Be My Valentine Couples Photography | From The Archives

Over the years, there have been a handful of shoots that have never made their way to our blog, but they truly deserve to be shared! That is why this year, I will be digging through our terabytes of archives and re-editing raws from previous shoots. I am so excited about this because it will not only be a more accurate portfolio representation, but it will give us an opportunity to see how far we’ve come and share some unseen work in the process! Keep an eye out for posts entitled “From The Archives” to see shoots from 2018 and earlier that never made it to the blog. 

This shoot still holds strong as one of our favorite simple styled shoots, to date. We’ve only participated in a small handful of styled shoots (more on why in a future post) but this was our first and it taught us so much about the amount of planning and detail that goes into them. 

The California Coast is known for its romance and wonder. So what better place to begin a love story than beneath a dreamy gazebo, situated cliff side on the ocean? Jessica and Adriana got Elizabeth ready for her date, while View Point Events, BNB Calligraphy and Cassia Foret went above and beyond with the settings. Blue Aces Bake Shoppe put the cherry on top with a spread of desserts that were as stunning as they were delicious. 

Sand City Brand Identity Designer | Wonderwall Brand Design

Years ago, the first time we set foot in the Wonderwall space, we knew the brand identity needed to have a sort of eclectic elegance to it. The owners had a simple typeface as the logo and hadn’t given much thought to expanding it into a full brand identity. 

We took the opportunity to create a sleek, timeless, and unique brand identity that was as versatile as each and every selection in the store is unique. Most brands have a few logo variations, but the Wonderwall brand was designed with multiple that could all exist as the primary logo depending on application, and still maintain most, if not all of the brand presence. 

Chase, our incredibly talented artist and designer was responsible for the amazing murals on the exterior of the building. For anyone in need of a stunning hand painted mural, he’s your guy.

Napa Valley Wine Label Design | Jump The Moon

Designing a wine label has always been a dream of ours, even before moving to California. We finally got the opportunity to design a label for a few varietals of wine, as well as the cork and the winery brand. We worked with the extremely talented Bergin Print Company to bring our embossed label design ideas to life. The story behind the wine is for a more active lifestyle – a bottle you’d bring along to enjoy atop a mountain at the end of a hike or bike ride, perhaps. The label features a front to back moon phase design with a vibrant and textured pattern, intended to be a more fun and off the cusp wine label for those who don’t take themselves too seriously when enjoying a glass of Pinot.
In the process, we were involved in the choosing and design of the corks, as well. We learned so much about corks and how certain varietals of wine benefit from certain types of cork, while others don’t even need a cork to maintain their flavor profile. Some may not know this, but the length of the cork is a sort of status symbol to the wine and winery. The length of the cork effects how much the wine breaths and selecting the proper cork is an important process in allowing the wine to breath the proper amount. We worked closely with the vintner and the cork company to select and design the perfect cork for JTM.
This wine is actually a more limited production. We’ve gone through two cases, so far (presented many as gifts, and have a few hidden away to enjoy years from now, of course!). Throughout this project, we learned more than we could have expected about the immense amount of love and care that goes into wine making, and are eager to begin our next wine label design project! This wine label was designed for Hub & Spoke Winery, which we also had the distinct pleasure of branding. Do you need wine label or product packaging designed? We would love to hear more about your project and how we may be of assistance.

Design Inspiration in Washington D.C. | City Bikes, Monuments & Museums

While visiting the East Coast for one of our destination weddings near Austin’s birthday, we decided to spend a few extra days road-tripping across the states and visit D.C. so we could explore some museums and monuments we’ve always wanted to see! I happened to be covered in henna from the gorgeous Indian wedding, which was incredibly unexpected and fun. D.C. is so diverse, we had so many people stopping us to ask about the celebration we had attended and compliment the detail of the henna!

We were lucky enough to find a really great hotel in the middle of D.C. which allowed us to park our rental car and basically leave it be for the 3 days. Luckily, the weather was great for two and a half of the days, so we were able to take advantage of the City Bikes and rode through all of D.C. We logged something like 55 miles in just three days! We knew we wanted to see all the landmarks/monuments in both daytime and night lighting, so we looped all the monuments at least twice, passed the White House two or three times, and rode into the downtown area for dinner each night. I think we had way too much fun all over the city, and especially in the museums…
In the Natural History Museum, we even got to touch a piece of mars and see a piece of the oldest thing in existence. We also saw the hope diamond, and countless other modern marvels. Come to find out, Google’s recommendation of “people usually spend about 2 hours here” was entirely incorrect for us. We had expected to spend about 2 hours at each museum, and explore 3-5 of them over the entire time we were there…but, I think we spent closer to 6 in this one, alone. By the time we were done, we were starving and the rest of the museums were about to close. So we retired to the City Bikes and rode to our next culinary destination. We’ll definitely be back to explore the rest of the museums, soon.

Design Inspiration in New York City | The Big Apple

We’ve been given a handful of opportunities over the years to travel to amazing places all over the world, but what we realized was how important traveling to unique destinations really is to the success of our business. I think it’s really easy as an entrepreneur to get caught up in the fast-paced “hustle” for a while when you’re starting out, and it’s even easier to forget to take a step back every so often and give yourself a much needed break. After a few big trips, we began to realize travel not only helps us recharge/refill our creative spirits, but it also gives us an entirely new perspective on the world which we are able to pour into every one of our projects. I think in certain major cities, this could be slightly less important, but living in Monterey makes this pretty crucial to the ongoing development of our business and our services. Monterey is such a sleepy little town most of the year, and there aren’t many innovators pushing the limit within this city – most go a little north to Silicon Valley, understandably.
We lived in LA for a few years, and we are from Seattle, so we thought we knew “big cities”, but nothing prepared us for the magic of New York. We were in New Jersey for our first Indian Wedding Ceremony (we actually spent four days shooting the ceremony, and traveled to the east coast twice for their celebration – More on that in this post HERE) and decided to extend our trip. We arrived a few days before Austin’s birthday so we knew we wanted to take a road trip from Jersey to D.C. so we could explore the museums. Then, we road tripped back up the East Coast, dropped off our rental car in Jersey, and took the train into the city. We arrived at Penn Station in the pouring rain, and were immediately thrown into the bustling city life. After seeing that an Uber cost $50 to go less than a mile, and being a little too intimidated by the subway situations on day one, we decided to walk the mile to our hotel. Loaded down with all our gear and daypacks, we walked a mile in the rain. We ended up working for a bit in our tiny studio hotel room, and decided to venture out for some food. Our first exciting realization was how big the vegan food scene here was. The following three days were sunny, and we decided to walk or bike nearly everywhere. We road the train a few times but preferred being above ground to take everything in.
New York is absolutely beautiful, in that unique ‘Big City’ way – We were constantly enamored by the street art, fashion, and culture around every corner. We got extremely comfortable with the City Bikes in D.C., and much to our delight, they were in NYC, too. We rented them periodically throughout the days, my favorite of which being the day we decided to bike all of Central Park. In NYC we logged over 50 miles of biking, and around 20 of walking! I think the vast majority of the biking was from our Central Park ride – we didn’t consider how massive the park actually is. Being a larger city on the cutting edge of innovation and design, the advertising was simply amazing to absorb. We took photos of billboards, unique ads all over the streets, ads that didn’t even look like ads. Not to mention the sensory overload that is Times Square. One of our favorite things to compile from each location we travel to are unique design and art references – We save them to look back on and draw inspiration from. New York had so many that there came a point we decided there was no way we could absorb it all, and that we’d plan another trip in the near future. We said our goodbyes and hopped on the train to JFK to head back home, full of memories and inspiration.

Carmel By The Sea Branding | Coffee Bank Cafe

It’s fair to say we love all the brands we create, however this one was special. Austin and Nicole are from the greater Seattle, Washington area and while they traveled the country in their earlier years together, spent an immense amount of time at various coffee shops. Prior to having a headquarters, coffee shops provided invaluable networking opportunities, somewhat reliable wifi, and inspiration to continue building their businesses. They always dreamed of the day they would get to work with a new coffee shop, an opportunity that (especially for a small town like Monterey) doesn’t come up very often.

When our clients approached us with their idea, they simply gave us their hopes and dreams, and entrusted our enthusiasm and wealth of knowledge about this particular industry to do the rest. This brand, along with everything else we’ve done and will continue to provide to this amazing company, became a true passion project for our agency.

 

The technical elements of the brand are actually quite simple. We needed a versatile and strong identity. The intention is to create such an icon in this area, the brand will be timeless and never require changing, only small updates to the associated elements. We knew the production cost for all the branded materials were going to be substantial, so to save on costs where we could (so they could be added back into the overall construction of the coffee shop itself!) so to keep the production easier and more cost effective, we opted to bring in the iconic brown kraft paper color (and texture) as it is a print standard and will save them thousands over the years, but will maintain efficiency by having a basic item be almost immediately on brand-message. The little elements like this are what we strive to bring into every identity we create, ensuring your business is armed with a thoroughly thought out, long term identity.

 

The goal of this brand was to be universally approachable. We removed the “the” from the name as it’s far stronger without it. We further minimized the print costs and color-matching hassles by creating outline icons in a monochrome colorscheme as the only related elements (aside from photography as far as marketing/digital production is concerned).
The Coffee Bank, which is set to open this summer in Carmel, has an amazing story. One that you’ll have to wait to hear about once their website launches and their marketing begins. However, their mission, their story, and their location all lead to the inception of this brand identity. The Monterey Peninsula has needed a cafe that serves delicious coffee, fresh food, and offers a relaxing and inviting atmosphere. It simply doesn’t exist here, especially for a younger demographic.
We have been so thrilled, and honored to get to work with them on nearly every last detail of their brand, their website, their marketing materials, the overarching business model, creative consultation, working with the architects, and especially helping finalize their menu offerings. We are so beyond thrilled for their launch this summer and are so excited to showcase the years of planning and design, upon launch. Stay tuned for more on Coffee Bank, this is one you won’t want to miss.

Napa Valley Winery Design & Branding | Hub & Spoke

When we first took a chance on moving to California back in 2013, we had (what we thought at the time to be) the pipe dream of branding a winery and/or the opportunity to design a wine label. In 2019, we did just that. Hub & Spoke is a newer subsidiary of Prim Family Vineyards. After what was received as an unsuccessful run on 99designs, they came to us seeking a brand that shared the spirit of Johnny Walker, but with wine. We knew we wanted to incorporate a wheel into the design to play on the name of the winery, but we weren’t entirely sure of the integration until we began digging deeper into the history of wine making in the Napa Valley area. Back in the 1800’s, wine was transported across Napa Valley in wagons, which suited the time period from the initial brand brief perfectly. The final concept we landed on and finished developing was the old timey man leaning on a wagon wheel. We imagined this man arriving with a delivery of local wine from the region, which was perfect for the brand mission.

 

It was pretty cool to go into a local store, buy a bottle of wine we designed, then uncork the bottle with our logo on it. To see a more in depth view of the Jump The Moon wine label design, read this post here.

Much like any design project, this final brand iteration went through a handful of concepts. To see what was left on the cutting room floor for H&S Winery, check back soon for an upcoming post!

NCIA 2019 Expo | Our Biggest Undertaking Yet

We’ve done small trades how displays – backdrops, posters, signage, etc. but never a fully custom built display. When GAIACA decided to go to NCIA 2019, they told us they wanted to make a big splash. The cannabis industry needed to know how important it is to manage their waste output, and they needed our help to convey that message.

We initially planned on providing design direction to the trade show display company, but quickly realized their uniqueness and attention to detail simply wasn’t up to par. Not to mention, despite providing an investment cap, their estimate far exceeded what we intended to spend.
The event was only 5 weeks away at this point, and we realized we had to make a decision, fast. Not being one to shy away from a new challenge, we decided we could design their display within budget and make the unique splash they needed and deserved.

This display nearly killed us – We worked around the clock, and our employees absolutely pushed themselves past every limit they thought they had. To say we’re proud is a complete understatement. Instead of running through every last detail, we’ll touch on the notable elements and let the images do the rest of the talking.

The goals of the trade show display were to bring in as many people as possible, and educate them in a relatively quick manner. We knew we wanted to incorporate interactive elements, including a waste quiz.We’ve done small trades how displays – backdrops, posters, signage, etc. but never a fully custom built display. When GAIACA decided to go to NCIA 2019, they told us they wanted to make a big splash. The cannabis industry needed to know how important it is to manage their waste output, and they needed our help to convey that message.

We initially planned on providing design direction to the trade show display company, but quickly realized their uniqueness and attention to detail simply wasn’t up to par. Not to mention, despite providing an investment cap, their estimate far exceeded what we intended to spend.

The event was only 5 weeks away at this point, and we realized we had to make a decision, fast. Not being one to shy away from a new challenge, we decided we could design their display within budget and make the unique splash they needed and deserved.

This display nearly killed us – We worked around the clock, and our employees absolutely pushed themselves past every limit they thought they had. To say we’re proud is a complete understatement. Instead of running through every last detail, we’ll touch on the notable elements and let the images do the rest of the talking.

The goals of the trade show display were to bring in as many people as possible, and educate them in a relatively quick manner. We knew we wanted to incorporate interactive elements, including a waste quiz.

Not only did we design the entire display, we also coordinated delivery, set it up, and tore it down–Quite the undertaking and a little more than us designers are generally used to! However, the entire project was such an overwhelming success and was so well received.

We could not have accomplished any of this, nor kept any of our other clients happy while we were pushing toward the tight deadline without the tremendous help of our amazing team. A huge thank you to both, Chase & Jordan for your round the clock blood, sweat & tears!

To see the full display in all its glory, go to this post, here.

 

To see the full display in all it’s glory,  go to this post, here. 

Cannabis Brand Management | GAIACA Trade Show

Have you read our post about the NCIA Trade Show Display Design project? If not, definitely check that out, here. This is the finished product from that undertaking! We designed the entire display, coordinated transport and delivery, and every single element was customized to the level of personalization the GAIACA brand has been developed to display. To say we’re proud of this one is a huge understatement! Throughout the entire show, we (GAIACA) aggregated so many new leads, prospective customers, and had endless industry professionals commenting on how polished our display was. Two separate publication companies even told us we deserved an award for most-nicely-designed-booth. Such a compliment and honor.

Does your business need a trade show display designed? We’d be more than happy to open a dialogue about the potential project and how we may be of assistance. While we’re still relatively new to the arena, we are able to offer entirely customized solutions that represent your brand and are developed solely for consumer interaction and conversion. Contact us to learn more.

Singapore Destination Wedding Photographer | Ting & Jason (part one)

We weren’t exactly sure what to expect from a destination Singapore wedding – and we (nor our gear) were not prepared for the intense humidity. We had some serious flash contact/operation and lens fogging problems in the early morning hours, but as always, we managed to adapt! 

Ting had told us their wedding ceremony was to be pretty “Americanized” and similar to what we consider a traditional wedding, with some cultural customs thrown in here and there. We were thrilled to have a day before the wedding to go over the schedule in person, and they were so kind to tour us around Singapore as well. More on our Asia adventures in a future series of posts, stay tuned.

One detail that’s entirely different from American weddings is the timeline. Our wedding photography coverage began at about 4am local time, and ended by about 3pm. We also had a 1-2 hour intermission around 11am (we had a snack and napped!).

Our break of dawn coverage began with what’s known as the gate crash.  This was by far my favorite part of the wedding day. This is where the groom and his groomsmen arrive at the bride’s/bride’s family’s house to essentially crash the gate down to prove he’s worthy of his bride. The bride and groom each begin their morning getting ready at their parents homes, performing various ceremonies, one of which is performed in perfect synchronicity with each other (I was left to wonder how they did this at the same time prior to the invention of cell phones…?)

The groomsmen and bridesmaids are all dressed in themed costume style attire for the games and festivities. In Ting & Jason’s case, the guys chose cops and the ladies chose mob bosses.

Then, the men arrived and had to get through the bridesmaids, before making his way to his bride’s front door to get her hand. The bridesmaids had spent all morning finishing up funny games and puzzles, all with cruel punishments and hoops to make all the guys jump through to make sure he really wanted to marry his bride! A few of the notable punishments included wasabi filled cookies, shots of foul mixtures (spicy, sour), and incredibly embarrassing tasks such as dancing to the choreographed Backstreet Boys soundtrack. We quickly learned the games were all rigged and there was actually no way to get the “prize” – all games ended with the punishment. Somehow toward the end, Austin even got roped into drinking one of the gross concoctions… The look on his face was priceless.

After what probably felt like hours of torture, Jason was finally able to make a break for the elevator to get to Ting’s front door. He then had to pay to unlock it, and find Ting (who was hiding!). Once he found her, they prepared to leave to their portrait locations. It was amazing, each milestone of the day held ceremonial significance. In this case, Ting dropped a fan out of the window as their car drove away from the gate crash.fluorescent 

Stay tuned for part two, to come!