For Show

July 10, 2017

For Show

Mannington Commercial’s Atlanta showroom

Mannington Commercial’s new show room in Atlanta is specially designed to tell the flooring company’s story: about its people, process and products. Corgan, designers of the showroom (and one of the nation’s leading architecture and interior design firms), asked Widgets & Stone to create various installations throughout the building to help tell the Mannington Story.

Collaborating with the client, Corgan Architects, Range Projects and a variety of sign makers, Widgets & Stone helped to design beautiful displays, structural infographics, bright neons and historical murals along with simple interior and exterior identification signs.

Design Direction: Mandy Lamb; Design: Travis Hitchcock, Stephanie Fast, Paul Rustand, Brad Dicharry; Sign Painting and Interior Production: Jason Meyer, Brian Burden, Range Projects.

The Shape of Things to Come

January 13, 2017

The Shape of Things to Come

Surfaces 2017 Viewbook

For the second year in a row, Widgets & Stone created the look and feel for Mannington’s view book for Surfaces, the international event for floor covering. The design team worked from the client’s theme: The Shape of Things to Come and new product development to produce the clean and elegant overview.

Laura Michael took the lead on design, art directing the still life photos by Dotson Commercial and creating the entire layout of the booklet. Travis Hitchcock and Liz Tapp contributed cut-out customized type design for the cover.

Design Direction: Mandy Lamb; Art Direction: Laura Michael; Design: Laura Michael, Travis Hitchcock, Liz Tapp; Photography: Dotson Commercial; Writing: 26 Tools.

Here today, gone tomorrow

August 10, 2016

Here today, gone tomorrow

Mannington Showroom · Neocon 2016

When Mannington approached Widgets & Stone to design not just a showroom, but an experience, for their centennial year at NeoCon 2016 at the Merchandise Mart in Chicago, we knew it would be an exciting yet challenging project to tackle.

Widgets & Stone devised a “pop up” showroom that completely transforms between Day 1 and Day 2, from the floor to the ceiling. With careful planning and strategy, a hide and reveal system was employed so that both days of displays could be installed all at once for easy transition. The two different showroom experiences would drive repeat traffic to the showroom both days, as well as maximize the relatively small 2200 square foot space to show the versatility of Mannington’s products.

Day one was an energetic mosaic of color, infused with cultural inspiration from New York, Mexico City, Atlanta, Philadelphia and Chicago, with a distinctly urban feel. On day two, the same space morphed into an elegant, sophisticated showroom featuring lovely moments drawn from nature–from the grand scale of topography to the intimacy of a blown dandelion. The result was unprecedented traffic in the showroom, greater brand awareness, and happy reps.

To see more about how we changed the flooring, displays, wall colors, upholstery and more, overnight, watch the video here: https://youtu.be/Pzi_fX0G6e8

Click here to take a virtual tour of the Day One showroom and here for the Day Two Showroom.

Creative Direction: Mandy Meredith; Designers: Mandy Meredith, Liz Tapp, Travis Hitchcock, Mark Slawson, Laura Michael, Stephanie Fast; Fabrication and installation: Range Projects.

The Century Mark

May 21, 2016

The Century Mark

100th Anniversary Book

To celebrate 100 years in business, Mannington Commercial created an oversize booklet that reviewed its history, its values, its clients and projects. Design Director Mandy Lamb worked closely with designer Stephanie Fast to produce a print piece that could be produced affordably yet had a design presence.

The foil stamped cover paper and unique side stitch gave the magazine-like booklet a unique flair and collectible quality.

Design Direction: Mandy Lamb; Design: Mandy Lamb and Stephanie Fast. Photography: various; Writing: 26 Tools.

Ready. Stick. Go.

May 3, 2016

Ready. Stick. Go.

Logo for Quickstix

Creative Director Mandy Meredith, writer Caleb Ludwick and designer Travis Hitchcock worked quickly to produce a catchy name and logo for an LVT product with pre-applied adhesive on the back. Not only does the product name aptly describe it, but the clever logo looks just like the product in use.

Creative Director: Mandy Meredith; Designer: Travis Hitchcock; Writer: Caleb Ludwick.

Floor Foto

January 13, 2016

Floor Foto

Styles for Mannington Floors

Over the past several years, Widgets & Stone has been working with Mannington Mills (Commercial and Residential flooring) to create all kinds of designs. As part of that work, Design Director Mandy Meredith has been creating photography styles — both settings to show off the floors, and actual floor designs themselves.

Photographers, retouchers, designers and even clients have been essential collaborators in creating a body of work that showcases the new design-forward approach of Mannington.

Creative Direction: Mandy Meredith; Photography: Dotson Commercial; Marta elena Vassilakis; Photo retouching: Dotson Commercial, H2B.

Pattern of Place

June 30, 2015

Pattern of Place

Mannington Showroom 2015

Widgets & Stone directed the full scale redesign of the Mannington Commercial Showroom in the Merchandise Mart in Chicago for the fourth year in a row. The designs showcase new products in a visually exciting and memorable way, both on the floor and in wall displays.

This year’s showroom design theme was “The Pattern of Place,” derived from the great cities and sites that influenced 2015’s new product introductions. There was a heavy emphasis on highly graphic patterns inspired by everything from tire tracks in LA to the cacti of Tucson and the city grids of DC.

Each display reinterpreted the pattern of each product, utilizing a grey veneer that cohesively brought a sophisticated hospitality feel to the space. Highly patterned pendant lights from Finland complemented the theme, and Built-ins provided functional storage for presentations while doubling as seating. Custom furniture added to the loungy feel and encouraged clients to linger longer.

Design Direction/Art Direction: Mandy Meredith; Designers: Amy Trumbull, Kerry O’Connor, Travis Hitchcock, Matt Greenwell, Bradley Dicharry; Fabrication/Design-Build: Range Projects.

Traction Avenue - Process

May 21, 2015

Traction Avenue Letterpress Poster

Process Photos

A few photos of the letterpress printing process for the Traction Avenue posters we designed. Printed by Matt Greenwell and Wendy Halvorson of The Open Press in Chattanooga TN.

Traction Avenue

May 19, 2015

Traction Avenue Collection Posters

Shimoda Design Group + Mannington

Shimoda Design Group is a 10-person studio that has worked with a number of clients, including Steelcase, Mikimoto, Rolex, MTV, and several local California creative companies, including TOMS Shoes. Principal Joey Shimoda was Contract Designer of the Year, 2013.

With a history of collaborating with design talent, Mannington Commercial will be launching a new line of flooring in 2015 – designed with Shimoda Design Group. Widgets & Stone is collaborating to create promotional and advertising materials for the new products.

Here is a sneak peek at the collaborative poster design. Led by Joey Shimoda’s creative vision, Design Director Mandy Meredith led the Widgets design team on a project exploring design styles of the international and modernist eras. This custom designed giveaway was letterpress printed in a limited edition at Chattanooga’s Open Press. Keep an eye out, there is plenty more to come.

Creative Direction: Joey Shimoda; Design Direction: Mandy Meredith; Designers: Mandy Meredith, Aggie Toppins, Matt Greenwell, Amy Trumbull; Letterpress printing: Wendy Halvorson, Matt Greenwell (The Open Press).

Choices That Work

September 24, 2014

Choices That Work

Mannington Commercial 2014-15 product catalog

Led by Design Director Mandy Meredith, the Widgets & Stone design team worked with Mannington Commercial and backend development expert Rob Reagan of Iron Horse Software to create a comprehensive product catalog.

Iron Horse developed programming to allow the print catalog content to flow from Mannginton’s web site into a set of print templates designed by Widgets & Stone. The new system will allow for an easily updated and even customizable print catalog in the months to come.

Design Direction: Mandy Meredith; Designers: Mandy Meredith, Amy Trumbull.

The Next Big Thing: A Million Little Things

June 24, 2014

The Next Big Thing: A Million Little Things

Mannington Showroom Neocon 2014

Widgets & Stone directed the full scale redesign of the Mannington Commercial Showroom in the Merchandise Mart in Chicago for the third year in a row. The designs showcase new products in a visually exciting and memorable way, both on the floor and in wall displays.

This year’s showroom design was based on the theme of the “Next Big Thing” being “A Million Little Things” – so displays took the form of thousands of 2-inch squares (covered with Mannington’s products and colors), each making up a single big image. The STYLIST collection drew inspiration from fashion, so a large image of Debbie Harry (photographed by Steven Meisel) was used. The Connected collection drew inspiration from the Brooklyn Bridge; Design Local used an image of one of the three cities participating, Philadelphia; other displays were simple images or even symbols.

The pixel effect proved quite a delight as viewers in person could not always get far enough away to make out the full image. However, as soon as they took out a phone or a camera to photograph it, the image became immediately visible on the digital display screen.

Design Direction/Art Direction: Mandy Meredith; Designers: Amy Trumbull, Ben Dicks, Kerry O’Connor, Paul Rustand; Fabrication/Design-Build: Range Projects.

Style In Store

May 22, 2014

Style In Store

Amtico Custom Design Photo Styling & Ad Design

Creating ads that showcase great products isn’t difficult, but what about when those products don’t yet exist? Showing custom flooring designs to interior designers and architects can be tricky. Led by Design Director Mandy Meredith, the Widgets & Stone team worked hand-in-hand with client Mannington Commercial to design a custom floor pattern for their Amtico Collection.

Mandy and Mannington’s Natalie Jones worked together to not only create a floor pattern, but also to select colors and materials, then to assemble it and create a small section of a sample floor. Widgets & Stone then identified a great retail space to photograph in (Amanda Pinson Jewelry) and a great photographer to composite the floor, Dotson Commercial.

The result is a great example of the client’s custom capabilities, as well as a lovely ad.

Creative Direction: Mandy Meredith; Design: Mandy Meredith, Amy Trumbull; Photography: Dotson Commercial.

Getting into a Binder

April 22, 2014

Getting into a Binder

Binder System for Mannington Commercial

In 2013 Mandy Meredith and Amy Trumbull led a redesign of the Mannington Commercial sample binder system — a way of displaying the company’s wide range of flooring option for interior designers, architects and the like.

The comprehensive redesign minimized clutter and streamlined information, making the binders easier to read and use. The Widgets & Stone team also created a system that allowed for multiple flooring materials and different brand lines to still be visibly related and maintain brand continuity.

Design Direction: Mandy Lamb Meredith; Design: Mandy Lamb Meredith and Amy Trumbull.

Couture Underfoot

February 17, 2014

Couture Underfoot

Amtico Ad Campaign

Since 1964, Amtico has grown to dominate the premium resilient flooring market, by creating a remarkable product portfolio of luxury vinyl tile — synonymous with luxury, unmistakable style, custom capabilities, exceptional service, and quality products. In 2012, Amtico became part of the Mannington Commercial family. Because of the heritage of the name, Mannington created the Amtico Collection, encompassing all Amtico products, as the premium line of LVT in its broad portfolio.

Widgets & Stone and 26 Tools worked under direction from Mannington Commercial to propose brand communications tactics and then create various brand communications tools for Amtico — including an ad campaign to communicate the following key values and personality:

“Beautiful craftsmanship in both form and function. The Amtico Collection appeals to people with a passion for design, who appreciate luxury and sophistication. Embodies sophistication and elegance with a European/British sensibility – smart and timeless style that, at times, even brings a modern edge. A true quality product, known for high performing materials and durability. An honest, genuine partner who will work collaboratively, with international savvy yet a commitment to bringing great customer service to every relationship.”

Creative Direction: Mandy Meredith; Design: Mandy Meredtih; Writing: Caleb Ludwick; Photography: Grant Dotson.

Redefined Showroom

January 10, 2014

Redefined

Mannington Commercial Showroom

Widgets & Stone directed the full scale redesign of the Mannington Commercial Showroom in the Merchandise Mart in Chicago. The designs showcase new products in a visually exciting and memorable way, both on the floor and in wall displays.

This year’s showroom design drew heavily on inspiration of Mannington’s manufacturing heritage and on the new Redefined Collection. The Redefined Collection features fashion classics reimagined as modular carpet. Made up of six products inspired by houndstooth, tweed, hexagons, and other classic patterns, Redefined is texturally rich and visually stunning.

The showroom displays featured many elements from the manufacturing facilities: giant spools for yarn, hanging racks for color standards and a wall display featuring an assembly of parts from the tufting machines. Other visually striking elements were the hexagonal LVT floor patterns and the honeycomb wall display.

Creative Direction: Mandy Meredith; Design: Mandy Meredith, Paul Rustand, Matt Greenwell, Amy Trumbull; Display Fabrication: Jason Meyer & Ray Padron.