Page Design Group

Client Spotlight: AllenStrategic

2010-07-23T01:07:00Z

AllenStrategic has been a Page Design client since 2003. A Sacramento-based public affairs and PR agency, AllenStrategic offers a wide range of communications counsel and services. Their clients include small businesses and Fortune 500 companies; lobbyists and law firms; industry groups, non-profits and government agencies. We team with AllenStrategic on projects when there is a design-related piece to their overall communications program.

It is easy to turn inherently interesting, accessible and fun ideas into something people want to read – but it is far more challenging – and takes much more creativity – to turn complex, jargon-filled subject matter into something the target audience will want to digest. AllenStrategic excels in this area and turns to Page Design as its go-to partner. It provides Page with the guidance and creative freedom necessary to take concepts and turn them into visually appealing and highly effective communication pieces.

So, without further ado, here are some projects that we have worked on with AllenStrategic. Please click on the thumbnails below each client to see additional images from the projects. Feel free to contact Stevan Allen directly to discuss their capabilities or visit their website at www.allenstrategic.com.

California Fairgrounds

The Western Fairs Association hired AllenStrategic to help them get an important message out to statewide leaders about the critical role California's fairgrounds play in communities throughout the state – not just during fair time, but year round. AllenStrategic's job was to find a way to help the advocacy team educate legislators and other key public officials about the role of fairs, and why it was urgent to address a number of funding issues. Using a wealth of beautiful photography collected over the years by the client, Page Design worked with AllenStrategic to create a compelling booklet to visually convey complex information and messages so they were easy to grasp. The piece proved to be an effective tool for the advocacy team, which was successful in achieving its goals.

American Chemistry Council

The American Chemistry Council needed to counter some very misguided perceptions regarding polystyrene packaging. This product is, in fact, a safe and environmentally responsible way to package fresh and prepared foods. The industry has worked hard to make their products, safe, affordable and recyclable and wanted the public and law makers to take a second look at the product. With this in mind AllenStrategic and his client sought to develop a brochure that would highlight the advantages to polystyrene as well as the changes made to the material in recent years. The piece has proven extremely valuable, not just for use in California, but by ACC's member companies around the nation.

California Homeowners Learn How To "Apply Responsibly"

AllenStrategic was hired by the Urban Pyrethroid Stewardship to create a campaign that would inform the public and homeowners about the proper use, storage and disposal of outdoor consumer pesticide products that contain pyrethroids. These products are safe and approved for a variety of household uses. However, like any pesticide, they can be harmful if mishandled. The purpose of the project was to inform the public and homeowners about the proper use, storage and disposal of outdoor consumer pesticide products that use pyrethroids. In addition to the printed pieces which Page Design helped produce, AllenStrategic created a website, radio spots, press releases, consumer giveaways and an advertising campaign in the San Francisco Bay Area via BART. The program is in its second year and has been enormously successful, achieving more than 80 million consumer impressions.

Ratto Bros. Celebrates 100 Years of Family Farming

When Ratto Bros. was celebrating their 100 year anniversary they decided to share the achievement with clients and friends. With the help of AllenStrategic and Page Design they created a calendar utilizing photographs taken over the family's 100 years in businesses. It was a great marriage of clever copy writing, historic photography and product shots. It was such a great success that they have produced a calendar every year since!

California Self-Insurers' Security Fund

California Self-Insurers' Security Fund (The Fund) is an organization responsible for managing the collective liabilities of workers comp claims arising when former self-insured private companies operating in California have become insolvent. The Fund hired AllenStrategic to help them with internal and external communications. As part of the overall program they were tasked with giving The Fund's website a complete overhaul. Of particular importance was to make the site easy enough to understand for lay people and the media, but substantive enough to provide value to The Fund's members and the self-insured community. The result is a site that is both informative and proving to be a useful tool for both Fund members and media.

Thank you for taking a look at our Client Spotlight!

What About Social Media?

2010-06-24T11:06:53Z

We have had a recent spike in the number of clients who are asking us about social media. Some because they know they need to jump on the band wagon and start using it, and some because they are still wondering if their company or organization would benefit from it. Social media is like any other marketing tool, used correctly and in the right circumstances it can be very effective, but you need to know its limitations and strengths before you can dive in and see good results.

Please note: this blog post is NOT intended to be a lesson on social media, which has many books and articles dedicated to the subject. Rather, it is intended to be a quick introduction for those interested in potentially entering the social media arena.

Social Media: A Definition

Social media is the new buzz word in marketing. Even when someone doesn't know exactly what social media is, they've heard it could be a great tool for their business or organization. According to Wikipedia social media is "media for social interaction, using highly accessible and scalable publishing techniques… businesses also refer to social media as user-generated content (UGC) or consumer-generated media (CGM)." Basically, when an organization uses social media, they are hoping to utilize their stakeholders' (customers, clients, members, etc.) social networks to spread the organization's message to their target audience. By doing so they are often able to bypass traditional (and expensive) methods of marketing such as radio, tv or print. How is this accomplished? A message is sent out (via Facebook, blogs, Twitter, etc.) to a select group of people. If that message is deemed worthy to pass on to a friend or acquaintance, it will be. Since people are more likely to view a message when it comes from someone whose opinion they trust the message has a much higher chance of being viewed than your average email.

What makes a message "share" worthy varies, but in general messages that entertain, offer an incentive (such as free or discounted product), or share privileged information have higher results. After all, you don't become part of an organization's social network just so you can see more commercials. You sign up to be part of a community interested in the product or idea that the organization is promoting. You also join to get information above and beyond what is contained in the average commercial. And when people are interested in, or passionate about something, they will want to share it with their friends, who will in turn share it with their friends and so on and so on. More people will join your social network creating an entire community based on your product or message. You then become a moderator fielding questions, starting new conversations and sharing new information with the group. This model works for both product and service-driven campaigns as well as educational and informational campaigns.

Should My Company be Taking Advantage of Social Media?

The biggest obstacle many of our clients face in starting their own social network is the time it takes to create and post content, moderate the community and answer questions. There needs to be someone with intimate knowledge of the company or product in charge of the program. Unfortunately these are usually the same people who don't even have enough time to answer all their emails. There is also that fear of the unknown associated with social media. Who will look at our posts? Will they write something bad about our company? Will my competitors be able to use it against me? Will it be a waste of time? How will I create content for it? These are all good questions, and need to be addressed on a company-by-company basis. The good news is that we can learn from the examples of companies who have embraced social media with great success as well as examples of those who were ill prepared for the viral nature of social media.

More Information on Social Media

Below are a few books and websites to get you started on your quest for social media knowledge. And please feel free to call or email us with questions, we would love to help you set up your own social media network.

Websites:

Groundswell

Mashable

Books:

Cluetrain Manifesto
by Christopher Locke, Rick Levine,
Doc Searls and David Weinberger

Groundswell
by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff

NorthBay Wellspring Wins Bronze Anvil Award!

2010-06-10T01:06:29Z

To paraphrase Mark Twain, we at Page Design believe the rumors of "print's" death are greatly exaggerated. In fact, Page Design continues to create numerous, effective and award-winning print publications… and our clients couldn't be happier!

Although many companies have moved their publications online, often times they lament the fact that "no one seems to be reading our publication." NorthBay Healthcare agrees that there is still something very compelling about a physical piece of literature dropping in your mailbox and has continued to print almost 100,000 copies of their monthly newsletter, Wellspring. Wellspring has consistently won awards of excellence for both content and design. This year is no exception with the Spring 2009, Fall 2009 and Winter 2010 issues winning a 2010 Bronze Anvil Award (the highest honor available) from the Public Relations Society of America. Wellspring is not a dry medical journal, but rather a newsletter focused on people with interesting and inspirational stories that educate and inform patients and staff alike. The editorial staff encourages creative page layout and design resulting in a fun publication to read. Click on the thumbnails below to see samples of the winning designs!

Creating an Online Face to Wellspring

Staying up with the times, NorthBay also desired an online version of Wellspring which Page Design created and continues to maintain. We might not think print is dead… but we still see the value in online publications, especially when they work in tandum with a printed piece. An online newsletter allows readers to access information from anywhere at any time. The online version of Wellspring contains all the information included in the magazines, but allows readers to comment on the articles and search for specific topics. You can access back issues right from the homepage and become a member of one of their social networks which include Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

Electronic publications are not going away anytime soon, and with new technologies like the iPad and Kindle, the definition of publications will continue to change as quickly as the technology does. But two things are certain: 1) good design will always be important no matter whether you read a printed version or view it on screen; and 2) Page Design will stay on top of the trends so we can provide our clients with the best publications possible. Click on the thumbnails below to take a closer look at the Wellspring website or visit the website online at www.wellspring.northbay.org.

Stages of Shock

2010-05-03T10:05:00Z

Dear Friends,
I don't know what has been written about the stages of shock, in medical terms, but I have experienced all of them in light of the incredible surprise 30th anniversary party you all threw for me last Friday at Page Design.

Stage No.1: Numbness and bewilderment - Only a very fortuitous, but ill-timed, call from client and good friend, Jim Catchot, gave me about a three minute warning. Even that did not prepare me for the number of very good friends who were waiting in ambush. I am sure my mouth was moving and words came out, but I cannot remember anything I said. Hugging was a good ploy because it gave me something to hold on to. To all of those to whom I did speak, I wish it could have been more coherent. To all of you with whom I could not speak, you are probably better off because you assume I was saying something intelligent to the others.

Stage No. 2: Wait a second! What is going on here? – May 1, 1980 is a date really only of importance to me. And, given the economy and the state of the graphic arts industry, I intentionally kept it to myself until last Monday, April 26. I knew that, by that date, it was too late for any well-intentioned people to do anything but send out a commemorative blog and have a small staff celebration at lunch on Friday. I made it clear to Claudia (my wife), my partners and my staff that there was to be nothing more. Yes, Page Design has been successful, but let's not arouse the gods with our vanity. Let's not be disrespectful of those who are going through rough times. And most of all – this is not about me, but us. The entire staff, and especially my two excellent partners, Tracy and Eric, over the last four years, have been the key to our success. How did this party happen so fast? Why is this all about me? And how much did all of this cost anyway?

Stage No. 3: Acceptance – The celebration went far beyond the 7:00 cut-off time. Once people realized that I was a blithering idiot, they could get on with their own good time of conversing, reconnecting and enjoying the copious amount of food. As the crowd began to thin, though, I saw the next wave – the table of cards, gifts and all of the gracious emails from those who could not make it but sent such heartfelt expressions. And again I had wrestle with my feeling that this is about the 30-year-old thing that is Page Design and not me. I took my time later that evening and the next day reading over the notes. It is such a blessing to have friends, especially ones who can write so well. Those notes, along with the wonderful one prepared by my staff, brought me to acceptance. (It did not hurt either that one friend gave me a box of Titleist Pro VI golf balls!)

Stage No. 4: The Sunday after - I recently bought a new road bike and have been doing quite a bit of riding. I am somewhat of a fair-weather rider, though. I had a ride planed for Sunday morning, but looked out my bedroom window and saw the dreaded north wind had kicked in. My natural instinct was to call my riding partner for the day, Dan, and tell him it was too windy. Instead, I decided it was time to face it and be a serious rider. We rode north along the Sacramento River into a mounting wind. At Discover Park, we turned east and were blown the eight miles to the Sac State bridge. There, we turned around and began the eight-mile trek directly into the teeth of the wind, back to Discovery Park. We kept a surprisingly brisk 14-15 mph pace much of the way, laughing when we could catch our breaths, picking the bugs out of our teeth. As we passed the marker showing only two-and-a-half miles to go, a couple of riders passed us at a pretty good pace. I gripped my lower handle bars and said, "Dan, let's catch 'em". Dan took up the pursuit and I was drafting on his tail. We caught them at 18 mph and they noticed. My speedometer then hit 19, then 20 and finally up to 20.5! Then we passed them (however, I think they were turning off on the Garden Highway exit.) We arrived in Discovery Park with our lungs burning, legs throbbing, our eyes watering and it felt great! We then turned south and the wind blew us the final six miles down to Sutterville Road.

The point of No 4 above? – These days we are all heading into a pretty strong wind. It is a given. We might as well face it head on and celebrate when we can. Thanks to my wife, partners and staff for defying my strong wind and doing a wonderful thing. And thanks to all of you who could come and celebrate or share your good wishes. Success needs a figure head, and I guess that is me for now. But the true success of Page Design lies in the fantastic people who work here, our families, our terrific vendors who make us look good and, most of all, our clients who let us be a part of their success.

Thanks to all.
Paul

ps. Good friend Steve Archibald is home and doing fine. Spent a few hours in ER and got a good tongue lashing from the doctor for the bike ride we took together on Friday. He apologized for his drama, but I assured him that we partied on even after his exit.

Click on the thumbnails below to view photos from the evening.

For more photos visit our Facebook page.

Thirty Years? No Way!

2010-04-28T03:04:01Z

Paul's Original Logo Design, Circa 1980

I remember the date. I almost remember the exact time. It was Sunday, April 27, 1980. It was about 5:00 on a beautiful sunny afternoon. I was propelling a push mower with unusual vigor around the front lawn of my home near McKinley Park. The added horsepower was being fueled by a growing sense of dissatisfaction with my career in graphic design. While I enjoyed the people at my design studio job, the nature of the work and the way it was getting done just did not match my vision.

The choice was clear – either do something constructive or go through life with an overmown lawn. At that moment, I decided to launch my freelance career.

Notice was given the next day and, by May 1, 1980, I had my very first client. He was a freelance photographer named Paul Cyrus. I designed a business card for him. I have never seen him since.

You’d think that choosing my company name would be a no-brainer. After all, my last name is Page and I design pages. But I had this conceptual image of a newsboy shouting out the headlines and initially christened the fledgling business Page One Design. Within a few weeks, I learned that brevity was better and the name officially became Page Design. The newsboy stayed. And, after 30 years, I am still that newsboy delivering clients’ messages.

At the beginning, I was pretty sure I knew it all. But I have learned so much since then. And today I would have to say that I know a whole lot less than I thought I knew back then. But one thing I have learned for certain is that I need teammates.

Once I made the decision to hire employees, friends told me “Now is when the real headaches start.” Nothing could be further from the truth. Almost without exception, everyone who has ever signed on to be a Page Designer has been a blessing. Funny thing is, even though we are a relatively large design studio with 10 to 12 employees at any given time, I would venture to guess that we have only had about 30 total employees during our 30 years in existence. Some have stayed long enough to learn what the Page Design concept had to offer and have gone off to fashion successful design studios of their own. Others have gone on to raise families or pursue other interests. And a select few extremely special people have chosen to stay and make a career with Page Design. Ultimately, my proudest accomplishment is the fact that virtually every person who has wielded a t-square or a mouse in the studio has seen an improvement in their personal life while being employed here.

Likewise, it has been equally rewarding to watch Page Design’s clients flourish. There is no design award on the planet as satisfying as the happy client who calls and says, “That worked out great. Let’s do it again.” And, much like there have been very few actual Page Designers, there have been a surprisingly small total number of clients. The above mentioned Mr. Cyrus was client No. 1. The first job we did for him was numbered 1-1, the first number being the client number and the second number being the number of jobs we have completed for that client. Recently, we signed the City of Vacaville Transit System as a client and they became client No. 471. Can a business really survive for 30 years with only 471 clients? Yes, because the secret is not in the first number, but in the second number. (The client shall remain nameless, but we are currently working on a job numbered 233-337!) Our clients stay with us for a long time as well. It is a fairly common occurrence that a certain 26-year veteran of the Page Design staff is working for a client who started with us before she did.

May 1st, 2010 will come and go as quickly as the entire 30-years have flown by. On May 2, we will commence with the most exciting endeavor to date: Our next project.

The future at Page Design will always be more exciting than the past. Tracy Titus and Eric Grotenhuis are the partners who will see to that. The self-indulgent “I” used in the above paragraphs has been replaced with an emphatic “we”. Sherril, Maria, Kurt, Heather, Mark, Melisa and Sara are also a huge part of that “we”. Page Design’s projects, energy and talent are at an all-time high.

While we are spending our 30th anniversary celebrating the future, please watch for a new feature on our website, that will celebrate our past. In our portfolio section, we will introduce a Hall of Fame section featuring some of our favorite projects from the last 30. The launch of this section will be the subject of an upcoming blog.

Thirty years? Piece of cake. Now stay tuned for our fortieth anniversary!

Not Your Ordinary Work Boot!

2010-04-23T03:04:00Z

A hallmark of Page Design's ability to produce effective marketing and communications tools is our ability to listen to our clients and embrace their mission. In the case of Original SWAT Tactical Performance Footwear, it was easy to see the value in ensuring that our law enforcement and military personnel have comfortable feet.

Page Design began working with Original SWAT in 2008, mostly on a project-by-project basis. Those projects have been very successful and our relationship has grown. We were pleased, this past fall, when the company asked us to help them develop an entire campaign, including advertising, catalogs, POS, web development www.originalswat.com, video and trade show displays. The budget was limited and the wish list was long. However, Paul Page, Kurt Kland and Mark Aplet put together a plan that maximized existing client assets and presented them in an entirely new light.

Because of the company's excellent product and its high standing within the law enforcement and military communities, Original SWAT had collected a large volume of excellent client testimonials. Paul was able to craft a campaign based on those testimonials. The client also had an existing library of still photos and video footage showing the product in use by law enforcement and military. Kurt took advantage of this trove and added his own wizardry to give these images an exciting new look. The budget did not allow for a new website. However, Mark was able to utilize the code of the existing site and completely re-skin it to bring the look in line with the new campaign. Paul and Mark cobbled together a script that allowed us to utilize existing video footage and client testimonials into a 10-minute trade show video. The client also had the framework for a 20 x 20 foot trade show display. Paul and Kurt completely resurfaced all 16 panels of the display with new campaign graphics.

In the end, Page Design was able to fulfill the client's wish list and had all of the materials ready for the annual SHOT Show in Las Vegas in January. The show was a success and Original SWAT is fully loaded with a high-powered and cohesive marketing campaign heading into 2010.

Check out some of the marketing pieces created by clicking on the thumbnails below.

2010 Creek Week: From Concept to Creation

2010-03-17T01:03:42Z

For every concept there are hundreds of design directions an illustrator can take. Coming up with those possible directions is one of the most interesting parts of our day! We thought you might enjoy seeing some of the alternate directions that we provided the Sacramento Area Creeks Council for this year's Creek Week event… you can see how each direction gave the same concept a different feeling.

Every year the Sacramento Area Creeks Council puts on an educational event called "Creek Week". The goal of Creek Week activities is to teach school age kids the importance of keeping our local creeks clean throughout the year. Several informational pieces are created as part of the program including t-shirts, posters, bookmarks, mugs and more. Each item is emblazoned with the year's theme, which for 2010 is "Time to Care for Creeks". Page Design illustrator Kurt Kland was given the task of creating an illustration that would embody this theme and set the artwork apart from previous years' artwork.

Get Out Your Sketch Pad

Because illustrations can take a great deal of time to create, we always start with concept sketches. This allows the client to make conceptual as well as detail-oriented changes before we start drawing the final piece. With "Time to Care for Creeks" some great imagery automatically popped into our heads, and we created four concepts for the Council to choose from: 1) using an alarm clock, 2) a clock face, 3) a cookoo clock and 4) an hour glass in which the sand was replaced with a stream. You can view these sketches by clicking on the thumbnails below.

The Council decided to use the hour glass concept because the idea of time running out gives the illustration a sense of urgency. Kurt did several more sketches to nail down specific elements within the artwork to make sure we had enough detail to distinguish the plant and animal species in the illustration. These species include: a Blue Heron, Red Legged Frog, Monarch Butterfly, Western Terrestrial Garter Snake, Western Pond Turtles, Rainbow Trout, Western Red Bud, Sandbar Willows, Valley Oak, Cat Tails and other local plants. Next he applied the final style giving the illustration the look and feel of a watercolor painting. Click on the color image of the illustration above for a larger view.

The beauty of an illustration is that, without any copy attached to it, the viewer can immediately grasp the message. This illustration drives home the concept that our creeks can disappear if not properly cared for in time.

For more information about the 2010 Creek Week, including volunteer information and creek clean up days, visit their website at www.creekweek.net.

Painting California Rice Fields with Fabric: Part 2 of 2

2010-02-10T04:02:33Z

Well, the wait is over… the final art for the 2010 California Rice Commission Leg Day Gift Box, titled "California Ricelands," is complete!

And, not only is it one of our favorites so far, it is one of Merle's favorite pieces as well – sure to inspire many aerial views of the Sacramento Valley in her future work. The final art you see to the right is applied to a gift box lid as well as note cards and other promotional items. You can view the original in person for the next few weeks at Merle's studio located at The Art Foundry. After its "official" unveiling at Leg Day 2010 on March 2, the piece will be traveling to the offices of lucky dignitaries around Sacramento.
(For a larger view of the final art click on the image.)

Documenting the Progress

CRC documented Merle's progress in a video, "California Ricelands Fabric Collage," and it is available for viewing on You Tube. You can also view it by clicking on the image below.

It was a great pleasure working with Merle on this piece and we look forward to seeing her work in the future. For more about the process involved in creating this beautiful piece please visit "Painting California Rice Fields with Fabric: Part 1 of 2" which includes photos of the process and links to Merle's website. And, take a moment to check out the NEW California Rice Commission website (www.calrice.org), everything you wanted to know about California rice as well as great recipes!

A New Year Sees Three New Websites!

2010-01-21T09:01:22Z

We are proud to announce the launching of three new web sites: California Rice Commission, H-G Training and California Self-Insurers' Security Fund.

California Rice Commission (CRC)

CRC's mission is to promote the interests of California rice and rice growers domestically and internationally. They also provide market research, education, advertising and promotion, as well as production and processing research necessary to promote, maintain and enhance the rice industry. Their website is very information driven with facts on almost anything you wanted to know about rice – and specifically California rice. Page Design created the overall look and feel for the site and worked with CRC's web master to achieve the desired functionality. Whether you want to find a killer rice recipe (try the Ginger Cilantro Rice with Grilled Coconut Shrimp it is really good!) or learn about how rice farming affects the environment, this site will provide you with all the info you need. (Click thumbnail above for a larger view.)

H-G Training – Improving "People Skills" Since 1993

Jeanie Hagen-Greene, principle of H-G Training, believes well-trained employees are the key to an organization’s success, and providing them with "people skills" is the most important skill of all. H-G Training provides instruction and learning to equip employees with these and other professional skills needed to accomplish an organization's goals and objectives. Jeanie was very specific on the look and feel she wanted for her website: clean, simple and elegant with a user friendly interface and easily updatable blog. The final site includes an updated logo, new color scheme and custom photos taken by our own Mark Aplet. Thanks to Jeanie's diligent blogging, hgtraining.com comes up on the first page during a search engine query. (Click thumbnail above for a larger view.)

California Self-Insurers' Security Fund (The Fund)

California Self-Insurers' Security Fund is a non-profit organization responsible for managing the collective liabilities of workers comp claims arising when former self-insured private companies operating in California become insolvent. Their web site is intended to assist a wide range of stakeholders and interested parties to better understand our operations, member eligibility requirements in the highly regulated, complicated world of self insurance. The web site was designed and coded by Page Design and is hosted in house. We worked closely with The Fund's public relation's provider Stevan Allen, of Allen Strategic, on the content and site architecture. As part of the design process we updated their existing logo to give The Fund a fresh look. (Click thumbnail above for a larger view.)

Holiday Fun: Spreading the Love!

2009-12-28T10:12:42Z

Creative Marketing In A Tough Economy

When marketing dollars are a little tight (as they especially are this year) you have to be even more creative to get your clients' attention… this is especially true with holiday gifts and cards. I wanted to share two holiday items we just finished that might make you smile. The first is this year's Ratto Bros. calendar, and the other is our very own Page Design Group Party Animal Playing Cards… both hot of the press!

Ratto Bros. 2010 Calendar: Superheroes of Food

This is the fifth consecutive year that Ratto Bros. has created a calendar as their holiday gift. It is our challenge each year to top the previous year's concept… and I have to say that this years calendar is quickly becoming one of my favorites! It is designed as a desktop flip calendar and showcases three months at a time to allow those in the produce industry a look ahead. From its retro design to the very creative and funny copy, Superheroes of Food is sure to stay on people's desks all year. Click on the thumbnails below to view the calendar… but beware of the healthy eating enemies Fatty Acid and Flavor Blahs or you might get caught up in their diabolical plans!

Page Design Group: Party Animal Playing Cards

We have a lot of talented artists here at Page Design, and this year we wanted to share the illustration skills of Kurt Kland. During every Monday morning staff meeting you will find Kurt sketching away (instead of paying attention) in his sketchbook / job list. But we don't mind because the results are illustrations that cannot be described in words… but to give you a hint several of them involve gorillas drinking martinis and smoking cigars. What better way to showcase Kurt's playful illustrations than to create a deck of playing cards. Kurt did research on traditional cards and created individual characters for each of the face cards. You'll find all sorts of hidden details that will make you chuckle out loud.

You didn't get a deck of cards you say… well drop by the studio and we will gladly share, but don't wait too long we have a limited supply! Take a look at all the face cards by clicking the thumbnails below and check out Kurt's blog at www.52doodles.com.

Painting California Rice Fields with Fabric: Part 1 of 2

2009-11-05T12:11:05Z

For the fifth consecutive year the California Rice Commission (CRC) has commissioned an original piece of artwork from a Sacramento area artist for its annual Leg Day Gift Box.

This year's artist Merle Axelrad Serlin, has been a fine artist since 1991, but has roots in architecture and still keeps her license current in the field. Merle uses fabric as her medium of choice, and has developed a unique collage technique which creates layers of textures, patterns and colors which draw your eye into each composition. She has a pallet of fabric that puts most fabric stores to shame, and hand paints many of the pieces herself. The resulting effect makes you want to reach out and touch the work, but you must resist the urge, as the oils from our hands can damage the fabric.

I recently visited Merle's studio to view her progress on the piece, and found out in the process that her very first fabric collage was inspired by Sacramento rice fields and the patterns they create from the air. So, it has been easy for her to embrace this project and she has taken the opportunity to revisit the fields from the air during several plane rides. She was able to document the different colors and textures of the fields during these flights. Her final composition captures the rice fields at different stages of maturity as well as the iconic Sacrament River as it meanders through the Sacramento Valley fields.

Merle is currently half way done with the piece and should be finished in early December if all goes well. So, there is plenty of time to pop into her studio and view the piece in progress at 1021 R Street upstairs in The Building which also houses The Art Foundry & Gallery. Merle has an open studio policy and can be found hard at work most Monday-Fridays. She also hosts an Open Studio during each Second Saturday Art Walk between 6-9:00pm.

Below is a sneak peak of the piece, but you will have to stay tuned for Part 2 of this blog to view the finished art and watch a short documentary on the project created by Jim Morris of CRC and Pat Kuske of Patrick Kuske Productions.

UC Davis GSM's "Innovator" Wins Prestigious CASE Award!

2009-10-16T03:10:31Z

Congratulations are in order for all of those involved in the production and design of the UC Davis Graduate School of Management's biannual magazine entitled the "Innovator".

The Spring/Summer 2009 and Fall08/Winter09 issues of the Innovator won a Silver Medal in the very competitive External Tabloids and Newsletters category of this year’s Council for the Advancement of Education (CASE) District VII Awards of Excellence. This is the Innovator's first silver medal although it has received three bronze medals in the past five years.

The mission of CASE International is to advance and support education worldwide. International membership includes more than 3,200 colleges, universities and independent elementary and secondary schools in 55 countries around the world. CASE serves nearly 40,000 advancement professionals on the staffs of member institutions and more than 22,000 professional members. (For more information on the award, visit CASE's website at www.casevii.org.)

Page Design Group has been working with the Graduate School of Management for the past 15 years on the Innovator. Each issue is full of interesting and well written stories that make coming up with creative designs easy.

Congratulations again to everyone at the Graduate School of Management for producing an amazing publication that continues to gain recognition within educational circles and beyond!

Click on the thumbnails below to view a larger image of the winning issue's front cover and inside spread.

To view or download the entire magazine visit the UC Davis Graduate School of Management's website at www.gsm.ucdavis.edu/innovator/.

Produce & Beyond: A Recap of the 2009 Fresh Summit

2009-10-13T11:10:22Z

Every year the Produce Marketing Association (PMA) puts on an international trade show dedicated to the produce and floral industry entitled "The PMA Fresh Summit".

This year the Summit was located close to home in Anahiem, California and attracted over 19,000 attendees – including two of the Page Design Group gang. The months heading into the Summit are (to put it lightly) a bit crazy, both for the studio and our clients. So, we look forward to attending the event since it gives us a rare opportunity to see the results of all our hard work in action. This year we had the pleasure of helping Garden Highway and Dulcinea prepare their booths and marketing materials for the event. Each company stood out against the crowd with innovative booth designs and collateral materials.

Garden Highway www.gardenhighway.com

Garden Highway provides fresh-cut vegetables, fruits and specialty items for those of us with an active, fast-paced lifestyle looking for healthy alternatives to traditional fast foods. Recently they have added a line of products called "Chef Essentials" which provides the home chef (or novice chefs , such as myself) with convenient, pre-measured, one meal portions. You can choose from items like pot roast mix, soup starters, fajita vegetables, green beans almandine and the list goes on and on. Garden Highway followed this concept through to their booth design and created a space that was one part gourmet home kitchen and one part intimate cafe which drove home the idea that you can create fresh, healthy and gourmet meals in a short amount of time.

Page Design created the labeling system for the new product line as well as the existing line. We also worked with Garden Highway on signage, brochures, menu boards, channel signs, POS, sales sheets and more.

Click on the thumbnails below for a quick tour of their booth and some of the collateral materials created for the trade show.

Dulcinea www.dulcinea.com

Dulcinea provides PureHeart® watermelons, Tuscan-Style™ cantaloupe and Rosso Bruno™ tomatoes year round. They also partner with Garden Highway to package their fruit in pre-cut and overwrap options. This year their booth focused on educating visitors not only to the unique taste of their fruit, but the variety of options melon can add to your menu year round. Visitors to the Dulcinea booth were treated to tasty recipe samples which were provided in a recipe booklet called "Savory Flavors". Page Design helped create the books and art directed the photo shoots with photographer Ron Busselen (www.busselenphoto.com) and food stylist Patty Mastracco to create the book's eye catching photography. Visit the Dulcinea website for more great recipe ideas or click on the link below to download a PDF version of the booklet.

Click on the thumbnails below to view selected recipes.

To download a PDF of the entire recipe booklet click here.

Roaming Ghostland: An Intriguing Cover for an Intriguing Book

2009-09-03T05:09:43Z

As you know, we at Page Design like to share with you information about some of the interesting companies we have the pleasure of working with. But sometimes, the personal lives of clients are just as interesting…

Take for example Stevan Allen, owner and principle of Allen Strategic, a Public Relations firm located in Sacramento CA. During the eight years that we have been working with Stevan, we never knew that he was an author AND a freelance reporter whose dispatches from East Germany appeared in major newspapers throughout the United States and earned him a nomination as a 1990 Livingston Award finalist for foreign reporting.

Then, about six months ago, he came to us for help with his book cover design. His book is entitled Roaming Ghostland: The Final Days of East Germany. The book jacket states "Roaming Ghostland is about a defining moment both in modern European history and in the life of an idealistic young journalist who abandons everything to chase his dream as a freelance foreign correspondent covering the demise of East Germany after the Berlin Wall crashes down."

Congratulations Stevan on the realization of this book that we know was a labor of love!

Read a synopsis of the book, find out more about the author or order the book by clicking on following link: http://www2.xlibris.com/bookstore/bookdisplay.aspx?bookid=56997

Click on the thumbnails below to view larger images of the book jacket.

ISCAID: Dedicated to the Animals that Improve Our Quality of Life

2009-07-09T02:07:18Z

I have to give a shout out and recognize yet another cool client that we have been working with recently… The International Society for Companion Animal Infectious Diseases (ISCAID). Yes, it is a mouth full, but the longer the name the more interesting the group, right? ISCAID was founded in 2006 because of a growing interest in companion animal infectious diseases within the veterinary profession; the increasing importance of infectious diseases transmitted from animals to people and an increasing need for formal recommendations for the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of companion animal infectious diseases. Companion animals include dogs, cats, birds, horses, etc.

Although the Society has been in existence since 2006, they just recently began work on their marketing materials. Thus far Page Design has created a logo, brochure and website for them. The website was the most complicated piece. As an international organization, the website will be used as ISCAID's main source of communication between members, as well as a means for gathering donations and sponsors. We created a membership only section that is password protected and houses a photo gallery, case study section, membership forum, archives and more.

Although the Society deals with very serious issues, like infectious diseases, they wanted the logo, brochure and website to reflect the positive results from the research and collaboration that ISCAID will bring to companion animals and the owners that love them!

Click on the thumbnails below to view the logo, brochure and website Page Design created for ISCAID. You can visit their website at www.iscaid.org.