Measure Referral Card

After receiving a letter from a financial advisor asking us to refer friends and family, we wondered if creative professionals could pull off the same stunt—with a little more panache, of course. While debating what memorable approaches might and might not completely offend our current clients, we decided to make this an exercise in idealism: the type of client we want to be working with will not be offended by some well-crafted (and innuendo-laden) wit. Opting to compare referrals to swingers, we clearly chose a safe path. We kept the format simple with small, clean and striking cards flawlessly rendered in tactile paper with metallic silver and dayglo pink ink via letterpress. We sent the promo off in matching pink envelopes with flaps block-printed (by our own hands) in white. The response to our classy seduction? Positive across the board.

Lowe's Creative Ideas App Advertisements

Kemin Personal Care Collateral

The visual identity of Kemin Personal Care focuses on the minimal and the refined. Building off of their slogan, Natural With Science, we blended beauty and science into porcelain icons, reflecting the brilliant colors and purity of Kemin's natural ingredients.

Populus Corporate Deck

The Populus Corporate Deck uses bold graphics to demonstrate a confidant, fresh and professional first impression with their clients. Building successful brands means understanding the value of perception, nuance and identity. Taking those concepts to heart, the Populus Corporate Deck puts what they preach into practice and that has resulted in clients taking notice.

Two Old Hippies Backstage Catalogue

The Two Old Hippies 2010 Backstage Catalogue was designed to promote 3 distinct sub-brands of Two Old Hippies, all centered around their motto, "Peace, Love & Rock N' Roll". The catalogue was Two Old Hippies' first major collateral piece to reach consumers and dealers, and did so with great success at the 2010 National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) Show.

Des Moines Art Center Big Hair Ball Promotion

The Des Moines Art Center's Big Hair Ball is a celebration of personal expression through hair and fashion. To promote it, we capped the event's many faces with the ultimate expression of self identity in a poster series that snagged us a Communications Arts cover and helped to ignite interest in this unique event.

AOA Diet and Nutrition Brochure

The American Optometric Association, AOA, provides optometrists and eye clinics with several tools for the promotion of general eye health. The Diet and Nutrition brochure explains the effects of diet on eye and vision health. The design is bright, colorful, clean and energetic, and makes eye health and nutrition something you might actually want to read about while waiting for your next eye exam.

This Is Not A Test

Rather than showcasing completed client work in this self-promotion, we wanted to help our customers understand the value and impact of visual perception and how it can affect their business. "This is Not a Test" is an interactive booklet that asks the viewer to test their perceptions of design and provides answers on how design can influence their customers' impressions of them. At the end of the booklet is an extra credit test for the overachievers, who will receive a one-of-a-kind poster inspired by the collective answers submitted.

Lowe's Pets Project Cards

This Is Not A Test Poster

The poster was created as a response to an earlier promotion in which participants were asked to draw one word associations between a series of emotions, objects and colors. Although the participants were given a series of questions that began with "anger," the poster expresses joy in the finding that, when left to their own, most people gravitate toward positive thoughts.

Atherton House Holiday Sampler Postcard

It would be impossible to show everything Atherton House Gifts has to offer during its annual Holiday Sampler event. Instead, eclectic type nestled in richly detailed metallic gold flourishes conveys the variety and old-world craftsmanship in the boutique gift shop's massive selection.

Lowe's Shop Class Kiosk

The Lowe's Shop Class Kiosk is designed to be an in-aisle area to promote DIY projects and associated tools and products for sale. The display was designed to include a video screen with looping how-to instructions playing on demand. Each kiosk is built around an actual workbench built by Lowe's staff, giving the kiosk a unique and "real" presentation that consumers can relate to. The bench allows for product showcasing and for displaying branded take-away shopping lists and how-to cards associated with the featured project.

AssuriTEA Sales Kit

To announce the launch of AssuriTEA, Kemin Health's tea ingredient, this sales kit breaks through the humdrum of "smiling faces" in supplemental health marketing and brings focus to the impact of the product itself. Bold graphics emphasize AssuriTEA's stability and adaptability while color underscores it's water base. The folder becomes a dynamic backdrop for the brand's technical data.

Atherton House Visions of Christmas Postcard

To promote their upcoming holiday events, The Atherton House, a quaint and charming gift shop in Adel, IA, came to us to redesign their direct mail campaign. The objective was to better reflect their hand crafted treasures and have more of an impact with their customers—we delivered. Using overprinting techniques, we were able to make 2 inks look like 4, giving the cards a richer feel for a smaller price tag. Embellished with a custom illustration and a higher level of design sensibility, we were still able to actually save The Atherton House money over their past mailings.

Aspen Camp of the Deaf Here to Hear Poster

The Aspen Camp of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing poster for "Here to Hear," a fund-raising music event, was inspired by the universal style of campground signage and the universal sign for love. Simple, bold, graphic.

Measure Website Launch Ad

Atherton House Moving Announcement

One of the biggest challenges of direct mail is simply getting noticed. For the Atherton House's moving announcement we used fluorescent ink and a compelling illustration to grab attention and inspire retention.

Click Rain QR Code Promotion

Click Rain, an online marketing company, came to Measure looking for a way to get the word out about their people and services. The resulting campaign takes it to the streets with interactive window clings designed to appeal to the curiosity of passers-by who can't resist snapping shots of the QR code masked personnel.

Enlivitea Sales Kit

The branding for Kemin Health's all-natural Enlivitea, communicates the product's differentiating feature of blending two tea extracts in a fresh and unique, simple and friendly style.

Ballet Theater of Des Moines Nutcracker Promotion

Created for Des Moines' annual production of The Nutcracker, these illustrated posters and the companion collateral mix the old with the new to a create a formality and excitement that is a unique performance in its own right.

AIA Convention Brochure

The American Institute of Architects had accomplished unfathomable feats in its 150 years… now what? We posed that question visually as the cornerstone of their 2007 Iowa Convention.

Des Moines Art Center Gala 2009

The Des Moines Art Center's Gala is their biggest event of the year, and the grand opening of the John and Mary Pappajohn Sculpture Park in downtown Des Moines made the 2009 event especially exciting. Measure employed sophisticated typography, refreshing color and sculptural illustration to create a design system fitting the grandness of the occasion.

Des Moines Art Center T-Shirts

Charged with creating a t-shirt to turn patrons into living billboards for the Des Moines Art Center, we employed intrigue as a major motivator—exploring a range of approaches from deeply conceptual to artfully cheeky. Who else can claim they have a truly huge Lichtenstein? If you've got it, flaunt it.

Lowe's Weekend Projects PDF Instructions

Harmony Group Capabilities Brochure

Complex stories require careful telling. The Harmony Group was a network of seemingly dissimilar businesses—each mutually benefiting other companies in the group. The resulting string was powerful but confusing to potential partners. Measure untangled the knot in this capabilities brochure, simply and graphically explaining the importance of each business to the collective.

Measure Inc Bug Postcards

The most wonderful quality of print marketing is the opportunity to create tactile experiences. These Measure postcards use a combination of printing techniques like gold and holographic foils ,metallic and fluorescent inks and pearlescent paper to create a stunning introduction that recipients coveted and wanted to keep. The collection was delivered in clear envelopes so the experience began even before they were opened. Limited samples available for purchase in the Measure store.

Kemin Personal Care Sales Kit

When Kemin Industries decided to enter the personal care market, they came to Measure to design an ecological sales kit for distributing samples to major manufacturers. The design solution focuses on sustainability by using minimal printing, 100% recyclable materials, no glues, FSC certified papers and simple graphic solutions that reinforce the all-natural message.

FloraGLO Brochure

FloraGLO Lutein, Kemin Health's eye health supplement ingredient, has an important but complex message for consumers. Measure carefully structured the information into concise, accessible points for consumers. Information is easily and quickly obtained from the convenient format without loss of interest.

GlobalVetLink Sales Kit

GlobalVetLINK, an online management system for animal health documents, needed a professional look for their marketing materials as they transitioned from a successful startup to their next stage of development. Measure developed a visual system for organizing their products within their existing identity system. Clean graphics allow them to speak to a diverse audience with room for future expansion of services and products.

Holm Graphic Stimulus Promotion

Sometimes print customers just don't see that an economic downturn is the perfect time to spread the word, so a little friendly "motivation" never hurts (much). In a market where few were making bold moves, especially in direct mail, the Holm Stimulus Promotion stood out.

2OH Peace & Quiet Candles

The 2OH Peace & Quiet Candle packaging was designed to create a sense of delicacy, intimacy and culture all delivered in high style. The individual scents are interpreted into finely detailed illustrations on the lids that give the candles an even larger sensory appeal.

1300 Walnut Open House Invitation 2008

Scheduled just one week after a pivotal presidential election, this 2008 annual open house celebrated three firms' fourth year in (this) office. This self-mailing poster commemorates the convenient timing by introducing a party that panders to everyone.

FloraGLO Consumer Cards

Accessibility is key to reaching consumers on the go. These eye health "recipe cards" break down the FloraGLO message into quick hits of information that can be displayed in store aisles, connecting the message with the actual products.

Measure Business Card

The value of business cards in modern business can be debated. Our position is that if you invest in one, you need to make it worth while. The Measure business card does 3 very important things. It creates a memorable and tactile user experience—embossed, folded and sealed with a perforated label—the card begs you to open and experience the inside. It speaks volumes about what design does as a profession. The exterior of the card is a clean and visually stunning presentation, i.e. the result of design. The interior of the card represents the process of design through a series of custom icons that symbolize many of the fundamental design processes, methods and principles. Lastly, using labels to seal the card with customizable employee information allows the card shell to have a much longer life. The card is unique, interactive and tactile, and every time it's handed out it results in a discussion. That's powerful design.

Iowa State Bank Collateral

Measure has helped Iowa State Bank to deliver an image based on heritage and a long and well established foundation. A comfort in a time of economic upheaval where garish marketing and gross expansion has left competition in a cloud of distrust.

1300 Walnut Open House Invitation 2007

Measure made a splash with this 24-page invitation to one of Des Moines' most anticipated annual events. Making myth of inside jokes, the invite not only brought record crowds, but gave everyone attending a great conversation starter.

Noble Partners Stationery

Lead by well-known finance expert George Noble, Noble Partners works with clients interested in significant market investments. The resulting identity system inspires trust through the use of rich textural materials, a subdued color palette, and strong sophisticated typography.

Lowe's Cabot Stain Signage

Unisource Fall Fashion Show

Porcelain Ultra Paper Promotion

A Peace of paper like no other. These blank notecards, mood-ring holders and gift tags promoting Porcelain Ultra Paper served as holiday giveaways for Unisource's ultra groovy Peace, Paper, Porcelain campaign.

Prairie Trail Brochure

This brochure for the Prairie Trail planned community paints an inviting portrait of the development through watercolor renderings and a primer on authentic architectural styles from Iowa's traditional neighborhoods.

Prairie Trail Collateral

Marketing materials for the Prairie Trail planned community build a sense of home, community and tradition.

REG Product Sheets

Renewable Energy Group, REG, needed an efficient redesign of their product information sheets to be used within their current identity program. Measure simplified the sheets, creating an easily read architecture for complex technical data and establishing a color coding system for the product lines and corporate information.

2OH T-Shirts

With over 50 unique graphics designed and illustrated for Men, Woman and Children, the custom 2OH T-Shirt line gives everyone visiting their store something to consider. Produced on the highest quality fabrics and in limited runs make these unique T-Shirts stars in the 2OH retail locations.

Snowmass-Aspen Music Festival Poster

Sponsored by Two Old Hippies, the Snowmass-Aspen Music Festival Poster draws on their brand and music festival posters from the 1960s for inspiration. The annual event featured national acts like the Black Eyed Peas, Elvis Costello and The Doobie Brothers.

Welcose Sales Kit

For Welcose Glucose Support Formula, we focused on people. The design system highlights statistics related to Metabolic Syndrome, and how individuals can take control of their lives by adding Welcose to their diet and excercise regimen. The human focus is further supported through the design with approachable photography, color and type.

1300 Walnut Open House Invitation 2005

Location, location, location. That's what this invitation is all about. The first of several 1300 Walnut office building parties brought in our friends and clients with an invite that literally unfolded directionally to visually show where we were and everything around us.