Create Matter Blog

Articles by Mike Spakowski

Atomicdust Faces Off Against Hunger

We don’t typically work late into the night. It’s not the most productive use of time. The mind tends to wander. And sometimes silliness occurs.

One late night, while waiting for a designer (Katie) to hurry up and finish working on something, we found ourselves huddled around her desk, right next to the photocopier.

Jesse scanned his face, rolled it as the light passed, creating this weirdly creepy, artsy print, which (of course) we instantly had to post on Facebook.

So then we all took turns, laughing and being creeped out by the results, and sharing (and grossing people out) on Facebook.

We wanted to share the experience, but how do you lure people into your office to scan their faces on a copier? Donate to a charity each time they do!

 

Atomicdust presents ‘Face Off Against Hunger’.

For every person that comes by our office, scans their face on the copier, and lets us post it on Facebook, we’ll donate $5 to St. Louis Food Outreach. Up to $5,000.

And in a couple months, we’ll buy some beer and host a ‘gallery show’ of all the faces we scanned in our office.

So stop by, have fun and help a great St. Louis charity!

And here's a link to the photos on Facebook.

January Marketing and Design Events around St. Louis

So it’s the second week of 2012, and you’re back into the swing of things at work, right? How are those other resolutions going? What about the one to attend more of the awesome marketing, social media and design events in our great city? Well, leave it to Atomicdust to help you out. Here’s a list of upcoming events for January. And since you’re bound to run into a few Atomicdusters at these events... you’ll have someone to thank!

See the list of January Marketing events in St. Louis.

Atomicdust plugs in to branding and design platform for Perch

Picture this: You’re in a hotel, getting ready for a meeting. As you get up to leave, you grab your laptop, phone, bag and suitcase – and head out the door. You’re on your way before you realize your chargers are still plugged into the wall back at the hotel. 

It’s a scenario that plays out in hundreds of hotel rooms, lounges, airports and homes every single day. Some companies’ solution to the problem has been to sell replacement chargers, but our client, LPS Technology had a better, far less wasteful approach.

Read more about our branding, design, and marketing work for Perch.

Happy Holidays from Atomicdust

Put down that eggnog, stop trimming that tree and set aside the wrapping paper. December desktops are here!

Yes, it's that time of the year again, and now your desktop can celebrate! Our jolly staff of creative folks have handcrafted six lovely designer desktop wallpapers perfect for the occasion.

The best part is that there are no long lines, no gift receipts, and no reason to even stand up! Just browse through the images above and click to download your favorite.

Here's to making your desktop, smartphone and iPad a little bit more festive.

Happy Holidays from all of us at Atomicdust!

  • AIGA Casual Chat at Atomicdust

St. Louis AIGA Casual Chat at Atomicdust

This Tuesday, December 6th, Atomicdust will host the St. Louis AIGA 'Casual Chat' event at our office in Midtown Alley.

This month's meeting will focus on brainstorming ideas to ignite the St. Louis design community in 2012. If you have ideas and want to get involved in planning, we encourage you to come.

We think events like this are important for the future of design - and of the AIGA - in our city, and we're happy to help anyway we can.

You don't have to be a member of the St. Louis AIGA to attend. So don't let that stop you from coming.

Plus, there's free beer.


More info and RSVP on the St. Louis AIGA website.

Oh, What A Night!

Last night we opened the doors to our new office in Midtown Alley for the St. Louis Creative Industry. We had a great turnout of some of the most talented designers, writers, developers, architects, illustrators, photographers, and creative firm owners in the city.

It’s a real pleasure to be a part of the creative community in St. Louis, and the Midtown Alley neighborhood. Thank you all for coming!

And thanks to Midtown Alley’s own Urban Chestnut for great beer, The Composing Room for printing our Window Clings, and to everyone who brought donations for St. Louis Food Outreach.

P.S. We had so much fun hanging out with everybody, we forgot to take a lot of pictures. So instead we had our Project Manager, Mike Roberts, sketch the event as he remembers. Enjoy!

 

Update: This just in… Dasha Schultz, from the awesome fstopgear.com, saves the day by sharing her wonderful photos of our Open House with us. Thanks Dasha!

 

Atomicdust St. Louis Creative Industry Open House

QR Codes in Real Life

As a marketer, I know quite a bit about QR codes. I mean, it’s my job to know about the latest marketing trends. But what about everyone else who doesn’t work in marketing? What do they think?

I never really thought much about it until a couple months ago when I was having lunch with some friends. There was a table tent sitting in front of us and it had a QR code on it. One of my friends picked it up and asked everyone what it was. I, of course, knew, but thought it would be interesting to just sit back and see what they had to say. This was better than a focus group. This was an honest, unbiased conversation about one of the biggest trends in marketing right now.  Read more about QR codes in the real world.

Atomicdust Designs New Branding and Website for Nonprofit, St. Louis BWorks.

We’re proud to call the city of St. Louis home. It’s fueled by passionate people who are committed to making St. Louis a better place to live. That’s why we were thrilled to work with St. Louis BWorks to make creative matter in the community.

After 15 years in the Shaw neighborhood of St. Louis City, St. Louis BWorks was preparing to move to a new, larger location on Menard in Soulard. It was the perfect opportunity for a rebrand, including new identity, tagline, website and social media strategy.

Read more about our branding and design work for St. Louis Bworks.

  • FoodStock Art Party St. Louis

AIGA St. Louis Foodstock Art Party

Foodstock Art Party is a charity art auction from AIGA Saint Louis featuring artists’ work from across the country and around Saint Louis. Prints, paintings, mixed media, cartoons, photography & collage. All proceeds will go to Operation Food Search. RSVP at the Foodstock Website and keep up to date by following @AIGASTL or #FoodStockArtParty on Twitter.

 

SEPTEMBER 23, 2011
6:00 - 10:00 pm, One night only

MAD ART GALLERY
2727 s 12th, St Louis

TICKETS
FREE for AIGA members and children (under 13)
Non-members $10 before event and $15 at the door
(bring AIGA member card, cash/credit cards accepted)

  • Ads for B2B-Healthcare brand Gateway EDI

Ad Campaign for Physicians Practice Billing Service

Did the title of this post intrigue you? It sounds exciting, right?

OK what if it was something like this:

What do bagels and healthcare billing technology have in common?

That would get your attention. Everyone loves bagels, right? That’s the trick with B2B marketing – taking something that seems complex and even, dare we say it, boring, and making it accessible and interesting.  Read more about the project.