Let me rewind.

A couple of months ago, a husband and wife team came to us wanting to create a logo for their preschool. Their demographic was the modern parent—late 20s, early 30s, iPhone-toting, savvy. I thought it was an interesting project because typically all preschools have similar branding: the pastel colors, the Noah’s Ark; you know the deal.

At the same time the clients were talking to us, however, they were also in contact with one of those ubiquitous $99 logo companies. I’m sure you know how these companies work. The client usually fills out a brief survey (company name, services, etc.), the artist may provide two or three concepts, the client picks one, and in a couple of days it’s over and everyone moves on. The problem is that the artist doesn’t really understand what your business and brand are all about. He or she isn’t spending the time and effort it takes to create a logo that’s meaningful and lasting and iconic. Instead, they’ve set a trend that tells clients it’s okay to not value their brand enough to find the right imagery to represent the face of their company.

We convinced the client to give us a shot, to experience our process. If, in the end, they weren’t satisfied, we would pay for their $99 logo.

Our process is really a series of conversations. We’re available to clients on the phone throughout, and we’ll talk about their business, what they want it to be in five years, how they’re going to use the logo, what colors they feel strongly about, who their competitors are and what they offer, what the logo should be and mean, how people should feel when they see it, shapes and colors, font types and treatments, taglines. Anything and everything.

We did five or six different drafts for these clients, and the first was the one I felt most strongly about. It was also the one they chose (over the $99 logo farm, I might add) to represent their company.

What I’m trying to say to clients is this: Respect your brand. Value it enough to go through a process that will help you understand it even better, rather than leave you exactly where you started.

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We recently did some work for Bea Fields’ speaking kit. Bea is an executive coach and a longtime client of ours, so I’m very familiar with the type of design she’s been doing. For her speaking kit, I created three different design concepts: one was safe, in keeping with what she usually gravitates to; the next was slightly beyond that; and the last was really far beyond what, from a visual standpoint, Bea usually does. Though she picked the first version, I had a great talk with her before we started working on a direct mail piece together. As traditional marketing, direct mail can easily fall in the realm of deathly boring. I told Bea that I didn’t want to go this route unless we pushed the envelope and did something exciting, something bold, with the piece. And, to her immense credit, she agreed.

Below is the design we created:

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It’s incredibly attention-grabbing, and she hadn’t done anything like it in the past; for that reason, because we were daring to step outside the typical boundaries of direct mail design, it was a lot of fun to work on. It made me realize that that if something doesn’t excite me as the artist, it’s not going to excite the viewer. Afterwards, I told Bea, “People still might throw it away, they still might not call you—but you know they definitely looked at it.” And isn’t that the point of design?

This trend is one I want to continue with future clients. I want to be known as the company people call when they want to go THERE; if you want to continue riding the same tired carousel, call someone else.

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Robert transforms through certain stages in his life—from poverty to gang life to military life and then to the corporate world—but in the design of the comic book, we want to not only tell a story around these life changes, but also change the mood visually as these transitions take place. We want these changes to be subtle and not jarring as the story progresses. Because Mí Barrio’s design treatment is only black and white instead of four color, we are limited in how we can manipulate design elements to make those subtle life-stage changes. Robert’s story starts off dark and dreary and ends with a message of hope. So at the beginning of the comic book, we’re using treatments that include darker, heavier lines and tighter. Shades of gray tones are used to create dark and light effects. At the end, the treatment will feel wide and open—very light—with more spacious variations. When finished, if you compared page 1 to page 49 you’d see a different feeling though the treatment of the art. It is our hope that the reader can thumb through the book and see a transition happening even before reading each page.

Below is the first page of “Mí Barrio”

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In Robert’s latest endeavor, collaborating with Round Table Companies and SmarterComics to create “Mí Barrio,” a comic book version of his sought-after memoir “From the Barrio to the Board Room,” one of the most interesting challenges has been transforming Robert’s real life personality and persona—which spans about 50 years and goes from tough street kid to military man to successful business owner to inspiring author—into a comic book character.

Since Robert has developed a dedicated following for his mission to get kids off the streets and help them be successful in life, we continually search for the balance between what is enough to make his character recognizable as Robert yet still have the element of a “good guy” comic book character. Some of Robert’s visual features in an illustrated character equates with the villain of the story. Yet it tends to go back and forth throughout the book. For instance, Robert was a troubled youth so a little villain in him when he was young is OK. But at the end of the story he is the hero, so we must find a way, through character design elements, how to portray Robert as that hero but still stay true to his human likeness. It’s a work in progress, for sure, and working on “Mí Barrio” has been much different than other comic book work we’ve done.

Stay tuned as Robert’s comic book character evolves; Below are some of the initial design work we have created for Robert’s character.

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I found this out when searching for an illustrator for the new “Little Barrio” comic book. I reviewed a lot of portfolios and talked to a lot of illustrators and I was amazed at the level of work that some produced. But I was also very bothered at how many times this brilliant work was not coupled with the attitude and professionalism that I was seeking in a creative partner for the Barrio project.

Finding a brilliant, creative mind is only half of the equation for successful design collaboration.

• Does the person you’re interviewing have the ability to communicate on a professional level?
• Does he/she return phone calls or emails promptly?
• Can you talk through a process with him/her in order to get to the meat of a project, and then turn it into something that is creative and meets or exceeds deadlines?

It’s a truly tall order.

But after a long and grueling search through the haystack of illustrators I finally found the needle I was looking for.

Meet Shane Clester.
He is the brilliant—and professional—illustrator working on “Little Barrio” with us. Shane and I quickly found a groove and spoke the same language, even referencing the same obscure indie comics. Because Shane can operate both sides of his brain so well and so effectively, I can now take a step back from the creation process. He knows how to ask the right questions, he knows how to communicate his ideas effectively, he’s professional, he’s creative… and man’o man… can he draw.

Below is some of the work that has turned me into a fan.

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View this incredible full CG animated piece from The Third & The Seventh

Below are sample screen shots. Try pausing this video throughout… Each frame is like a well composed photograph.

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I hope you find these brushes as useful as I have. Let me know what you think!

Download Strange Light Effects : A High Resolution Photoshop Brush Set

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