Monkey See, MonkeDAO

May 4, 2022

Monkey See, MonkeDAO

New identity for the first NFT DAO on Solana

MonkeDAO is, the first NFT Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) built on Solana cryptocurrency. The group works to provide unparalleled value to our members and the Solana ecosystem through community-led projects, connections and innovations. With the success of their initial NFTs (unique 8-bit Monkey portraits), the community is seeking to launch several new initiatives and needed a brand that could take them to the next stage of growth.

MonkeDAO built a culture that's quirky, fun, and irreverent, but also fairly bold — investing in the future of web3 while operating according to some pretty high libertarian ideals around rights to privacy, democratic processes, and the like. Kind of a fascinating collection of traits — playful, but also professional.

We wanted the visual impression of the brand to reflect that quirkiness—to feel quite bold and sure of itself while embracing some wonky, unconventional aesthetic decisions. The odd contrast in the logotype, the cheeky rotation of the "D", the use of color to create moments of high contrast, the heavy black lines in the icons—these decisions are all meant to feel quirky, but self-assured. Not subtle, but not wacky either.

Creative Direction: Paul Rustand; Design: Mark Walter.

A Good Business

December 17, 2021

A Good Business

Relationship Business design identity

Relationship Business is the latest endeavor of Goodstory (and Counsel Creative) founder, Kenny Morgan. As a writer, podcaster, and coach, Morgan champions a message of people-over-profit—relationships before business. Keen for a fresh perspective, Kenny asked Widgets & Stone to build a flexible visual identity to unite his many projects. The resulting system hinges on a versatile typographic strategy softened by a nature-made color palette and hand-drawn flourishes.

Be sure to keep an out eye for the book and the podcast as they roll out in the coming months!

Design Direction & Design: Mark Walter; Photography: Goodstory.

Brock Identity Design

October 7, 2020

We’re On It

Brock Identity Design

Brock provides customized equipment, manufactured parts, purchase parts, and on-site services for hot mix asphalt plants. On-site services include equipment installation, tear-down, relocation, and maintenance of asphalt plant equipment in the field.

When owner Ben Brock purchased JBK Enterprises, Inc., he helped to bring in a team of experts with over 178 years of combined experience in the industry. He wanted the new company’s brand identity to express that expertise and so he turned to Widgets & Stone for help.

Our team created a bold identity that is built to last. The crisp blue and black custom type design that works effectively – whether stamped on machinery or viewed on a smartphone. Visit their site here.

Creative Direction: Paul Rustand; Design: Travis Hitchcock, Stephanie Fast, Mark Slawson; Photography: John Le, George Bairaktaris.

The Art of Engineering

April 1, 2015

AdTech

The Art of Engineering

AdTech (Advanced Technology) Ceramics specializes in engineered, mission-critical ceramics for challenging environments. They deliver on complex challenges that other manufacturers avoid, producing the finest quality ceramics in any industry. Shaping them to be stronger, more durable, more precise than what seems possible.

AdTech has a long and rich history in engineering high performance ceramics, but the company’s market share had declined over time. AdTech’s promotional materials and web site were woefully out of date and did not reflect their high tech capabilities accurately.

Widgets & Stone and 26 Tools worked together to craft new brand communications tools. Along with writing headlines and marketing messaging, the team proposed new graphic treatments and photo styles to reflect AdTech’s expertise.

Dotson Commercial photographed the impossibly small and detailed ceramics that the company makes. In order to capture the extreme precision and beauty of these pieces measuring just inches across, Dotson designed a custom lighting solution and used dark and light reflective services to highlight the materials in isolation. Extensive editing and retouching was required to remove some proprietary elements of the ceramics.

The creative team’s work is now providing the basis of a complete web overhaul being designed and built by Tubatomic.

Creative Direction: Mandy Meredith; Design: Mandy Meredith, Kerry O’Connor; Writing: 26 Tools; Photography: Dotson Commercial.

Collective Action Drives Change

April 3, 2014

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.