Amsterdam Inspirations feed Tampa Bay

I LOVE to travel. Seeing new places, experiencing new cultures, eating all the food… every part of traveling is good for the soul—especially a creative one.

On a recent trip to Amsterdam, Tyler and I visited the Rijks Museum, where I picked up this super cool map. Individual stair step tabs revealed an illustration of each floor of the museum and displayed the historical artifacts or specific artists that were housed there. To be honest, it was a lot to take in in the moment. But I thought it was worth bringing back to the agency as an example of an inspiring layout.

A few weeks later, our client, Feeding Tampa Bay, needed a physical representation of their strategic 5-year plan to hand out to Tampa Bay leaders at an upcoming media event. Suddenly, I had an idea of how to tell their story. With the help of a ruler, some tape, and many sheets of paper, I built a similar booklet to illustrate how this layout would be perfect to share Feeding Tampa Bay’s goal. Each strategic pillar would have its own space to shine, but when the booklet was fully opened, you could see how each piece of the plan worked together to create a hunger-free Tampa Bay.

Check out the making-of photos below, and see the finished project here.

A Mouth-Watering Word Mark

Word marks are a special kind of challenge for creative teams. Using only letters, create a distinct typographic treatment for an event, product, or brand that can stand out and be memorable. From raw ideas to marks that are really well done, you have to grill down to the essence of what this icon will represent. (Are you picking up on a theme here?)

So, when the Zoo asked us to help them advertise some spring samplin’s that were in the works to heighten their Zoo experience before peak attendance during spring break, we were fired up.

What if the word mark looked like it was written in barbecue sauce, I wondered. My sr. art director tried some things out in Photoshop, but we weren’t getting the look we wanted. So I figured, don’t fight the fonts, cook up your own. I headed into the kitchen, found some extra Chick-fil-A BBQ packets—only the best for this craft project—and grabbed some makeshift paint brushes (a stirrer straw and a plastic knife.)

What resulted was a delectable, smokey mark that you can practically smell! Now that’ll make your mouth water. You can see the process, from sketch to market, below!