The rides, the rush, the ice cream, it’s all been crafted to take you to another world. Every detail has been thought through and any deviation from the theme can change the experience. Design plays a large role, from the art-deco signs at Lakeside Amusements in Denver to the alternate reality that is Disney, the look helps create the world you’ll be living in for that day.

It’s these images and memories that helped inspire the logo for the Cave of the Winds’ newest attraction, the Wind Walker Challenge Course. The Wind Walker, a ropes course that will let participants traverse and dangle precariously (but safely) out over the floor of  Williams Canyon is sure to attract thrill-seekers and cave-dwellers alike. Opening in Summer 2011, the Wind Walker needed a design that captured the experience while extending the sense discovery and exploration present in the rest of the property.

With our muse in place, Jenny set to work pouring over images of theme park signage and rides from eras gone by (yes, we really do get paid to to play). After discussing some of our most memorable ride experiences, ideas moved quickly to paper as sketches began to take shape. A bold, graphic look became the focus of the concepts, using strong colors, expressive typography and canyon silhouettes.

One design in particular stood out, framing a stylized cliff against the backdrop of sun rays. It had all the elements of a theme park attraction while maintaining the spirit of the Cave of the Winds. After a few rounds of modifications, the final designs were put into place – one with a person out over the canyon for large applications, and a simplified version for smaller use.

We had a great time working on this logo and we’re looking forward to trying the Wind Walker for ourselves. What’s your favorite amusement park ride or memory? Share in the comments.

In the fall, Tammy sent us an email with the business name – StellarEngine. I immediately fell in love and became super excited to work on her identity. The crazy thing is, after presenting her with 12 different type-only logos, she chose the one I “saw” in my head the very first time I heard the name StellarEngine.

The next step was the business cards. I wanted to inject a little bit of color since the logo was black and gray. I also wanted the card holder to have to interact with a card a bit, having to flip it over to see the entire logo.

Tammy’s business card:

Ehren’s business card:

And here’s what Tammy has to say about her new brand:
“The Design Rangers have done it again!  When I launched my freelance writing business several years ago, the Design Rangers developed a creative, pitch-perfect logo and identity that has never failed to turn heads.  I couldn’t wait to work with them on StellarEngine, and challenged them to develop a look-and-feel that reflected rationality and strength without being cold or static.  I’m thrilled about the result, and can’t wait to launch my new website with them!”

StellarEngine’s new website will be coming in the Spring – but for now Tammy has a fancy holding page, or if you want to keep up with what’s new in the world of StellarEngine stop by the Facebook page.

Thanks again Tammy for trusting Design Rangers with your image, it means the world to us!

What happened is: Chef Corey Wilson began to use what he knows about food and apply it to his life. He began cooking himself up lots of amazing, fresh, healthy meals – backed by a dedication to working out on a regular basis and wallah! Corey has lost 60+ pound to date. What an amazing life transformation!

Chef Corey is now taking what he knows about food – and what he has learned on his journey – and providing nutritious and budget friendly in-home cooking services in the greater Colorado Springs area. His customized and fully prepared meals provide clients with a healthier and affordable alternative to eating out. You can save time and eat well – am I in Heaven? (Chris and I have had the pleasure of taste testing a few of Chef Corey’s creations. One word: YUM.) BONUS: He also provides cooking classes (in the form of FUN) and dinner parties.

Where Design Rangers come in: Corey asked us to design his logo, business cards and web site. He wanted to feel to be friendly (he is also known as “A Personable Chef“), fun, affordable, and healthy. Here is what we cooked up…

Logo: Lots of “Chef-y” research led us to the fork icon – because really, it all comes down to eating!

Business Card: After a great photo shoot with Joel Strayer we were inspired to incorporate a photo on the back of the business card. The problem was there were so many great shots – which one to choose? Decided it was better NOT to choose and designed 4 different cards for Chef Corey – each with a different fork color that complements the photo on the back. Here are a couple of our favorites:

Yellow

Red

Designing chefcoreywilson.com is the next step – but in the meantime check out facebook.com/chefcoreywilson and twitter.com/ChefCoreyWilson!

Your next step: Consider hiring Corey to cook you up some amazing meals to throw in your freezer -it might change your life too!

Such was the case when USA Cycling asked us to create a new look for their National Championships race series. These premier events cover 18 cities and 5 cycling disciplines – road, mountain, track, cyclo-cross and BMX. The races and locations are diverse and full of personality, and the graphics that defined each race had become so too. USAC was worried that their image had become too segmented and that people often didn’t know that the events were part of the series, or held by USA Cycling at all!

To date, the marketing team had been using a combination of different logos, text and images at each race year-to-year. To make things more complicated, each venue had been developing their own signage and materials to promote their events. In addition to creating an identity crisis, the growing number of graphic files and signage made it nearly impossible to manage the entire National Championships campaign.

After brainstorming with the USA Cycling team, we proposed building a “graphic toolkit” that would help them to get things under control and create a solid foundation for the National Championships brand. The toolkit would include a new brandmark for the series along with a set of guidelines and graphic files that could be used internally or by race coordinators. The goal was to create a design that captured the spirit and professionalism of the USAC while allowing room for expansion and the addition of venue specific information.

After sketching out many potential designs, we narrowed down the field to 4 distinct concepts. The final ideas were presented as mock-ups with modular elements that could be re-configured to allow for integration of event names and sponsor logos. Designs were presented in color and black-and-white to ensure that the look could be reproduced effectively in a variety of formats.

Concept #1:

Concept #2:

Concept #3:

Concept #4:

The four designs were narrowed-down to two finalists, both of which were integrated into a variety of situations to show how they would work vertically, horizontally and with additional typography and graphics. The final design uses the USA Cycling logo, letting the flag flow into a strong typographic treatment and 5 stars, representing each of the cycling disciplines. The open design allows similar elements to flow around the text while keeping the main focus on the National Championships at all times.

Final Design:

Now that the foundation for the look had been established, the rest of the “toolkit” was constructed. Key elements included:

• Color palette with breakdown of colors for web and print uses
• Logo files – color, black and white, single-color and reversed
• Signage templates
• Logo files with event names and venues integrated
• Online advertising templates
• Merchandising templates
• Style guide outlining guidelines and best practices for using the graphics

All files were provided in an online download area and on CD-ROM for easy access.

True to their original vision, USA Cycling now has a flexible graphic toolkit that they can use to help define the National Championships brand. The files and guidelines can be provided to partners and race coordinators to help them create their own materials while the internal marketing team can focus on promoting awareness and membership.

Want to see the new look first-hand? Check out the 2010 National Championships schedule.

Have you had a situation where a set of graphics elements or tools helped you? Maybe you have something that could use one now? Let us know in the comments.

Those of you that read our blog with any frequency or are fans of Design Rangers on Facebook know that I frequently post links from Design*Sponge. I pretty much love every thing they post, but here are a few favorites that have popped up this week.

1. These twig push pins are super cute and it’s a great way to re-use twigs and branches that have fallen off of your neighborhood trees. Seems like a must have in the new Design Ranger office!
2. I’m pretty much convinced that everything cool in this world comes from Brooklyn. My dad was from Brooklyn – which I believe makes me 1/2 cool. Our completely awesome friends Tammy and Ehren are from Brooklyn – when ever they come to visit they always bring us awesome gifts from some fantastic little shop in Brooklyn. Okay – they main point is… I love this letterpress bear card, it has die-cut arms so the bear can hold a little something, too! And yes, you guessed it. Brooklyn made.

On a much more serious note – did you know there are 884 million without access to safe drinking water? A very sad WOW came out of my mouth when I came across that fact on www.waterforpeople.org’s home page. Water For People is a “Denver-based international development organization supports sustainable safe drinking water and sanitation projects in developing countries”. The organization worked with Duffy & Partners to launch their new re-branding campaign, Joe Duffy is an amazing designer that I have always admired and he has done it again with the Water For People brand. A happy WOW this time.

WOW! What a night. Not only did we receive a gold Addy for the bearski bath & body logo, Design Rangers also won the Best of Print category! We are so happy that Jessica was there with us – she loves that logo as much as we do! We have to admit, it was a bit of an Oscar moment… “did they actually just say our name. what? really? collect yourself. stand up. walk. speak.”

I have to say almost 2 weeks later it still feels a bit like a dream. We are honored and humbled by the award. Really. There was a LOT of great print work submitted to this year – a beautiful promotional kit designed by Sandia for Flying Horse and the Rio Welcome Kit by David C. Cook was amazing. That’s the humbling part – our little ol’ logo. Best of Print. We are proud parents to say the least!

When Jessica offered to write up a press release (yes folks, not only is she a soap chef, she is a wife, a mom, an amazing writer and PR professional!) we immediately said PLEASE! She did an awesome job – please keep your eye out for our little article coming to a newspaper near you!

Jessica, Jenny and Chris heading off to the Addy's

5o9 is a Boulder, Colorado company that develops software enabling the web to be personal, local and mobile. This unique approach allows companies to send and receive personalized content through the web instead of building complex apps for each mobile device.

5o9 tasked us with creating a website that could communicate the complex technology behind their products and turn it into something that everyone could quickly and easily understand.
Taking the challenge head-on, we developed a site that is clean and easy to navigate while using strong graphics and everyday concepts to create an approachable look. 5o9 felt that the animation on the homepage hit the nail on the head, showing “who”, “what” and “where” scenarios for a diverse group of mobile users.

Upon completion of the web concepts, 5o9 LOVED the new look, but suddenly realized they didn’t love their current logo design. Just like that, a new project was born – create something abstract, friendly, and icon-based. A mark that didn’t need to have the word “5o9″ in it to be recognizable. Needless to say, not an easy task, but one that we felt confident we could tackle. The new logo illustrates the who, what and where data and shows how they intersect to create magic. Some also see a zen-like mark while others see a person. What do you see?

By the way – 5o9 is crazy in love with the new logo. Here’s to another satisfied client!

I just came across this great article from the “biz ladies” of design*sponge. I have found so many articles by the biz ladies to be inspiring and informative, including: how to form successful biz partnerships, organizing your biz income + expenses, starting a business in tough times, and I actually included this one in a weekly round up blog post from August of 2009 – a very informative article about advertising 101 for small businesses.

To quote the article’s author, Meg Mateo Ilasco, “…an amateur logo design could only hurt your business. Just because you’re an artist, craftsperson, or designer doesn’t make you a skilled graphic designer. Designing a logo takes experience. It’s no easy task to take everything a company stands for and bring it down to a single graphic representation or symbol.”

Meg hits the nail on the head – your logo is everything! The Design Rangers believe it should be clean, have good contrast and be simple. Our professor in college once said “a good logo can be drawn in the sand with a stick”. Think Nike, McDonalds, Mercedes, Apple. The greats ARE clean and simple! Here is a previous blog post that talks briefly about our logo process and what it take to get some pencil marks on a paper to a logo that has impact.

We are passionate about logo design and we love a well designed, thoughtful logo! Here are a few of our favorites: Endurance Army, Property Army, Bottle Rocket, Love Yarn, Women’s Bike Challenge, Lyric Quotes, Beer Garden, and idea couch. What are yours?

Bearski’s skin-loving products are high-quality, handmade, yet affordable.  Jessica and Christian were looking to give Bearski a hip, cool, and fun personality.  They gave us a lot of great input and ideas – bubbles and lower-case text were kicked around – then… they let us have at it!

Ultimately, a logo should reflect the persona of the company while being engaging and memorable. Sometimes, the design process meanders on it’s way to the ultimate design, and other times, you just get a “Yes, THIS is IT!” moment. After completing one logo concept in particular – we knew we had done it. We felt the logo really had it all – contrast, personality, sweetness, not to mention bubbles AND lower case type. We were thrilled when Jessica and Christian loved it just as much as we did.

SIDE NOTE: We were also thrilled to find out just a few days ago that the Bearski logo has won an ADDY award

After many rounds of high-fives about the logo, we let the logo begin its new life in Bearski’s business cards, product label template and a custom e-commerce web site:

Not only were we passionate about this project, we’re passionate about what Jessica and Christian are doing with Bearski Bath & Body. We are crazy about their products – here are links to our favorites, the coffee soap and Goat Milk TLC. Feel free to list your favorites in the comments or visit Bearski and pick up a future favorite.

Thanks Bearski for trusting us with your image – creating it was truly good, clean fun!

I really enjoy writing the blog and doing the link round-up. Does it put food on the table? In most cases, no. So of course I do the work that pays first. My favorite quote, that I believe I made up, is “Life gets in the way of my life.”

Without further a due, the Weekly Ranger Round-up…

1. From our wordslinging friend Tammy Oler a fun Photoshop project. Who doesn’t love Space Invaders?
2. In the “What’s your favorite color?” blog post I talked about Pantone and a cool Pantone inspired peppermill. Well, I also came across this little card holder. Santa, please take note. Thanks.
3. We follow @swissmiss on Twitter. She posted a tweet a few weeks ago that a friend of hers, Jessica Hische, was posting a Daily Drop Cap. This is the kind of stuff that makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside. Even on a gray and cold Fall day. A free daily drop cap – what more could a designer ask for?
4. I read about these guys in GD USA. Two recent graduates of Texas A&M who are designing their way across the country. They are the Drifting Creatives. Ah, to be young and free…. and sleeping on futons and living off of ramen. Oh, that’s right. I remember now.
5. Six Revisions is one of Chris’ favorite go-to web/design sites. He came across this post in late September. Yes, we love the challenge of designing a great logo with a subtle symbol or message. And the viewer always remembers the day they saw it. If you have seen the arrow in the FedEx logo, you know what I’m talking about.
6. Lastly, another post from design*sponge and the We Can Do It! Biz Ladies. A great article on time & calendar management. Who couldn’t use a little help in that arena?
7. BONUS! And this truly valuable information just posted by the biz ladies today. The nuts and bolts of getting your biz online. You Can Do It!

Enjoy and Happy Trails! See you… sometime. Soon.