But BBYO is as much about Jewish pluralism and having a great time being Jewish, as it is about heritage and traditions. And the members’ personal tastes are as youthful and current as any high school students. Sometimes their events feel more like social activities than religious gatherings.

This set up a very interesting challenge for our rebranding work: Combine the image of a vibrant youth movement with a sacred symbol of religion and heritage.

Our solution interpreted and extended the menorah to add qualities of dynamic movement. The branches of the menorah are rendered to reflect the individual journeys of young BBYO members, emanating from a central core and moving in one direction. The symbolic flame elements extend the movement as they depart, still continuing in the same direction.

Color, directional angle, and graphic shapes infuses all BBYO communications with movement and energy. Instead of handing out strict templates and restrictive guidelines, we provided a range of examples to show how the visual elements can be customized by members. The young members are excited about using the elements to create their own expressions of the brand. This emphasizes one of the most distinctive aspects of the organization — the teens’ ownership of a true youth movement.

The new brand image has been very well received, even picked up by a couple of high-profile design blogs. And, BBYO members love the design — not surprising since their input had a big influence. These kids really impressed us with awareness, vision, commitment, and wisdom beyond their years.

Employee response to the series of posters was overwhelmingly positive. Within a week, the hospital had run out of its campaign-branded merchandise. By the end of the campaign, the grand total came to one million dollars, dwarfing last year’s tally of approximately $300,000—a truly impressive amount that attests to the dedication of the hospital’s employees and the power of engaging and authentic storytelling.

OX (Zinfandel)
Small scale logging business and vineyard owner, Woody Defendor, pursues his childhood dream of creating a wine for the hard working logger. This is the burly lumberjack’s wine, crafted for cigar smoking, barrel-chested, tough men with alcohol tolerances. The dark red OX Zinfandel has a musky aroma, superior jammy undertones, and a profoundly robust taste. The winery is located in the heart of the Appalachian mountains, in Finecastle, Virginia.

Dacca (Chardonnay)
Dacca is a chardonnay from Bangladesh, inspired by the bright colors, local festivals, and bustling activity in the capital city of Dhaka. With assistance from Australian winemakers, a few local Hindu entrepreneurs from Dhaka have successfully produced the country’s first ever wine, primarily for export to neighboring countries India and China. The owners believe that their upstart wine can be successful in the world market, especially with its unbeatable affordability and unique, light taste.

Pillan (Carménère)
A group of Woodstock-era American expats invest in a financially-unstable, old world winery in the Colchagua Valley of Chile. They are in search of a peaceful, communal life, and want to live out their golden years feeling connected to the earth. Pillan, named after an ominous guiding spirit of the local Mapuche people who make up the winery’s work force, has a deep red color and the aroma of spices and berries. The expats consider Pillan to be “nature’s wine,” and are proud that it is handcrafted and completely natural.

Tekno (Riesling)
Two wealthy brothers from Rhine, Germany, with a passion for late night clubbing and bone-rattling techno music, decide to purchase a winery and develop a Riesling. Every step of the production process is performed by stainless steel machinery that exemplifies the perfection and efficiency of German engineering. The winery’s futuristic, Braun-like facility plays techno music thru $2 million Transmission Audio speakers during the wine making process—a unique aural process that the brothers believe is key to creating Tekno’s out-of-this world character.

The Rhinora (Sauvignon Blanc)
Old world, fifth-generation winemaker, Cape Augusta, from the Constantia region of South Africa, discovers that rhino manure has some unique properties that lend a rich and distinctive character to the wine’s undertones. The Rhinora has a crisp, rustic flavor, yet an elegant smoothness. Some say new wine drinkers may not like the poignant aroma and recommend those drinkers to decant the wine first to allow it to breathe.

Liquid Diamond (Champagne)
Brofessional, one of the United States’ most promising and up-and-coming hip-hop artists, has invested millions into the wine-making business. Soon, he will be launching his Prestige Cuvée champagne “Liquid Diamond.” This pricey champagne will be the drink of choice when out partying in the clubs. Liquid Diamond is powerfully sparkling, smooth and bitter-sweet, and effervesces a scent reminiscent of Clive Christian perfume.

Looking through ancient manuscripts and medieval scrolls while Dr. Avdoyan explained the importance of each example, was a fascinating history lesson. We were immediately struck by the smell of ancient paper and leather, and instinctively held our hands behind our backs when an object like the Hymalit—too fragile and important for any layperson to handle—was brought out. We huddled over Claire as she slowly unrolled yards upon yards of magical wood block prints depicting biblical scenes. Dan broke the silence with a "Holy— did you retouch those colors recently!?" They had not. The colors had retained their startling brilliance, despite the passing of many centuries.

What is even more incredible about the Armenian written language is that it may be one of the only alphabets developed by one man—Mesrop Mashtots—a Christian monk looking to simplify the translation of the Gospel for Armenians, who were using an ineffective combination of Greek, Persian, and Syriac scripts. This new alphabet strengthened the national identity of the Armenian people, preserving their culture and preventing them from being absorbed by neighboring nations. As Dr. Avdoyan, curator of the accompanying exhibition, writes: "the Armenian Church and the Armenian language have been crucial for the retention of a separate Armenian identity up to the present day."

The book and exhibit are part of a celebration of the 500th anniversary of the advent of the Armenian book, which will take place in April 2012.

 
In designing the publication, we decided that a lot of the information was much more powerful if readers could actually see what’s mentioned in the text. What does a serving of mayonnaise look like? What about a half ounce of pumpkin seeds?  Because we knew that stock photography would not give us the necessary variety, specificity, and consistency, we took all of the images in-house. That involved making multiple trips to Whole Foods, turning the studio kitchen into a food styling and preparation lab, and shooting the nearly 80 unique images that make the book a useful, informational, and appealing guide to healthy eating for the senior set. 

The Aspen Institute spent an entire year gathering an unprecedented amount of data on more than 1,000 community colleges across the nation, looking at results in the areas of student learning, degree completion and transfer, equity, and employment/earnings after college. The culmination of this process came on Monday, December 12th, at a dinner at the National Press Club, at which the winner, Valencia College in Orlando, Florida, was announced. The event was attended by many prominent figures, including Second Lady Dr. Jill Biden and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.
 
L&A developed and designed a commemorative publication that was distributed at the event. In developing the piece for the dinner event, we envisioned a larger use by the Institute—as an informational brochure about the Prize and as a case for support in attracting other potential funders. We helped to craft the introductory copy with those parameters in mind and created a design that conveys the prestige and authority of the award. With big facts and statements, and the profiles of the schools themselves, the publication has a compelling narrative flow, and a sophisticated, but immediate feel. According to the Aspen Institute, this prize marks the beginning of a process of gathering and sharing information broadly to replicate excellent practice in the community college arena.

We hire plenty of creative specialists for our design work, but nothing has ever put us fully in our client’s shoes like working with an architect and interior designer on our new office space. The new environment is obviously very important to our future, and the opportunities carry with them our hopes, our values, and our culture. The expectations are high, the budget is fixed, and the need for true expertise and exceptional talent is very deeply felt.

So how did I go about finding the designer for this very important project? I started with a lot of office architecture publications and portfolios. Most of the distinctive work was very sleek and modern. It seemed mostly to be about impressing people with stark elegance and an atmosphere of serious work. But this wasn’t my goal at all. Instead. I want a space that inspires through comfort, personality, and effortless collaboration.

Despite the traditional exterior, I knew that I didn’t want anything too conventional on the inside. In my mind, this meant searching beyond architects and interior designers that specialize in offices. But then where to look? I’ve always liked the way that certain bars and restaurants feel both exciting and comfortable, intimate yet social. For me, the best are those that have authentic character, and don’t try too hard to be perfect or trendy. At the same time, those spaces do have to incorporate vital activities and flows. The atmospheric and functional design of these environments determines their success as businesses.

Photo credit: Zagat Buzz

With this in mind, I began looking into who was designing my favorite restaurant and bar spaces, and one particular architect/designer was behind more than a few. Peter Hapstak was a founding partner of CORE, a prominent DC architecture firm. He is the creative force behind Brassarie Beck, Cava, Mie-N-Yu and Pearl Dive. It turned out that Peter had left CORE to find fresh creative focus with a new partner, Olvia Demetriou. She has created office space for other design firms, along with such notable restaurants as Zaytinya, Poste, and Lost Society. With this particular combined talent and expertise, I knew that I had to find a way to be able to work with Hapstak Demetriou.

Photo credit: Daniel Lobo

At this point, we’re diving into the design development of the space, and we’ll post updates on what is proving to be a very enlightening process. For now, I’ll say our search emphasized to me that there are two ways to hire designers:

(1) Hire for the task ("designing a fundraising brochure" or "designing an office"), or

(2) Hire for a goal ("create something that will motivate people to give to this cause" or "create an inspiring environment that promotes comfort and collaboration").

We have always worked toward the latter with our clients, and the need to do that is tremendously reinforced by what we’re now experiencing as a design client ourselves.

When client and designer remove the limits of preconception, the true potential of a project can come to life.

- John

Richard, J. Hodes, M.D., director of NIA summed it up. "Go4Life is based on studies demonstrating the benefits of exercise and physical activity for older people, including those with chronic health conditions. You are never too old to increase your level of physical activity and exercise.” Public-private partnerships are central to the campaign. At launch time over 50 organizations have agreed to work with the Go4Life team to bring the campaign into communities across the U.S. The American Medical Association, Easter Seals, YMCA, the National Recreation and Park Association, and the International Council on Active Aging are just a few of the many partners.

In her remarks, U.S. Surgeon General Regina Benjamin, M.D., M.B.A. said, "If we want to become a healthy and fit nation, we need to increase the number of Americans who are healthy at every stage of life. Go4Life provides older adults with the tools and resources to get moving and keep moving."

This launch marked the culmination of our work on everything related to the campaign—the name and trademark, a comprehensive interactive and motivational website, tip sheets, posters, exercise booklets and other promotional materials. It was exciting to see it all come together. And, in this very serious setting, it was hilarious to see the entire audience doing leg lifts, chair squats and overhead arm presses! 

—Monica

I decided to take a quick drive around town to see and photograph the digital ads "in the wild." We had already monitored our campaign roll out in newspapers and in the museum’s long spans of window graphics. But experiencing it in the luminous and changing digital displays was (pardon the pun) electrifying. You can find out more about this campaign in our portfolio. To read more about the Koshland Science Museum, please visit their website.

—Monica