Marketing and Design Blog

AIGA St. Louis Honors the Spark in 11 Atomicdust Web, Design and Identity Projects

We’re incredibly proud that the AIGA St. Louis recently selected 11 Atomicdust projects to be part of this year’s Design Show. Seven out of the 10 websites honored at the show were created right here at Atomicdust.

Check out the complete list of awards Atomicdust won at this year's AIGA Design Show.

Atomicdust Cooks Up a New Website and Packaging for Rockwood Charcoal

It’s no secret that Atomicdust is bit barbecue-crazed. So when Rockwood Charcoal asked us to add some fresh flavor to their branding, we were all fired up.

Read about our packaging and website design work for Rockwood Charcoal.

It Takes Content to Lead as a Professional Services Firm

It can be hard to tell the difference between one professional services firm and the next, especially online. If you’re looking for an expert team of accountants or IT consultants, an online search is probably the first place that you'd start. After a few searches though, all of the websites would start to look the same – everyone is “trusted,” “dedicated,” and “award-winning.” And that’s because companies don’t take advantage of owning their website and making it truly theirs.

Read more from 'It Takes Content to Lead as a Professional Services Firm.

Come See the MoPro Bicycle Races in Midtown

Tonight is the first race of the MoPro bicycle races and they’re in Atomicdust’s backyard.  Come down to Midtown Alley at 3:15 and stake a claim on the street, or with our friends at Urban Chestnut to watch the races. 

Unlike long-stage races like the Tour de France which only give you a few moments to see the action, the MoPro is a series of criteriums. A criterium is a short-course bike race, usually held on closed-off streets in the center of a city. Winning the race is an exciting mix of sprints, strategy and other tactics – and you can see it all unfold throughout the race.

The following are start times for all the races:

3:15 pm Juniors 20 minutes + 5 Laps 

3:50 pm USAC Cat 5 25 minutes + 5 Laps

4:30 pm Master’s 40+/50+ (Cat 1-4) 40 minutes + 5 Laps

5:25 pm Women Cat 3/4 30 minutes +5 Laps

6:10 pm USAC Cat 4/5 35 minutes + 5 Laps

7:00 pm USAC Cat 2/3 50 minutes + 5 Laps 

8:10 pm Women Pro/1/2 50 minutes + 5 Laps

9:20 pm Men Pro/1/2 60 minutes + 5 Laps

As a special surprise, I am borrowing a Ducati motorcycle from MotoEuropa to sweep the course in front of the riders, making sure no cars or pedestrians are in the way.

I’ll most likely win as the other racers will be pedaling. 

Come on down and watch the fun. 

‘Honor the Spark’ at the AIGA St. Louis Design Show

A few months ago, AIGA St. Louis asked local marketing, advertising and design professinals to show them what sparks their work and their creativity. The judges - Lotta Nieminen, Aaron Becker and Allan Peters - have waded through and reviewed submissions to uncover the passion projects and pieces from some of the most creative and innovative minds in St. Louis. And now, it's time to unviel that work with a celebration.

Tomorrow night at COCA, celebrate with peers, meet with the judges and 'honor the spark' at the AIGA St. Louis Design Show 18.

The AIGA St. Louis Design Show is an event that we look forward to every year, and we can't wait to mingle with industry friends and view all of the exhibited work produced from this stellar creative community. Learn more about the event and RSVP on Facebook. 

Atomicdust Supports Artcrank through Sponsorship and Design

For five years now, Artcrank, a 'poster show for bike people,' has pedaled its way to St. Louis. Artists and bike-lovers alike will descend on Atomic Cowboy in The Grove on May 10-11 to enjoy bicycle- and St. Louis-themed posters printed on traditional letterpress, and of course, talk fixies.

Poster design, bikes and beer are right up our alley – so Atomicdust is happy to sponsor this year's event, as well as design the show’s promotional poster. The concept behind our poster design for Artcrank was to show how St. Louis can seem both divided and united at the same time. We quickly sketched concepts using one of our favorite tools, the Paper App on iPad.

Artcrank began as a one-time event in Minneapolis and now spans from London to LA – celebrating cycling at every stop. Local artists design and create handmade, bicycle-related prints that are signed, numbered and available for purchase for $40. In addition to celebrating bike culture, Artcrank will be supporting one of our favorite nonprofits, BWorks.

Admission is free, so join us at Atomic Cowboy this weekend. The fun starts Friday night at 5pm. If you head over on Saturday, be ready for street closures on Manchester, Chouteau and S. Newstead for the Tour de Grove professional bike race. To learn more about Artcrank, visit their website or Facebook Event Page

Atomicdust Wins Two Healthcare Advertising Awards

Atomicdust recently was honored with two awards at the Thirtieth Annual Healthcare Advertising Awards, sponsored by Healthcare Marketing Report. The Healthcare Advertising Awards is the oldest, largest and most widely respected healthcare advertising awards competition, honoring creativity, quality, message effectiveness, consumer appeal, graphic design and overall impact.

This year, there were nearly 4,000 entries, making the competition the largest in the industry. Atomicdust won silver in the New Media/Social Media category for our Elsevier ClinicalKey 'Key Innovators' Campaign, and our work for St. Louis Children’s Hospital was awarded bronze in the Annual Report category.

We’re proud of our award-winning work, and honored to be included alongside some of the best healthcare marketing agencies in the country. 

Icon Design Rules of the Road

Here at Atomicdust, we're doing more and more icon work: icons for apps, touch-icons for mobile websites and social media profiles for brands all require varying degrees of iconography. Just like any design specialty, icon design has rules and best practices, and following them can lead to a better designed, stronger brand. Read more about the Icon Design Rules of the Road.

May Wallpapers from the Creatives at Atomicdust

The month of May is usually characterized by flowers, the beginning of summer BBQs, warmer weather and a fresh batch of wallpapers from the creatives at Atomicdust. Go ahead and download one (or all) of this month's wallpapers for your desktop, phone and tablet, they're sure to brighten up your day! 

Atomicdust Designs a Home on the Web for Hip + Gable

When our friends at Hip & Gable Interiors needed a new website, we were happy to lend a hand. As interior designers, they had already built their sense of design style—we wanted to build a website to match.

To start, the Hip & Gable site uses simple, elegant design mixed with surprises of color to show off the company’s design capabilities. The site is responsive and stays true to Hip & Gable’s clean and sophisticated design style as it adjusts to any screen. Read more about our website design work for Hip and Gable.