Packaging Design | Lotus Flower Tea | Matcha

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Matcha is the cure for almost everything and who wouldn’t want to design and brand that package! We landed on this clean treatment that features an ensō design. “In Zen Buddhism, an ensō is a circle that is hand-drawn in one or two uninhibited brushstrokes to express a moment when the mind is free to let the body create.” “It also symbolizes absolute enlightenment, strength, elegance, the universe, and mu (the void). It is characterized by a minimalism born of Japanese aesthetics.”

We kept with that tradition by utilizing a minimal black and white treatment and clean type. The result is eye-catching on the shelf, easy to produce and an appropriate visual metaphor for the product. We also designed the mark/logo for the company that imports the Matcha – Lotus Flower Tea.

 

New Exterior Sculpture Commission for the Regenstrief Institute

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Last year we were installing the interior branding elements for the Regenstrief Institute, a research support organization of the Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis. We were also asked to assist in the design of the exterior courtyard. We submitted several designs for an exterior centerpiece sculpture which celebrated the Institute’s founders, industrial visionary and philanthropist Sam Regenstrief, and his wife Myrtie. The pair founded the Institute with a vision of improving public health through technological innovation and cutting-edge healthcare research. We landed on a conceptual design early this year and spent the rest of the year developing the feature and working with our partners to engineer, fabricate and install it. Bassermatter helped us with the canopy design and geometry; Thorson Engineering did structural analysis; Shiel Sexton is pouring the foundation; Unalam is constructing the wooden humanoids, and Vulkane is fabricating the stainless canopy as well as installing the other components. Construction is underway with a scheduled installation early next year.

The sculpture consists of three main elements that combine to honor and symbolize Sam and Myrtie Regenstrief’s vision for the Institute:

A large ellipse-shaped bench/stage anchors the piece to the largest of three seating areas that make up the new courtyard. It is both a stage for presentations but also a bench to encourage impromptu discussions.

Two 20’H stylized, laminated wooden figures depict Sam and Myrtie Regenstrief. Cables affixed to their fingertips support a three-dimensional representation of the Institute’s mission to “create pathways to better health.”In other words, Sam and Myrtie are literally and figuratively supporting their mission for the Regenstrief Institute.

The undulating network of stainless rods, tubes, and spheres span over 1200 sq ft. and are meant to inspire those who work in its shadows to grow and connect the Institute’s various health related initiatives. Uplights in the stage will bathe the canopy in light at night providing a dramatic aspirational centerpiece for the courtyard.

Our latest sculpture is an excellent example of a new breed of art pieces and environmental branding that White Design Studio is creating to help to tell the story of an organization instead of being purely decorative. We are proud to be involved in this important project and look forward to seeing the finished piece. Until then, here are some of the concept sketches and renderings of our design.

White Design Studio is a multidisciplinary design firm located in Cincinnati Ohio. We specialize in the design, production, and installation of integrated branding. We believe that branded environments are the most efficient way to communicate your message to all of the audiences that interact with it.

 

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The White Design Advantage

Sometimes we do our best work when we are under a tight deadline. That was the case with the Unicell Manufacturing Company project. They are located in Toronto and Buffalo, New York and have been developing a revolutionary new electric delivery vehicle for the likes of UPS, FedEx and one of Canada’s major players, Purolator. Unicell had an opportunity to show it off to some of the electric vehicle’s biggest players at Discovery, Canada’s Premier Innovation Showcase, held at the Toronto Convention Center in May 2016.

WDS helped rebrand the effort by changing the name and tagline, and creating a new graphic look for the vehicle and support materials too.

Advantage was the name we selected – a logo and tag soon followed. From there, the delivery van graphic wrap was designed and applied, and a website, brochure, and videos were designed and produced.

 

White Design Studio, Cincinnati, Ohio, Columbus, Unicell, Brand Identity, Graphic Design, Logo Design, Canada, Toronto

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CELEBRATING 25 YEARS
• RENDERINGS

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Renderings have been part of our process from the start – from gauche on cold-press to markers to digital – and over the years we’ve experimented with a lot of recipes. We compose renderings in SketchUp then assemble them in Photoshop, where we add graphics, lighting effects and entourage. Here’s a sampling of our presentation renderings over the years.

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The Regenstrief Institute

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One of the best parts of our job is learning our client’s story – and helping them tell it to different audiences. The Regenstrief Institute in Indianapolis has an interesting story. In the early 1970’s, Sam Regenstrief’s D&M Corporation was responsible for 40% of the world’s dishwashers. Sam cared deeply about his workers and their families in his hometown of Connersville, Indiana. He was frustrated that local medical care wasn’t delivered with the same efficiency as his manufacturing plants, so he founded The Regenstrief Foundation to explore a variety of ways to increase and optimize the delivery of medical care.

These are just some of the dishwasher brands that Sam manufactured product for from the 1950s-1980s. How many do you remember?

Vulkane!

Peter and Tim have been friends since Beluga’s sushi chefs were living in Tim’s garage! Tim’s shop Vulkane is one of our most valued—and fun—partners. A great article and we even get a “name check.” It’s nice to see them getting the press they deserve! Tim Kane, Thomas Condon and the rest of gang do great work. White Design has partnered with Vulkane to produce sculptures, interior features, interactive displays, large-scale graphics and other environmental graphic design pieces for a wide variety of corporate clients.

Read the article here:

http://cincinnatirefined.com/arts-design/vulkane-is-art-on-fire

2016 INTERNATIONAL CONTENDER WORLDS IDENTITY

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Pete plays hard when he’s out of the studio. The Santa Cruz Yacht Club hosts this year’s International Contender Worlds. We designed the logo for the event. Competitors from the UK, Australia, Denmark, Germany, The Netherlands, Italy, Canada and the US will all converge on Santa Cruz in April. Below, Pete shows some unorthodox style while training in Toronto for the big race.

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Photo by Frank Whittington

EVOLUTIONARY or REVOLUTIONARY?

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We think David Parks first used the phrase “Evolutionary or Revolutionary” to describe the two design paths when refreshing an existing corporate identity. We evaluate an existing logo to determine if the logo equity or recognition has value or if a new mark is more appropriate. Successful evolutionary logos carefully alter existing marks in a way that is not immediately evident to established customer bases.

This project for Spear, a Cincinnati-based labeling company, is a perfect example of how our careful manipulation of their existing mark makes it fresh, while not losing any of the existing equity.

Celebrating 25 Years • SKETCHES

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We are both new and old school designers. Sometimes nothing replaces a roll of tracing paper and some markers. A classmate at Miami University Architecture School, where Pete attended, used to kid him about drawing in plan and elevation at the same time. What’s wrong with that?

Here are a few sketches that were the beginnings of some big projects for us.

 

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INTERIOR DESIGN

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Our projects often span architecture, interiors, interactive and graphic design. Extending corporate identities to interior finishes is something that sets us apart from almost any other design firm. We know our materials, and our wide variety of experience in fabrication allows us to balance budget, aesthetics and maintenance in a way that doesn’t sacrifice one at the expense of another. Another White Design Studio strength.

APEX DETAILS

Like many of our projects, it is the small details that make a big difference in the new Apex Customer Experience. Installing LED lighting systems throughout the space allow us to change the look and feel of both the theater and innovation center with the touch of an iPhone. The colorization in the Theater coordinates with the audio-visual presentation – it extends the screen area and can be changed to reflect market segment color coding used in printed pieces and the website.  The Innovation Center product background can also be changed using a perimeter LED wall wash. The white scrim back wall in the innovation center allows technicians behind the screen to witness customer product demos.

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CELEBRATING 25 YEARS • WHY-HOW-WHAT

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Why, How What

Our design process has evolved over the years. We now take a more strategic approach to our design solutions – identifying the takeaway messages for each audience and then determining the best way to deliver that message. Simon Senek’s Ted Talk, Start with Why got us thinking about how to structure the messaging in our designs. The idea that “people don’t buy WHAT you do, they buy WHY you do it” helped us organize the way we present messages and the mediums or presentation techniques we use to deliver them.

CLIMBING THE TREE

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We use a tree metaphor for designing corporate identity. The trunk is the logo and other non-changeable elements. In our design world, this takes shape as a Brand Guideline. Limbs are the overarching principals of the organization such as innovation or efficiency. In some instances, they can also represent different company divisions. Leaves are the individual products or ad campaigns. Most campaigns last 18-24 months and then new ones sprout. Leaves also tend to be the most colorful – or have the most personality (another White Design Studio term we use a lot!). Trunk and limb level messaging should always inform or support the leaf level.

Using the WHY-HOW-WHAT strategy, the trunk is the WHY message, limbs are the HOW and leaves are the WHAT. Product managers want only to talk about the leaves – or the WHAT – but they should be framing all of the messaging in the context of WHY, HOW and WHAT.

Bottom line: Every message should include portions of WHY, HOW and WHAT – the difference is in the proportions of each.

CELEBRATING 25 YEARS • 2010

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We updated our own interiors in 2010. Finally a proper conference room. The large wood vintage cabinet is from a hardware store in West Virginia.

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CELEBRATING 25 YEARS • RECOLLECTION

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Pete’s parents – John and Mary Jean White – have one of the largest apothecary collections in the country. We took a break from our day-to-day work to photograph, catalog and create a coffee table book of the collection in 2010. Below are some of the artifacts.

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PANOS

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Chris Stegner is our in-house photographer. This shot uses over 40 individual shots stitched together to form a 360° view of our neighborhood in Mariemont. See more of Chris’ photography here.

Same But Different

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Another WDS axiom – and one of our favorites. We especially use this phrase in the exhibit or retail solutions where we are designing a base system with common parts or elements and simply changing the dressing for a particular product line. This sketch shows a series of logos for Spear that share a common graphic language but use different colorways and graphics to make them distinctive.