Reboot

It's been a long work in progress, but we are proud to share the redesign of the new K Art and Design web site with you! Check it out and let us know what you think.

Web Weaver Design

K Art and Design is acquiring Web Weaver Web Design LLC. Jannette Voorneveld was one of the first people we met when we moved to Culpeper during the summer of 2005, and ever since our businesses have enjoyed a very friendly competitive relationship. We wish Jannette all the best as she embarks on a new adventure in Belgium at the end of the month, and we welcome the clients and friends of Web Weaver to K Art.

Office Space

K Art and Design now occupies office space outside of our home. We are 99% moved into our new space which is located in the Medical Arts Building, a restored art deco building just off Main Street in downtown Culpeper.

Our new address is 121 W. Locust Street, Suite 105, Culpeper, VA 22701.

LIFE magazine photo archive

LIFE magazine may have ceased publication three years ago, but its memorable photography and image archive are now searchable through Google's LIFE photo archive, and a new online presence for LIFE is in the works.

On the site you can view millions of images dated 1860-1970, many of them are previously unpublished. The images are available for personal, non-commercial purposes and framed prints may be purchased.

To search the archive during any Google image search, simply add "source:life" to your search. Try "new year US source:life" and get a peek at Times Square in 2000 or 1942.

Learn more at:

Google Resurrects Life Magazine Images

LIFE online

Good Egg Award

K Art and Design has presented Green Nest with the 2009 Good Egg Award. The Good Egg is our business incubator program created to help new small businesses crack into their field with professional-quality marketing materials. Green Nest will receive free graphic design services and wholesale printing for one year.

Green Nest is an earth friendly gift shop located on the corner of Main Street and Davis Street. Green Nest offers a wide variety of organic, natural and recycled/recyclable products that are as fun as they are responsible.

Award winning!

At the Culpeper County Chamber of Commerce's annual banquet on November 6th, Kelly Rozwadowski was surprised and honored with the first ever Young Professional of the Year award. The award criteria included Chamber involvement, business leadership and partnership, and community support/public responsibility. While the award was a great honor, the greater gift was reading the nomination letters that were submitted on my behalf. A pat on the back is always nice, and a shiny engraved award is greatly appreciated as well!

In October, a brochure K Art and Design created for the City of Fairfax Parks and Recreation Department was awarded Best Promotional Effort by the Virginia Recreation and Park Society. The brochure was a program for the 2007 Independence celebration.

Political Branding

While elections are often a war of words with candidates mincing them, repeating talking points, and competing for airtime, this year graphics and visual messages were utilized in a new and powerful way.

Already the success of the Obama campaign is being analyzed and while I've heard a lot of talk about the fundraising approach, few people (outside of graphic design circles) are talking about the role of the campaign's visual identity.

As a designer I was intrigued by Barack Obama's "O" logo because it was a departure from typical campaign graphics. Where were the stars and eagles? How would a round logo be applied to the standard bumper stickers and yard signs?

The Obama campaign understood and implemented branding in a way that supported the core theme of change. The logo itself represented a change from typical politics in that it looked very different from the graphics of other campaigns. However without careful implementation, I doubt the logo would have become as recognizable. The "O" was everywhere, and it was used in a myriad of applications, often with modifications to add or enhance meaning. For example, a green and yellow version to represent "Environmentalists for Obama." Often these kinds of logo modifications can be perceived as hokey, but in this case the modifications were often subtle and helped rather than hurt the effectiveness of the symbol.

When designers talk about the "stickiness" of a logo, it's often related to how others begin to use it. Here are just a few examples of independent sites that interpreted the "O" in their own creative ways. You know a symbol is successful when you can recognize it as a pumpkin!

YesWeCarve.com

The Obama Craft Project