No matter who you are or who you're selling to, emotion can—and should—happen in design. Hand crafted design, uniquely tailored to your message, always encourages that emotion. Especially in a physical space, where customers can see the work of a human hand.

Vinyl can't provide that kind of human connection.

SoulShine's owner knew that hand crafted design was critical to his space. He needed a lively design to communicate the spirit of the music that inspired his new restaurant.

After completing the primary wall-to-ceiling design, a secondary wall design uses silver metallic ink to reflect natural light from the restaurant's west-facing windows. See the quick video below.

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Can organic design harmonize with a "clean" modern aesthetic? Yes. Consider the work for Resource Ammirati, where Menges Design hand applied a series of organic designs to contrast and compliment Resource's clean, modern space.

Pinchflat is a lovely annual event, where Ohio artists create limited edition posters around a bicycling theme. The art shown here reflects four years of involvement, in chronological order. Menges Design was a sponsor in 2017, contributing the Let's Ride panel as a live drawing during the show. 

2012: poster, Ride, screen printed by The Half & Half

2015: poster, Bike Love, letterpress by Igloo Letterpress

2016: promotional materials, Art Bike Music

2017: promotional, Let's Ride, live ink on a birch panel

We have Ride and Bike Love posters for sale. Available soon in the shop.

For more information on Pinchflat: http://pinchflatohio.com

Space design can be more than decoration, more than simple (and often boring) wayfinding. Resource Ammirati chose handcrafted illustration and lettering to make wayfinding fun and meaningful in their new space.

In our time-starved culture, there's a literal stopping power that results from hand-applied design.

A story of alphabets, in collaboration with Joel Showalter of Ologie. The design displays English, phonetic, and ASL alphabets, all drawn by hand. Includes a custom-built functional braille alphabet.

The video is a compilation of the design process, start to finish, in the Procreate app. Video output: Procreate. 

Photos by Jeremy Slagle.

Tools and materials: iPad Pro, Apple Pencil, Sherwin Williams' Repose Gray paint, Molotow acrylic markers (gold metallic and white). 

VCS specializes in oncology, serving families with cancer-stricken pets. Accordingly, the tone of VCS' identity needed to balance hope and honesty.

As the project progressed, intricate details were key to defining the professional yet approachable tone that was appropriate for the practice.

The identity's design and copywriting set a firm foundation for the VCS brand. The mark blends bold, classic type with simple animal characters that address the importance of relationship. And details matter—the 'vcs' letters built into the animal illustration is a subtle detail created especially for VCS. 

Strategy, Account: Enginepoint
Copywriting: Em Dash Creative
Development: Process Interactive

Early work, created when sites had Flash sniffers (yes, that old). And while the site is shown for sentimental laughs, the mark and illustration remain relevant and strong, like all good identity design. 

My wildly talented friend, Jeremy, once asked, "What if we held a pinewood derby...for adults?" That brilliant idea became one of the most popular annual events in CSCA's history, and the unfolded poster shown here was our collaboration for the inagural event. 

The CSCA Pinewood Derby is a showcase of creativity unleashed, as folks create pinewood cars of every imaginable type. See for yourself—Google "csca pinewood derby cars." You won't be disappointed.

Each year the Derby's theme changes, but the agenda is the same: create a pinewood car, race it, and drink beer. And have fun, which, in three letters, is the unofficial creative brief for the promotional materials that are created. 

This is a sample of the massive amount of work created across various years.

As a startup competing in a serious pharmaceutical marketing space, Amplifier needed a warmer human voice. The final mark's stout capital A and central speaker-turned-eyeball gave Amplifier an identity that could converse with both consumers and corporations. 

Animation shown below was created by our friends at Zwelly.

The best decision Andrew Lundberg ever made was to trade his golden handcuffs for a silver Airstream.

For years, Lundberg had a well-paying job as a design director for a Columbus advertising agency and a comfortable townhouse in German Village. Life looked good from the outside.

Inside Lundberg, though, was the soul of an artist yearning to escape the corporate world. The notion that he wasn’t producing anything tangible haunted him. "I would shut my monitor off at the end of the day and think, 'I didn’t bring anything to life,’” he said. “I didn’t want my life to be on a memory stick. I wanted to bring something out that you could touch and feel.”

— Ken Gordon, Columbus Dispatch

Prior to our identity work for Lundberg Industrial Arts, Andrew Lundberg had established equity around a two headed horse illustration. It was strong conceptually and visually, and a landmark outside his shop in Franklinton. We were thrilled to know the two headed horse concept would carry forward, and we were challenged to design it as a modern mark. 

Designing original marks of common animals is a daunting task. They've been well designed already—over and over. That lesson was learned years ago, while designing a conceptually driven eagle icon for IRMS.

Accordingly, we explored lots of directions (a few shown here), from eclectic to primitive (reminiscent of cave drawings). Farther along, we spent significant time thinking about leg and hoof design, discussing how each communicated the Lundberg story (good and bad). Details mattered, too: bridled? saddled? spurs? 

The more we added, the more we knew it was wrong, and Janet's creative eye was critical in defining what mattered most:

"Some of these look regal, like they're prancing. That's not Andrew," she said. Janet steered us to the heart of Andrew's aesthetic vision: Refined yet untamed, a balance of strength and beauty. 

The Tungsten type family was a natural choice for the identity's logotype: the mirrored, lower case "d" and "b" in Lundberg reflect the mirrored image of the horses, allowing the type to stand alone. A custom height design for the L of Lundberg also directs the viewer to the mirrored "d" and "b" in Lundberg.

And one more thing: the "silly small" size test. All marks by Menges Design must pass it. Which means the mark and logotype's complete signature must remain legible at the smallest possible sizes. Like avatars for Instagram and Twitter avatars. It's more than a scale test. It's effective, flexible, hard working design. 

Can your logo pass that test? If not, we can help. Contact us... 

Andrew's site: Lundberg Industrial Arts.

Hand lettering is a Menges Design specialty. Used in identity design and illustration, it's a powerful differentiator, giving you a truly authentic voice.

A sampling of favorites. Part of your identity system, your logo should be simple, memorable, timeless, and versatile. And, of course, appropriate. Or, as DJ Stout says, "It should look good on a baseball hat." 

A sampling of favorites. Good illustrations—and characters—tell a story. Not all of the story, but just enough to draw you in... 

Photography is another form of design, trading pen for Pentax. Below is a mix of personal and professional images, from Torrey Pines to Tel Aviv.  Real life in real time.