History in the Drinking

January 9, 2018

History in the Drinking

Chattanooga Brewing Co. Rebrand

Chattanooga Brewing Company opened in 1890 under the direction of George Reif, and operated until 1915 when Prohibition forced them to close their doors. The brand laid dormant until 2010 when a pair of engineers with a passion for brewing saw an opportunity to resurrect it.

In typical startup mode, they focused on the beer and let the branding and marketing be addressed when time and resources allowed. But in 2017, an the injection of new investment and an eye for growing distribution in the southeast region, the brewing company decided to refresh the brand identity.

Widgets & Stone was pleased to find a treasure trove of historical branding artifacts from Chattanooga Brewing Company’s heydays, prior to Prohibition. In order to honor that vibrant heritage – and also to stand out from the saturated colors and wild illustration styles of the microbrew packaging scene – the design team focused on spare and simple design solutions.

The new brand continues to roll out over the coming months, with new products, merchandise and restaurant graphics.

Creative Direction: Paul Rustand; Art Direction & Design: Mark Slawson, Travis Hitchcock; Writing: Jacob Biba.

The Man in the Night

December 20, 2017

Celebrating the 20th anniversary of a limited edition letterpress chap book with original illustrations, 40 copies, 1997. The text is a selection from Madeleine L'Engle’s A Wind in the Door. Handset metal type (Perpetua, 9 point) with pen and ink illustrations which were then printed with magnesium plates and color with hand cut linoleum blocks. The icons were custom designed digitally and printed with photopolymer plates.

The chap book was printed as part of a class project in the University of Alabama MFA program in Book Arts with permission from the author. Copies are not for sale. The edition was met with great favor and approval from Madeleine herself.

Design, illustration, printing and binding: Paul Rustand 1997.

Office Design

December 12, 2017

In late 2015 Widgets & Stone signed a lease for a new office space in a soon-to-be-renovated building on the corner of Broad Street and 8th Street in downtown Chattanooga. Building owners John Healy and Ethan Wood were extremely collaborative in their approach to remodeling the building. With the invaluable help of contractor Jeff Cannon, the team worked together to design both the ground floor design office and to brainstorm the best treatment for the exterior. The resulting renovation of the historic Elkins Building was completed in early fall of 2016 and has been met with great approval.

Simpatico

November 9, 2017

SIMPATICO

Shift volume 3

This issue takes on Simpatico: the quiet moment when the unknown becomes the trusted familiar. Here, harmony springs from unexpected pairings of pattern, texture, tone and color, movement and emotion, like the unspoken, yet shared experience, of a stranger turned friend.

Widgets & Stone designers Liz Tapp, Stephanie Fast and Mark Slawson worked closely with J+J designer Brian Daniels to create this issue.

Creative Direction: Paul Rustand; Design + Art Direction: Liz Tapp; Design: Mark Slawson and Stephanie Fast; Writing: Jacob Biba; Photography: Geoff Knight, Dotson Commercial, ThinkChromatic.

Leading the Way

November 9, 2017

Leading the Way in Commercial Real Estate

Web design for Healy & Company

Healy & Company, LLC is a boutique commercial brokerage firm with a national reach based in Chattanooga, TN. With deep roots within the community, Healy & Co. is consistently among the leading commercial real estate firms in the greater Chattanooga area and successfully represented our clients in hundreds of millions of dollars in transactions. Since 2002, Healy & Company has been among the top producers in the region in commercial transactions.

After collaborating with Widgets & Stone to remodel the Elkins Building, developer John Healy asked our team to update his web site. We produced a straightforward Squarespace site to present the company and its services in the most direct manner.

Visit the site.

Creative Direction: Paul Rustand; Design Direction/Design: Liz Tapp; Photography: Dotson Commercial.

Cold Comfort

September 29, 2017

Cold Comfort

Norspring: Naming and Logo

Norspring Center for Rejuvenation was founded in 2017 in Chattanooga, TN by a group of health and business professionals with one common goal: to offer new methods for overall health and wellness that provide complete whole body rejuvenation through innovative therapies – including cryotherapy. Combined with other therapies, Norspring’s offerings are advanced and effective ways to use the natural recovery power of our bodies. These innovative therapies enhance wellbeing and can provide improved performance, increased vitality and overall revitalization.

The NORSPRING name was born from the idea of hygge and the renewal of life in the springtime. Hygge — pronounced, "hoo-gah" — an approach to living that embraces positivity and enjoyment of everyday experiences, said to be core concepts of attitudes to life in the Nordic region. Hygge is the idea that even in the cold Norwegian winters, Norwegians experience warmth and coziness in their homes.

26 Tools and Widgets & Stone worked together to create a name and logo for the new cryotherapy company that reflects their values and goals.

Creative Direction: Paul Rustand, Caleb Ludwick; Design: Brad Dicharry.

Form + Finish

September 27, 2017

Form + Finish

J+J Flooring Group 2017 Neocon Showroom

For more than a century, a small studio in Detroit has made clay into ceramic. With careful hands and lightest touch, Pewabic pottery is shaped, thrown and fired. Changing, and then changing again.

But it’s the finish that defines the work: an iconic, iridescent glaze that infuses every piece with striking movement and beautiful fluidity, perfect in its imperfections.

Earlier this year, J+J’s design team traveled to the studio, where they became part of the process. Intrigued and inspired, they returned home, asking, can a finish become the start of something new?

Guided by inspiration from lead designer Ginger Gilbert of J+J, Widgets & Stone designed the Neocon showroom to feel like a traditional pottery studio. Potter’s marks, aprons, subtle textures and glazes, framed windows, simple tables and stools help set the stage as the flooring designs come to the forefront in the interior design.

Creative Direction: Mandy Lamb; Design: Brad Dicharry, Mandy Lamb, Travis Hitchcock, Paul Rustand, Mark Slawson, Liz Tapp, Virginia Brooks; Writing: Keely Hungate, Adam Haskew.

Higher Plans

September 26, 2017

Higher Plans, Simpler Design

Book cover for Covenant Transportation Group

Widgets & Stone created an understated book jacket design for the story of the Covenant Transportation Group – letting the striking photograph and unembellished typography do most of the work.

Creative Direction: Mandy Lamb; Design: Mandy Lamb, Virginia Brooks.

One Small Step for Design

September 26, 2017

One Small Step for Design

One slightly bigger step for brand

After seeing very successful sales of several “vintage inspired” collectible tin products, the MoonPie® marketing team thought that its retail packaging might benefit from the same design treatment. With the company’s 100th anniversary approaching, drawing inspiration from the past felt quite appropriate.

But the MoonPie marketing team was also wary about making any redesign too dramatic, as it had seen sales slump years before during a complete design overhaul. They asked Widgets & Stone to create a new look that felt both vintage and similar to what MoonPie® customers were used to seeing on the shelves.

The creative team took small steps to make the design simpler and more historic in feel, while helping take slightly larger steps to advance the overall brand style.

Creatie Direction: Paul Rustand; Design: Travis Hitchcock.

Now in Hi-Fi

September 12, 2017

Now in Hi-Fi

Logo update for Clyde’s

When the Monen Family Restaurant Group founded Clyde’s in the old Clyde’s Auto Shop building, they simply hoped to make a great local restaurant and bar. But when they saw how popular it was, they decided to transport the concept to other cities (like neighboring Nashville). But in doing so, they found they needed to draw a distinction between their Clyde’s and the well-established Clyde’s Restaurant Group on the east coast. So they changed the name to Hi-Fi Clyde’s.

Since Widgets & Stone had created the original Clyde’s concept (a flexible system based on the existing Clyde’s Auto signage), we were asked to update the logo. So of course we kept it right in line with the brand personality that makes HiFi Clyde’s so awesome.

Click on images to see a larger view.

Design: Travis Hitchcock.

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.

Shift Volume 2

July 10, 2017

HYPERBOLE

Shift Volume 2

Shift magazine is an exploration of inspiration from J+J Flooring Group. Designed to change perspectives and spark new ideas, Shift is about color and creativity, bold decisions and beautiful statements. It challenges us to see flooring as a blank canvas, limited only by the stretches of our imagination.

This volume of Shift takes on Hyperbole: an inspiration of perfect overstatements, extravagance of pattern and texture, tone and color, movement and emotion. Over and over, it asks and answers a simple question: is too much ever too much?

Art Director Liz Tapp and Designer Stephanie Fast worked closely with J+J’s in house design and marketing team to create a publication that exemplified and explored hyperbole from several different vantage points. The result is a playful and surprising booklet.

Creative Direction: Paul Rustand; Art Direction: Liz Tapp; Design: Liz Tapp, Stephanie Fast; Photography: Geoff Knight, Dotson Commercial; Printing: Adams Litho.

Can a Finish be the Start?

June 20, 2017

Can a Finish be the Start of Something New?

J+J 2017 NeoCon Booklet

Every year J+J Flooring Group takes its product designers on a trip to a different location to find inspiration for new products. For the 2017 product launch, the team traveled to Pewabic pottery studio in Detroit. There the team saw how pottery is shaped, thrown and fired, the same as it has been for over a century. They discovered that it is the glazing finish that defined the pottery — and in turn, what defined their product inspiration for 2017.

Widgets & Stone led the creative effort to craft the promotional book for Neocon that would reveal the catalyst for the new flooring products: through design, writing and photography. Design Director Mandy Lamb and Designer Liz Tapp created a print booklet that utilized the textures, flows and imperfections of glazing.

Creative Direction: Mandy Lamb; Design: Mandy Lamb, Liz Tapp; Writing: Keely Hungate, Adam Haskew; Photography: Abraham Photography; Photo Styling: Mandy Lamb, J+J Flooring.

Out of Many, One

June 14, 2017

Out of Many, One

Chattanooga FC 2017 Campaign Theme

For the ninth season, Widgets & Stone helped Chattanooga Football Club craft its campaign theme. Working closely with 26 Tools and the club, the creative team decided to focus on the positive unifying aspects of a city coming together around its team. The concept “Out of Many, One” captures the essence of fans and players uniting around a single goal, and reflects the fact neither is truly fulfilled without the other.

The team developed a wide variety materials for the campaign: posters, calendars, magnets, coasters, social media graphics, videos, ads, billboards and e-blasts.

See a video of the campaign here.

Creative Direction: Paul Rustand; Art Direction: Travis Hitchcock; Design: Matt Greenwell, Mark Slawson, Travis Hitchcock; Writing: 26 Tools; Photography: Ray Soldano; Video Editing: Drake Rustand; Videography: Witt Hullander, Daniel Hamby; Music: Carl Cadwell/Skypunch Studio.

Tasteful Print Design

June 1, 2017

Tasteful Print Design

TasteBuds Local Food Guide

From 2014 to 2017 the Widgets & Stone team designed the local food guide — a publication highlighting the Chattanooga region’s best farmers, restaurants, artisans and suppliers. Working with the wonderful team of content creators from Crabtree Farms, another practical guide has been produced to benefit the Scenic City’s food culture.

To good eating!

Click on photos to see larger images.

Creative Direction: Paul Rustand; Design Direction: Mandy Meredith; Design: Mark Slawson, Travis Hitchcock, Laura Michael, Liz Tapp, Ben Dicks, Amy Trumbull, Bryony Macintyre, Kerry O’Connor; Photography: Dotson Commercial & various photographers.

Marathon of Merch

May 26, 2017

Marathon of Merch

Gear for the Chattanooga Marathon

Widgets & Stone helped to design the visual identity of the Chattanooga Marathon in early 2016, its inaugural year. After a successful first race, the Chattanooga Sports Commission turned its eyes to the event in 2017 and asked the Widgets team to help design merchandise offerings.

Designer Virginia Brooks built on the visual styles established by the team to create branded clothing and gear for the second annual event.

Creative Direction: Paul Rustand; Merchandise Design: Virginia Brooks; Medal Design: Amy Harmon, Laura Michael; Photo of medals: John Rawlston.

Optimism and Opportunity

May 26, 2017

Optimism and Opportunity

PEF Annual Report

PEF is an independent, nonprofit, community-based organization that for over twenty‐five years, has provided training, research and resources to teachers, principals and schools in Hamilton County and surrounding areas. Their mission is simple: to increase student achievement so all students succeed in learning and in life.

Widgets & Stone worked closely with Shannon Edmondsen of PEF to tie the human story in with the statistical data and tell the impact of the foundation during the 2016 year. Mandy Lamb and Mark Slawson used photography and hand lettering to quickly bring together information in an easily understandable manner visual.

Creative Direction: Mandy Lamb; Design: Mandy Lamb and Mark Slawson; Writing: Lindsay Gaff; Photography: Dotson Commercial.

Good and Simple

May 23, 2017

Good and Simple

2 Sons Kitchen Web Design

Chef Nathan Flynt decided to expand from his successful food truck into a full-fledged brick and mortar restaurant, and he asked Widgets & Stone to help him establish a clean and simple web site.

Our designers worked with closely Nathan to create an easy-to-update site. The tasty photography works well with the straightforward design to present all the necessary information in a no-nonsense manner that fits perfectly with the 2 Sons’ Kitchen & Market personality.

Design: Travis Hitchcock, Liz Tapp

Soccer meets the Avant Garde

May 4, 2017

The Avant Garde

Avant Soccer Identity Design

This consulting group grew a club from scratch in Chattanooga – one that has been extremely successful. After fielding many requests to replicate their success in other cities, they decided to start Avant Soccer. Avant Soccer experts are thoroughly convinced that the growth potential in American soccer is in markets of 1 million or smaller.

And because Avant Soccer believes that small markets are the future of American soccer, they offer the following to lower division clubs across North America:

· Branding
· Sponsorship Structure & Activation
· Budgets
· Business Management
· Ticket & Merchandise Sales
· Gameday Operations
· Marketing & Social Media
· Supporter Ownership

Widgets & Stone created an athletic identity with naming and logo design.

Creative Direction: Paul Rustand; Naming: Matt Greenwell, Paul Rustand; Design: Travis Hitchcock, Mark Slawson, Brad Dicharry.

Dye Another Day

May 4, 2017

Dye Another Day

Econyl Natural Ads

Aquafil’s polymers and fibers are used in the manufacture of hundreds of products that meet the needs of a wide range of worldwide markets – corporate, industrial, travel, design and home.

Aquafil’s sustainable manufacturing processes produce fully regenerable nylon 6 – so every product that comprises one of Aquafil’s becomes a little more eco-friendly.

Widgets & Stone and 26 Tools developed these ads to showcase the new Econyl Natural product.

Creative Direction: Mandy Lamb; Design: Mandy Lamb, Paul Rustand; Writing: 26 Tools.