nick Turner; Photography: Grant Dotson; Web Design: Alex Ogle, Brian Wleklinski.

Brand & Communications Strategy

Variable creates platforms that make the real digital, and make the digital real. Variable is also a leading developer of wireless sensing technology, NODE.

NODE is a Kickstarter success story, turned hardware development company. They are a listening company, a learning company. Experts and innovators. PhDs and MBAs. Users and rethinkers of technology.

NODE’s target market is shifting and expanding, and it is more important than ever that they have a unified and consistent message about who they are, what they do, and why it matters.

Variable’s new CBO Jonathan Bragdon approached the creative partnership of Widgets & Stone, 26 Tools and Tubatomic to help craft a brand and communications strategy for the next phase of the company’s growth.

The team built on the solid identity (created by D+J Brand Consulting) to expand the kit of design and communications tools — with new writing, new photography, a new brand hierarchy and new web tools. Utilizing both broad and narrow strategies: appealing to gadgeteers who can help expand how NODE is used, or to very specific markets in color matching.

“At Variable, we make sensory platforms that connect apps and smart devices to the real world, in new ways.

NODE is a hardware platform, that transforms how apps let us make sense of the world.”

Creative Direction: Paul Rustand, Mandy Meredith; Design: Mandy Meredith, Paul Rustand, Brad Dicharry; Communication Strategy/Writing: Caleb Ludwick; Photography: Grant Dotson; Web Design: Tubatomic.