Madison Ave. Collective » 4:59 Workshops

Matchbook is 100!

Matt Riopelle — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 01:55:03 +0000

No matter how big they grow, they’ll always be your baby. That’s how we feel about Matchbook. Last week, our little project created to give freelancers and independent contractors in the Willamette Valley a place to be easily found by local businesses reached 100 (members, that is)! They grow up so fast.

Talented graphic designer, Tim Monson, got us there last week and we couldn’t be happier. As a surprise for being numero cien, Tim will be receiving a copy of Sell With Your Ears by our own Bill Zipp. Comes in real handy growing a small business. (And if you haven’t registered for Bill’s free marketing workshop on March 17th, that will come in real handy too.)

So if you are a business that needs the creatives, geeks, and guides that Matchbook contains, all it takes is click, click, and a boom for access to all three figures of them. That’s a load of talent. That’s our big, grownup Matchbook.

da Vinci Film Festival window display

Rebecca Badger — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 03:20:55 +0000

For the second year in a row, the Collective was asked to help out with a window display to help promote the upcoming da Vinci Film Festival.

We hosted a 4:59 workshop with a few of our favorite 4:59ers and decided to base this year’s display on the Festival poster, designed by a student group through OSU’s 208 Design studio. The original design used plexiglass, hand cut letters and wire. Our translation also uses plexiglass and wire, and then cut vinyl (thanks to our friends at NW Graphic Imaging). Add in a couple of vintage theater seats, courtesy of Truen, and some popcorn tubs from the Darkside Cinema … and, ta-da! Window display complete. Cool thing is that most of the signs can be used again in the future. The Festival staff love that.

If you’re in or around Corvallis, you can check it out in person at Footwise on 3rd and Madison.

A few photos from this year’s workshop and installation.

And if you’re curious, here’s what we did last year.

Better Brochures for Boys (& Girls)

Jeff Jimerson — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 05:54:44 +0000

Yesterday we presented our design recommendations — the result of fifty-plus hours of work — to folks at the Boys & Girls Club of Corvallis. Gotta admit, I was a bit nervous going into the meeting with their staff and board. It was the first time for any of them to see what we had created. Truen Pence joined me for moral support (it was, after all, his fault we got into this).

Rewind three weeks to Nov. 6, when we kicked off a two-part 4:59 workshop to benefit the Boys and Girls Club. Seven of Corvallis’ most creative, kid-lovin’ designers showed up to volunteer that Friday night. With pizza in hand we spent the next couple hours attempting to sort out the mess on the table in front of us. The pile of brochures were intended to attract new kids to participate in the Club’s many programs and services like academics, sports, art, leadership programs… lots of good stuff.

Trouble was, other than size (8.5×11) and folding pattern (tri-fold) there was nothing consistent about them. Different fonts, different colors, all designed by different staff or volunteers over the years. And perhaps worse still, most weren’t very functional. It was impossible to know which programs applied to Johnny (age 7) versus Jenny (age 17) by the brochure covers.

What we ended up with, three weeks later, was a flexible new brochure system that will accommodate each of their diverse program types. The Club will continue to design and print the brochures in-house, but now they’ve got a shiny new InDesign template (complete with a few dozen paragraph styles) to keep them on track. Also, we created a toolbox of other design elements including program icons, tagline artwork and a new color palette.

Oh, and the Boys & Girls Club board and staff? Smiles all around.