Barack Obama visited Savannah this spring, spreading the word about good graphic design and our nation’s need for improved font choices, better website interfaces and quality printing. He stopped by Bighouse Graphix to shake hands with our very own Steve Mousourakis, a hard-working local small business owner who is creating positive change in our local economy.

Wait, what?

Yeah, most of that didn’t actually happen. But we are proud to say that the printed booklet we designed for the Savannah Technical College arrived last week and it features Obama’s press conference and visit to the school. The President chose to stop at Savannah Tech because of the excellent training programs offered there, particularly the YouthBuild program, which puts at-risk students through a combined GED/construction program. Here at Bighouse Graphix we’ve been working on print projects for Savannah Tech for some time and now seeing them featured on national news like this, well, it makes us proud.

So we showcased the historic visit with rich color photos in an 80lb classic laid navy coil-bound cover with custom 60lb ivory velum dividers and bronze foil-stamping featuring the Presidential seal.

The other day, when the samples came in, we photographed the big man right here in the studio… ok, fine, just the printed booklet.

When competing for attention on the shelves of big box stores, timid is not an option. If the consumer doesn’t grab your product within the first 3 seconds, they probably never will. Package design is often your one and only interaction that you have with potential clients.

Cooper Hunting Industries has contracted bighouse graphix to help brand their flagship product, The Chameleon Blind. The Chameleon blind is a portable, hunting blind that can be setup in less than 5 minutes, allowing a hunter to setup anywhere and in no time.

By incorporating the use of a bright and contrasting color palette along with bold fonts, this box design screams for attention. Custom illustrations provide for easy, at-a-glance setup instructions. Package design, sales slicks and a trade show exhibit are just a few of the branded pieces that bighouse graphix was responsible for.

Have a new product you are launching or one that just isnt quite getting the attention it deserves?  Give us a jingle.

When Ken Stoner of  Effingham County Chamber of Commerce, contacted us about developing a logo for this chamber-sponsored event, we were honored.  We worked out several idea sketches and ended up going with a light bulb illustration, with a red-and-white on black color scheme. The DIN 1451 font family was applied. It is a realist sans-serif typeface that is used as a standard typeface for traffic, administration and business applications making it a perfect fit for the summit logo. On the vertical version, Futura was also used. The logo will be used on print products and advertising for the event.

The Summit is April 4, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., at the Savannah Tech Effingham Campus. Reservations are limited. Reservations are free for Effingham Chamber members. (Non-members $49). Includes admission to keynote address, class sessions, course materials, trade show and business roundtable discussion groups. Call 912-754-3301. See you there!

Bighouse is proud to have helped launch yet another restaurant with our good friends at VSAG. All branding to include logo development, signage, menu boards, and take out menus was done by bighouse.

Located at Cross Creek Mall in Fayetteville, North Carolina, Kobi’s Fast Wraps  is a fresh food fast concept, specializing in sandwich wraps and grilled paninis. Unlike the usual food court offerings of deep fried and the other not-so-good-for-you selections, Kobi’s prides itself in using only the freshest ingredients and roasts their sandwich meats daily.

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.

Phantasia’s Jewelry is “The Original $5 Jewelry Company.” This Richmond Hill based company offers affordable, high quality products and proven fundraising strategies. The project started with the redesign of an existing Web site with the addition of an online store featuring over 800 products.

Phantasia’s is Bighouse’s first e-commerce site. The site uses a mix of html, Flash and PHP in construction. Additionally, the site acts as a tool for fundraising. We also designed business cards, roll-up banners and other print material for their on-site fundraising promotions. We worked to give Phantasia’s the tools for a strong visual presence at their numerous fundraising events and trade shows.

Phantasia’s goal is to provide the best fundraising products available, at wholesale prices, so groups can make the highest profits for their efforts. Our goal is to make sure they look good doing it.

Visit www.phantasiasjewelry.com

One thing Rincon, Georgia lacks is dining options.  Glad to see new folks come to town, especially when they bring good food.  We were excited to help Bobbys Hometown with some promotional invite cards. Their goal is simple, good food so a clean design approach was taken using their architectural rendering as the foundation. Printing for postcards and invite envelopes was done using a Cougar natural cardstock with black ink.  Meanwhile, I am dying to try the Brandy Fried Pork Chops.

Visit their site at www.bobbyshometown.com

That recognizable visual style of the season makes these holiday albums a nice change of pace for us. Bighouse collaborated with Rich Mays at Sonare Recordings on these albums. We worked to keep the feeling of the holidays represented in the design as well as incorporating elements unique to the venue of each concert.

“Sounds of the Season” was created for the Savannah Country Day School choruses in Savannah, GA. The design is meant to be imaginative and magical.

Decatur Presbyterian Church, in Decatur, GA, titled their holiday concert “The Marvel of This Night. We wanted to incorporate the beautiful stained glass window adorning the church into the design and then decided to take an abstract approach to the lights of the season for the background art.

Nele Ewaldsen is the pianist for the Lutheran Church of the Ascension in Savannah, GA. She heads the church’s Christmas concert, Jubilation. This project was on a tight deadline. The church window was used for the design — both as it appears and edited digitally and used as the back ground pattern.

St. Philip’s church in Charleston was in need of packaging for Christmas performance, Song’s of the Angels. St. Philip’s has a number of sculpted angels in the church that were perfect for album art. We worked with the client to get the highest quality photos of the church interior for the design and paired them up with a rich, warm red evocative of the season. Pour the eggnog and press play.

Hidden River is a property development near Hayesville, located in the Southwest corner of North Carolina. The town of Hayesville is located on a knoll overlooking the Hiawassee River and has a view of the Tusquittee Mountains. Lying in the southern Appalachian Mountains, Clay County offers breathtaking scenery.

The developer, Harrison Properties, was in need of an small, informational booklet and powerpoint presentation showcasing the natural beauty of this unspoiled paradise.

The primary push of these pieces was to promote a first showing opportunity for potential buyer, giving them a sneak peak at the 10 home sites on the Hiwassee near the 7,000-acre Lake Chatuge. With views like this, who wants to go back to the city?