Have you ever hid under the covers late at night with a flashlight and a comic book? Or waged imaginary backyard warfare versus evil forces while dressed in a homemade costume?

If so, take a deep breath and let the lengthy exhale cleanse from your system the anxiety of being a closeted dweeb. Your secret fetish for the four-eyed arts is safe with us.

The truth is, however, you’re not as alone as you may believe. To roughly paraphrase a fictional purveyor of justice “you have the power.”

Still don’t believe? Set your Web browser to the blog  I Have the Power Art and your expectations to “stunned.”

If you were a kid in the 80s, you undoubtedly recognized the blog title as the call-to-action mantra of comic book and cartoon-icon He-Man. Those same kids who were raised on cheesy 80s television are all grown up now and many have become artists — some more so than others.

Gallery 1988 and their Masters of the Universe Tribute Show is a prime example.

The California-based gallery is currently displaying and selling Masters of the Universe-inspired art work; ranging a gamut of mediums and styles. They vary from Warhol-ian-type screen-print portraits and epic oil-on-canvas battle scenes to painted-wood renderings of He-Man getting a haircut. Or his nemesis Skeletor getting a root canal. And when we say all other styles and interpretations in between…we mean it.

What keeps us up at night? The great design of nefarious villains. Good thing we’ve got a flashlight and a good read.

www.ihavethepowerart.blogspot.com

With Fatwood Kindlin’ firestarter sticks, you can start fires in no time.  It’s true, these 8″ hand-split firestarter sticks start quickly with just the touch of a match, no mess, no chemicals, no hassle.  So for that special evening  when you would rather get cooking quicker or just want to get that fire going faster, use our Fatwood Kindlin sticks, she will love you for it.  So forget the fuss and get on with the fun, with Longleaf Lighter Company’s Fatwood Kindlin’.

But seriously, we had a real blast working with this client. bighouse was excited when called on to help rebrand this product from top to bottom.  From logo, packaging, content, web presence and social media, we hit the ground running at the opportunity.  This ecommerce site had challenges written all over it, featuring flash, PHP, javascript you name it. Because Kindlin’ is sold on both a wholesale and retail level, the site had to be developed to cater to both end users and reflect two pricing structures.

One of the most important things that the client required was control of their own site, allowing them to make edits and replace or add items, change pricing, etc.  This was accomplished by using Wordpress as our CMS platform and Cartweaver for the shopping cart features. The site even features ecommerce integration with the clients Quickbooks account, allowing automated order processing and hassle free online sales. Sales can be viewed in real time, batched immediately, providing a hands-free, no hassle ecommerce experience.  And of course to get the product out quicker to their customers, shipping integration with the fullfillment operation helped round out the entire site.

So give the site a visit and tell us what you think.

www.kindlin.com

Our latest logo design is for Tech-Hub Solutions, located in Garden City, Georgia.  Print collateral and website splash page were designed by bighouse graphix. Specializing in Fulfillment, Logistics, Pick and Pack, Shipping, Warehousing, Print Media, and Direct Mail Marketing, they are your one-stop business solution for all things mailed or stored.  If your non-profit or business needs Processing, Sorting, Automating First Class, Presort Standard Letters and Flats, as well as USPS Bound Printed Matter and Parcel Services, give them a call.  Tech-Hub Solutions is a division of Coastal Mailing Services and are MLOCR, MMS, CASS, MASS, FastForward, and NCOA Certified.

www.tech-hubsolutions.com

Considering we never really know what’s  in our food, its good to know that All Natural Hardwood Lump Charcoal is just that, all natural. No chemicals, No additives, just natural charcoal, ala mother nature.

Then again, considering the philosophy and green practices of our longtime friend  Wood Products International, it’s no surprise to us that they chose this route.  Along with this product, they are also promoting the use of their All Natural Fatwood Firestarter stick. Are you seeing a trend here?

For the logo design and to maintain that clean, natural approach, we felt simpler is better.  Bright colors were used to draw the shoppers attention on the shelf, taking  advantage of  kraft paperstock that will serve as the packaging material for the bags. For the package design itself, we presented minimal use of illustration for the how-to steps.

We are also proud of the site design me put together as well. Take a look www.allnaturalcharcoal.com

The Savannah Philharmonic, formerly the Savannah Choral Society, is a community-based organization performing professional-quality live choral and orchestral music. Having recently restructured and expanded to include The Savannah Philharmonic Chorus and The Savannah Philharmonic Orchestra, the group found itself ready for an update to their identity. We were excited to take on the challenge (we actually designed their past logo, a sample can be seen here) The challenge was to develop three logos that worked together and have a common style, while at the same time be able to stand on their own visually.

Drawn to the concept of free-flowing brush strokes to show the creativity and the energy of the choral group, Zach used watercolor and acrylic paint to create a series of brush strokes representing a lyre and a conductor that were then scanned. Some digital editing was done combining several of the paint strokes in Photoshop. Then the image was imported to Adobe Illustrator with text applied. This finished logo was then incorporated into their new website and print collateral.

Although a few of the other samples may not have come to light for this project, a few below are ones we were proud of.

To round out the package we put together a CSS site, allowing staff to update the and edit their own site.  Let it free. Visit their new site and give us your thoughts. www.savphilchorus.org.