Wagner Design Associates Blog

Wagner Design Associates has worked with our client, Ocean Organics, for over twenty years. From designing their logos to creating their trade show booth graphics, we enjoy partnering together for business success.

From the Ocean Organics website, here is a little about their company:

We have been processing seaweed and formulating fertilizers for over 30 years. Collectively, the five key members of our staff have been involved in the seaweed industry for more that 130 years. We selectively extract high levels of beneficial compounds from seaplants using techniques that are both sophisticated and sustainable. Our innovative processing technologies yield products richer than others yet with fewer solids and lower viscosity. This means our extracts can be used with a broader range of materials with better blending, mixing and stability characteristics. Our seaweed-based fertilizers, biostimulants and soil conditioners lead the industry in quality, effectiveness, cost efficiency and environmental sustainability.

Manufacturing for Ocean Organics is based in Waldoboro, ME while the administration for the company is based in Ann Arbor. The company set themselves apart by continuously working to upgrade their product, often finding new uses for their fertilizers by tweaking the formulas. Once mainly a supplier for the golf course industry, Ocean Organics has successfully expanded into agriculture, professional and residential landscape, gardening, and sports turf. Because their innovative products are based on an organic formula, some are OMRI listed for organic gardening.

Wagner Design Associates has worked on three Ocean Organics’ websites and strive to keep them current as they head in various marketing directions. Most recently Wagner has created new product labels, reorganized their email system, and created a new trade show booth. Creating strong marketing communications for clients like Ocean Organics makes working in Ann Arbor advertising and graphic design an exciting and gratifying experience.

Welcome back to the third in a series of seven blog posts that highlight examples of work from our Ann Arbor graphic and web design portfolio, and identify and discuss each of the seven elements of design: color, line, shape, direction, size, texture, and value.

Size is a somewhat sensitive subject in the design community. A common misconception by clients is that in advertising, biggest is best. It’s true that a big font or a big mark will attract attention. But attention, when it comes to advertising should be positive. The idea is to attract, not repel.

If a very angular font is used, for example, making it huge will make people feel like they are being shouted at. If that’s not the effect you were looking for, reconsider the size. In the same vein, a humungous logo is not necessarily the best way to make your company known. Sometimes a big mark is so intrusive that the message itself gets lost. Bigger is not always better. Balance is essential for attracting onlookers and relaying important information.

Take a look at the Highscope International Conference Mailer Cover & Fold Out Poster. Both were created with current branding in mind. The goal was to ensure a consistent look that unified them with Highscope’s previous marketing pieces. We used some very large elements but balanced them with smaller images and blocks of copy so that we could highlight the content of the mailer. Notice that although the logo has been downplayed, the poster is still a very recognizable part of the Highscope marketing family.

Wagner Design Associates has been in the graphic design business for over twenty years. Our reputation for excellent customer service and high-quality creative work has attracted clients from virtually every industry. In fact, our clients’ recommendations are our greatest endorsement. Over the years we’ve done work for economic development organizations like Ann Arbor SPARK and Lenawee Economic Development Corporation (LEDC). We’ve created websites for Bioscience companies like Michbio and the University of Michigan Life Science Institute. We work with consulting companies like Dataspace and we also have clients in the Arts, including The Faber Piano Institute and the Cecchetti Council of America. Our client base is pretty diverse and we rather like it that way.

But we also enjoy doing a pro bono work for selected local organizations. We feel strongly that part of being a community is giving back. So, each partner here at Wagner has chosen to do design work for a non-profit organization that is close to her heart. Laura works with Leslie Science Center to improve nature education. Kathy helps fight breast cancer with the 60 Mile Men.  And Jill is committed to fighting domestic violence and sexual assault through her work with Safehouse Center. This year, we encouraged local area artists to donate images of their work to be included in a calendar that, when purchased, will help offset the drastic funding cuts at Safehouse.

Our graphic design firm in Ann Arbor was pleased to contribute to the design and production of that calendar and that great cause. Please contact us if you would be willing to donate $15 for one calendar or $40 for three. Your generosity would make a difference in the lives of thousands of women and children in Washtenaw county.

How designers use color is fundamental to creating appealing and effective materials. I was just reading an article in Step Inside Design that listed many examples of how the color white can be used to evoke seemingly endless varieties of feelings. It may, in fact, be more versatile than many other colors. Here is a partial list of how white is used in famous symbols:

• A blank canvas (hope)
• A white whale (obsession, terror)
• A white feather (cowardice)
• A wedding dress (purity, new beginnings)
• A white dove (peace)

Also, if you take a look at how common house paint is named, you can see the variety of emotions involved. Here a few examples from Benjamin Moore:

• Cloud Cover
• Old Prairie
• Halo
• Minced Onion
• Ice Formations
• Man on the Moon

Here at Wagner Design, a graphic design firm in Ann Arbor, we believe that the absence of color can be just as powerful, if not more, than a riot of shades and hues. You can see that using white (and the open door) on Ann Arbor SPARK’s annual report evokes feelings of new opportunity and at the same time, a sense of disclosure, which makes sense for an organization that is committed to open source information.

Last week I posted about some of the economic growth happening here in Ann Arbor.  So, now that I’ve got you thinking positively, I thought I’d keep up the momentum.  Wagner Design Associates has recently designed identity materials for MLSIC.  What is MLSIC, you ask?  Well, according to the Ann Arbor Spark website, it’s a recipe for business success:

“Start with a group of entrepreneurs and economic development agencies determined to make Michigan a hub for the life sciences. Add a 57,000+ square foot life science incubator complete with state-of-the-art labs, well-appointed offices and conference rooms, a loading dock, ample parking, and every possible business amenity. Recruit tenants that include not only start-ups but business accelerator organizations and life science leaders. Provide plenty of opportunities for networking, mentoring and expertise sharing. The result is the Michigan Life Science and Innovation Center (MLSIC) – southeastern Michigan’s newest home for innovation-based business.”

Wagner is proud to play a small role in this effort to keep businesses growing and thriving. As a graphic design company in Ann Arbor, we enjoy being a part of this community. Part of the fun of this particular project was having our resident photographer, Kristin, take photos of the facility.  We’re lucky to have a staff photographer with her caliber of talent.

For design work, contact:
Kathy Roeser-Nordling
Wagner Design Associates LLC
Office: 734.662.9500
Fax: 734.662.6590
Email: kathy@wagdesign.com

For more info on MLSIC, contact:
Frederick Earl
Facility Manager
Office: 734-233-3099 or 734-233-3050
Email: Fred@AnnArborUSA.org

Wagner Design Associates, a graphic design firm in Ann Arbor, is pleased to announce the completion of the Spring 2009 edition of BioMatters, a MichBio publication showcasing Michigan’s Biosciences industry. This is the second volume of the biannual magazine. Wagner has designed both editions and is preparing for work on the Fall 2009 magazine as well. We are happy to be a part of a project that offers outstanding resources, like the Directory and Resource Guide, and which also highlights scientific and economic growth in Michigan. That’s right, I said growth.

As the magazine points out, Michigan is home to more than 540 biosciences enterprises from pharmaceutical and medical device companies to diagnostics, bio-agriculture and nutriceuticals. Michigan is gaining ground with technology-based businesses because of collaborations between local universities, industry, research organizations, government agencies, and other community resources like incubator programs. MichBio’s role is to bring those kinds of collaborations together in order to make bioscience businesses successful. In their words, “We know the players, the market, and what it takes to succeed.  Our members gain access to a valuable network of people representing all facets of the biosciences community.  We are their matchmaker, their guru and their standard bearer.”

For design work, contact:
Kathy Roeser-Nordling
Wagner Design Associates LLC
T: 734.662.9500
F: 734.662.6590
E: kathy@wagdesign.com

For more information on Michbio, contact:
Jayne Berkaw
MichBio
T: 734.527.9147
F: 734.623.8289
E: jayne@michbio.org