A Sea Change for Education

A Sea Change for Education

izzi web redesign

For almost 40 years, Izzi Early Education (formerly IHSD Inc.) has provided the highest-quality education and family services to ensure that all children in the San Matteo County, California community get the care they deserve.

Izzi believes that every child and every family deserve access to high-quality early child education. Their comprehensive early care, education, and family services ensure that all children, regardless of circumstances, get the care they need, where they need it.

Stitzlein Studio (founded by the creative team of Joe and Leslie Stitzlein) had recently led Izzi’s rebrand, and they approached Widgets & Stone about designing and building a website for the non-profit.

The new web design includes a revamp of their current content along with microsite news and information pages for 11 locations. Our design team built animated SVG files to help keep the site mobile friendly and  make use of the colorful vector shapes Stitzlein Studio created.

The new design showcases Izzi’s comprehensive program and service offerings, as well as the unique spirit that is behind Izzi’s approach— a surging confluence of culture and purpose, of hope and need, of talent and ambition, of will and willingness, of optimism and opportunity.

Visit the izzi web site here.

Creative Direction: Joe & Leslie Stitzlein, Stitzlein Studio; Design Direction: Liz Tapp; Design: Liz Tapp and John Le; Writing: Mark Gibson and Austin Howe; Photography: Joshua Chun and Izzi Staff.

Niedlov’s Rebrand

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Love to Knead, Knead to Love II

Niedlov’s Rebrand

Inspired by trips overseas, Niedlov’s new owner Erik Zilen tasked us with updating their look in hopes of recreating the transportive feeling that comes with setting foot inside the same venerable bakeries he visited in Europe.

The challenge was to update one of Main Street’s most recognizable, and established logos and create something that was going to walk the fine line between being refreshing and new, while also still retaining the timelessness of the previous logo. And to update an original logo that we designed in 2004.

The end result was a wordmark inspired by the handcrafted, old-world typefaces seen in documents from the late 1700s, paired with a color system that showcases the unique ingredients that have made Niedlov’s a Chattanooga staple for the past twenty-plus years.

Creative Direction: Paul Rustand; Design: Mark Slawson, Travis Hitchcock.

Here When You Need Us Most

Here when you need us most

Alleo Brand Identity

Hospice of Chattanooga has had a long and strong history providing patients and their loved ones a full spectrum of compassionate care. Over the past couple years the organization has grown – in addition to hospice and palliative care, they now also offer pediatric and perinatal programs for children facing life-limiting illness.

The board and leadership of Hospice of Chattanooga has also been expanding the nonprofit family of service organizations in Tennessee, Georgia and North Carolina. With this growth, Hospice of Chattanooga found it needed a new brand system to unite its variety of organizations and services.

Widgets & Stone worked closely with the leadership team to create Alleo Health System, the umbrella brand for all the organizations. A new logo and complete identity system was put into place to unify the different services and locations across the southeast.

Web, advertising, signage, business stationery systems, videos and more have been part of the complete rebrand.

Creative Direction: Paul Rustand; Design Direction: Liz Tapp; Design: Travis Hitchcock, Mark Slawson, Athene Ruiz, John Le, Ben Dicks; Writing: Jacob Biba; Photography: Dotson Commercial.

Champions of Your Cause

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Champions of your cause.

Cempa Rebrand

Since 1986, Chattanooga CARES’ mission has been to reach, assist, and support people impacted by HIV. Recently, CARES’ services have grown to cover Hepatitis C, STIs and many other primary care services. Along with that growth, the organization is expanding well beyond the city of Chattanooga. They have done this with compassionate and responsive delivery of education health, social, and advocacy related services. 

Because of this growth, the Board of Directors felt that the organization needed a new name and identity that reflected their expanding services and service area. After an extensive naming process, the board landed on Cempa Community Care and Widgets & Stone went to work on identity designs.

The end result is a strong typographic approach that is clean and understated – both professional and approachable. The medical cross is formed by the overlapping of two arrows, arrows that also double as framing devices or symbols of movement. Flat color combines with warm photography to present information clearly. 

The board also wanted to keep the Chattanooga CARES name, utilizing it for the foundation side of the organization. Widgets & Stone redesigned the heritage logo to fit with the new brand design.

Creative Direction: Paul Rustand; Design Direction: Liz Tapp; Designer: Mark Slawson; Photography: Stock; Writing: 26 Tools.

EF Contract Rebrand

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A New Day

EF Contract Rebrand

Engineered Floors, LLC restructured and rebranded the commercial flooring businesses of Bolyu Commercial and Aqua Hospitality, following Engineered Floors’ purchase of the operating assets of the Beaulieu Group.

Bolyu and Aqua has been rebranded as EF Contract and EF Hospitality.

Brad Root, the Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing tapped the creative teams Widgets & Stone and 26 Tools to develop the new brand and communications tools to present to the company and the industry. We created a straightforward and pragmatic identity to reflect the new brand’s personality and the new product’s quality.

EF Contract will offer modular carpet, broadloom carpet, LVT and Kinetex, an advanced textile composite flooring that combines key attributes of carpet with the long-wearing performance characteristics of hard-surface flooring. EF Contract will focus on the low-to­ mid range of the flooring market.

Confidence in perfomance.

Surprisingly beautiful.

Relentless service.

Dalit Freedom Network

Dalit Freedom Network

Logo concepts

In the world’s largest democracy, 250 million Dalit people are denied freedom, justice, and human dignity, because they are considered worthy only to be enslaved, broken, crushed. Untouchable. But after 3,000 years of oppression, they are standing up for the rights of their children to live in freedom and dignity.

The Dalit Freedom Network is working to help change this. The US branch of the organization asked Widgets & Stone to help them rebrand.

This design concept grew out of the fact that the “untouchable” Dalits are required to drink out of small clay cups that can be destroyed after they are finished — that way, no one else might mistakenly drink after them.

The design team developed the idea of taking the broken shards of a cup and reassembling them into new dynamic shapes, filled with potential.

This design was ultimately not used, as DFN decided it would be better to unify the offices worldwide under the existing identity.

Creative Direction: Paul Rustand; Design: Bradley Dicharry, Travis Hitchcock.

Come As You Are. Get Where You Want To Be.

Come As You Are. Get Where You Want To Be.

Forte Fitness Identity Design

After a decade of working for a national franchise, owner and personal trainer Julian Kaufman decided to start his own fitness studio. Through years of working as a one-on-one personal trainer, Julian had developed an excellent client base and reputation. He turned to Widgets & Stone to help him create an identity that would reflect that excellence in his brand communications.

Widgets & Stone worked with regular collaborators Caleb Ludwick and Grant Dotson to create the name, the writing, the designs and the photography to properly represent the new endeavor. Forte Fitness was the result.

The name and overall look and feel were inspired by Julian’s Italian heritage. The name means strong in Italian, and is familiar to those who don’t speak the language. The Italian flag’s colors made their way into the logo and the “azurri” blue of the national teams plays a complimentary role in the palette.

Dotson Commercial is currently working on photographs that show how training and lifestyle go hand in hand at Forte Fitness. The black and white images stand out in the marketplace, but also match well with the colors and type.

Creative Direction: Paul Rustand, Mandy Meredith; Design: Amy Trumbull Harmon, Matt Greenwell, Brian Wleklinski; Writing: Caleb Ludwick; Photography: Dotson Commercial.

Streaming Made Simple

Streaming Made Simple

Boxcast: Live HD Video, from Anyone to Everyone

Boxcast is a pocket-sized breakthrough technology that makes it simple for anyone, anywhere to stream live video to everyone, everywhere.

Boxcast is a startup with a few years already under its belt. The company’s leadership was finding that the brand identity and communications materials it had created early on weren’t quite doing the job. So a couple of their experienced investors turned to Widgets & Stone for help.

Led by Mandy Meredith and Paul Rustand, the team also pulled in writer and strategist Caleb Ludwick of 26 Tools. The team quickly and efficiently produced several possible solutions for identity and communications, resulting in a clean, clear and straightforward look and feel.

Along with identifying five key target audience archetype stories, and ways to speak to those audiences, Widgets & Stone and 26 Tools created a new logo, design styles, photography guidelines, strap lines, headlines and explanatory copy.

Web designers Alex Ogle and Jason Fritts of Tubatomic joined in to establish web styles and templates for the client to implement.

“I have seen many presentations by nationally renowned creative agencies over the years,” said investor Tobey Maloney, “But this was by far the most impressive. The quantity and quality of concepts delivered on the timeline and budget was spectacular.”

Collective Action Drives Change

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.

Rock/Creek Rebrand

Rebranding a successful outdoor retailer for a future in the digital marketplace.

Rock/Creek understood that its past is part of its future. Although the logo of 20 years had served them well, it was time for a new identity that would communicate all they are and all they bring to the outdoor experience across multiple brand applications. And one that would help grow into a successful digital presence with online sales.

THE CHALLENGE:
Our challenge was to create a new look and feel for a well established store that not only captured what customers had loved about it for 20 years, but one that would be successful for the next 20 years.

Rock/Creek is committed to taking people into the outdoors. It enables people to move out into the world in new ways, discovering pathless trails and open roads, with all the promise they hold. Rock/Creek helps people to find themselves, get lost in the experience, and find themselves all over again. They do this through great products and great advice.

THE GOAL:
Our goal was to create a new brand identity that would communicate that this is a company that is established, strong and grounded, has great, fashion-forward outdoor products, and a love of simple beauty.

The goal of the brand design was to:

/ draw out the way Rock/Creek improves customer's lives

/ highlight customer experience and participation

/ be inspirational without being intimidating

/ remain true to the 20 year brick-and-mortar heritage

/ connect the parts of the brand that can grow with the company

THE WORK:
We provided a comprehensive visual identity for Rock/Creek. Our work included: logo redesign, photo styles, messaging and writing, print materials, wayfinding and signage design, and a digital design toolkit.

The new Rock/Creek brand captures the company’s storied personality and paves the way for a successful future digital marketplace. Since the launch of the new brand, online sales grew more than 15x, leading to a successful acquisition by Camping World. Over a decade and a half later, the brand remains timeless, relevant, and inspiring to the next generation of customers.

“The design team captured the core of who we are as retailers and turned our heritage into a new, exciting brand. Their method and the thoughtful nature of their work reinvigorated our own sense of direction and led to focus for growth.”
— Mark McKnight, Marketing Director