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.

One tip Justin presented was about service, quoting from his life kearning blog post…  “Serving: Do you want to change the way you run your life, your firm, and your perspective on the world? Then start to serve. Not just with your work, but with your time and your team. Even if you are a team of one. I guarantee your life will be better for it.”

We took Justin’s advice to heart and started to actively look for a non-profit who’s mission was close to our hearts and needed our creative help.

Fast forward to mid-December; while participating in the Indy Give! campaign we found Kids on Bikes. We knew a little about Kids on Bikes and their mission, Keagan had participated in one of their summer rides at Bear Creek Park earlier that year.

The Indy Give! page taught us more – since 2005, they have provided more than 700 bicycles to children in need, through programs that inspire a healthy lifestyle, independence and achievement, AND right there on the Indy Give! page it also listed, very serendipitously, that they were looking for graphic design help. Chris and I both knew right away that this was definitely a cause close to our hearts and I contacted Kids on Bikes the very next day!

Design Rangers are pleased to announce that we are now working with Kids on Bikes – we will be helping them redesign some of their marketing materials and supplying them with a marketing “tool-kit” that will help them produce cohesive, professional looking materials as their need arises.

We are happy and our creative hearts are full. Thank you to Kids on Bikes for letting us serve you and your amazing mission!

P.S. – We would love it if you would drop by www.kidsonbikes.net to learn more about them. Maybe you are in the position to give them a donation & bring the joy of owning a brand new bike to very deserving children… It will help to fill your heart, and a full, balanced heart is a happy heart!

John came to the Springs to talk to us about adverting – focusing on how everything has changed, and how nothing has changed. Old Media, New Media – the same rules still apply.

1. Great work can come from anywhere
2. On serious issues, rather than using scare tactics – make them giggle.
3. Give the viewer something that inspires them – makes them think, or laugh, or feel inspired.

You know John’s work and have probably enjoyed many of his commercials over the years. Here are few examples of John’s successes:

Old Media:

H&R Block – Worried About Bill 60 from MUH-TAY-ZIK|HOF-FER on Vimeo.

Citi – Identity Theft – Chassis from MUH-TAY-ZIK|HOF-FER on Vimeo.

New Media: John’s new media successes include many videos for Google Mobile. Click here to see the, low budget, viral “pizza” video that was proclaimed a “Masterpiece” by Mashable.

Thanks again John for stopping by and giving us some food for thought!

On September 14th, we had the pleasure of attending the American Advertising Federation of Colorado Springs‘ first luncheon of the season featuring John Crilly of Brand Innovation Group (BIG). John came all the way from Fort Wayne, Indiana to talk to a room filled with AAF members and guests about Guerilla marketing.

John gave an entertaining, informative talk about guerilla marketing (GM) – which essentially means finding creative ways to tell a clients unique story. GM enhances traditional marketing and is a unique way to tell a message – most often an attention grabbing, emotion evoking, creative supplement to the standard client billboard, brochure, and advertisement.

He highlighted several successful GM campaigns. Here are a few you may have seen:

• Folgers coffee manhole covers
• 3M Security glass
• IKEA bus huts

John also talked about how to make it work for the small business – ideas like sending out a fun promo on the same day every month or performing random acts of kindness (buying lunch for a table of diners at a local restaurant – tell the waitress you’ll take care of the bill and just ask her to deliver them your business card). Here is an example of how a dentist used GM. Obviously, this was an inexpensive, easy to produce marketing method that probably got a lot of attention. Who could ask for more?

There are many, many more creative thought provoking ideas out there – just doing a Google search for guerilla marketing images comes up with more than 300,000 results.

So when you ask yourself a question similar to “All traditional advertising mediums are covered, what else can we do?” The answer is “Go Guerrilla!”.

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!

Design can be used to enhance the visual appeal of a product or service. It can be used to organize complex information or give meaning to abstract concepts. Sometimes design is used to make a bold statement or to evoke a specific emotion.

Design can do all of those things and more, but the underlying quality always remains the same — to strengthen clear communication.

When USA Cycling approached us with the opportunity to design their High Performance Plan (HPP) presentation, clear communication was the driving force behind the entire project. The HPP weighs in at around 135 pages of information ranging from high-level to technical, broken into 15 sections. We were told that the bulk of the content had changed little from year to year. Our challenge? To make it easy for the reader to digest and quickly grasp the key concepts within the plan. Past attempts had been too busy and not consistent with the USA Cycling brand.

Our first step was to ensure that the base content provided a solid foundation for the design. We had our talented copywriter Tammy Oler collaborate with USAC to edit the existing plan. Throughout the process, Tammy kept the visuals in mind, suggesting modifications that would allow for better communication.

While the copy was being developed, Design Rangers worked to create a high-impact cover design and an interior layout built to let readers find information quickly. The idea was to illustrate the power and passion behind the athletes and their goals.

With final content and the base design in place, we got down to business – creating common visual cues in each section along with a variety of text styles to create consistency and to increase readability. Graphics and charts in each section were re-designed using icons and stylized elements.

The physical appearance of the piece makes just as much of an impact as the contents contained within it. We worked with a local printer to develop a package that would stand out from the rest. Custom 3-ring binders with the new cover and spine graphics were produced to allow for content additions as needed. The binder was constructed with a lay-flat design, a business card window and a pocket in the back to house additional materials. The tabs feature an easy-to-browse design and are reinforced at the hole locations and tabs themselves. The interior is was printed in full digital color on a premium stock. Design rangers also provided a matching PowerPoint template to help ensure consistency.

The final result? A clean, comprehensive guide built to inform and educate. Every aspect of the design and content were refined to make the communication stronger, and USAC is poised to present their plan with confidence.

What an amazing message and a big, bold statement. We often push our clients to make the big, bold statements. It takes guts though and not all clients are willing to put it all on the line. I’m proud of Coleman and their marketing guts. Errr… I was proud until I did some research.

Strike #1 –Web Site. This morning, after I had decided to write a blog on Coleman and the awesomeness of  “The Original Social Networking Site” campaign, I was super excited to go to coleman.com and see how their web site integrated the messaging of the campaign. You should have seen my sad face when the site loaded and… nope. Nothing. After some digging around I finally found mention of the social networking press release and a page titled “Social Networking” which shows the advertisements.

Strike #2 – Print Ads. According to a Coleman press release, the T.V. spots began running in May 2009. They are/were also running print ads, but until I did a little bit of research on Coleman, I wasn’t aware of them. We subscribe to Outside magazine and are exposed to several other “outdoorsy” publications – seems like I would have seen one in there (Chris says he *thinks* he may have seen one in Outside, maybe I missed that page… in that one issue?). My family is their market. They have definitely not reached us.

Strike #3 – Consistency. As designers, one of our favorite things is consistency. In our dream world, the ads, the web site, and the marketing materials all have a similar look-and-feel, similar messaging. Coleman could have really taken this campaign and ran with it. Instead, they are just left with a disappointed consumer.

What we can learn from Coleman’s mistakes. Don’t disappoint your market with an inconsistent message. As much as you may think your customers won’t notice that your web site uses a different logo than your business cards, you are using several different color palettes, inconsistent fonts, etc – they will. You want current and potential customers to see your company’s marketing materials and recognize them as yours – every time, everywhere. This is especially important now that there are so many ways for consumers to find you out in the world ie: Facebook, Twitter, Google search.

Final thoughts. Be bold, be brave, be consistent!

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.

Design Rangers has the pleasure of posting this article written for us by Tammy Oler – our dear friend and awesome wordslinging partner. Enjoy!

Between blogs, Facebook, and Twitter, there are more ways than ever to connect with your customers.  But direct marketing still works – and email newsletters can be a powerful way to reach out.  The key to success with an e-newsletter is cutting through the clutter of your customers’ inboxes, and giving them good reasons to click through to your content.

Here are five tips for making your e-newsletter more newsworthy:

Offer Unique Value

Give your readers unique and valuable content: relevant news, exclusive how-tos with case studies or examples, resources, and information on sales and discounts are all excellent ways to connect with customers and keep them reading. It’s easy for people to delete and unsubscribe, so make sure that you’re publishing information your customers care about!

Make It Entertaining & Fun

Don’t send boring stuff to your customers!  (This one seems obvious, but it’s important to keep in mind.  Consider just how much boring stuff you receive from companies…)

Get Social

Incorporate social media into your e-newsletters to connect your customers on multiple channels.  Invite your newsletter readers to link to you on your other social sites, and share your newsletters on those sites.  You can also conduct polls or solicit content from customers on other channels and share in your newsletter.

Be Familiar

Readers are more responsive to communications from friendly, trusted voices.  Write your newsletter as if you were an insider talking to another insider.  Give your newsletter a club or community feel.

Deliver on Your Promise

Make sure you tell people what they’ll get when they sign up for your newsletter – and make good on your promises!  Be clear about how often you will send out emails and what types of content they will contain.

Oh, and don’t forget to proofread!  Just like with blogs, spelling, punctuation, and grammar still matter!

Good luck with your email marketing!

Tammy Oler is a freelance wordslinger, strategist, and member of the Design Rangers Auxiliary in Brooklyn, NY.

To subscribe to the Ranger Report, the Design Rangers’ monthly e-newsletter click here.

It’s doubtful however that many would envision a talking wine bottle looking for a date with food (a campaign for Epcot’s International Food and Wine festival). Or an ad showing Yoda, using the force at luggage claim (in a campaign for Star Wars Weekends). Yet these are exactly the kind of fun (and funny) ideas and campaigns coming out of Disney’s “Yellow Shoes” in-house creative department.

Or take the example of the campaign for the Disney Princess half-marathon. It would have been easy to take a group-shot of Disney’s many animated princesses and call it a day.  But by combining a classic icon with the unexpected, you get a much more powerful and targeted message. The theme worked so well, that Disney created real glass-slipper running shoes for display alongside other athletic shoes at Foot Locker, the key sponsor.

The Rangers had the exciting opportunity to attend Will Gay’s presentation to the Pikes Peak Advertising Federation that provided rare insight to the creative engine that drives the creative look for Disney’s resort brands. Will, the creative director for Yellow Shoes, showed us that even under the seemingly restrictive brand that is Disney, big ideas and creativity still rule the roost.

Besides being a fun and entertaining presentation, the talk sparked dialog at the Ranger Camp about the importance of creative play and the ideas it can create.  The big take-away for us is that you should always be pushing for innovative and smart creative, even if what you have is already working for you. Disney has a proven formula that’s worked through the ages, so why step outside the box? Because it works, and it keeps the Disney brand from becoming stale. As Will put it, “If you entertain people, they forget that they are being advertised to.” What ads or brands stand out in your mind as innovative, creative, entertaining or willing to push the envelope? We look forward to hearing your favorites.