Marketing and Design Blog

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.

Atomicdust’s Anders Branding Featured on Fast Company’s ‘Co.Design’

As you may know, we recently wrapped up a naming, branding and collateral project for Anders, a St. Louis CPA firm. Today, the work was featured on Fast Company’s design website, Co.Design. 

Here’s a little of what Co.Design had to say about our work:

The official logomark is a sleek, translucent triangle that spins off of the A in Anders. A gradient library of colors change depending on context. That, plus a friendly-looking new website, makes the whole company seem fairly approachable--no small feat for an industry that many of only think about when we absolutely have to.

Fast Company is widely recognized as one of the leading business publications in the world. Its mission is to inspire readers to think beyond traditional boundaries, lead conversation and create the future of business.

We’re big fans of their design website, Co.Design, which highlights the world’s best examples of design and innovation. It’s an incredible honor to see our work on a site that recognizes the importance of design in business. The site is on our must-read-daily list, and is often our go-to source for the latest news and inspiration.

Visit Co.Design to read the full article, 'Rebranding A CPA Company, Just In Time For April 15.'

‘Brand New’ Honors Atomicdust with Two Identity Design Awards

We’re happy to announce that Atomicdust’s work for Pastaria has been recognized by the Brand New Awards for ‘Logo Design’ and ‘Comprehensive Identity’.

Organized by UnderConsideration, the Brand New Awards is a judged competition that celebrates the best identity work produced around the world. The competition places as much importance on concept and execution as it does on strategy and business decisions by focusing on the work itself, the process, and the client’s involvement. 

There were more than 700 submissions from around the world, and only 75 were selected as winners - and two of them were for our work with Pastaria. It’s exciting to see our design work for a St. Louis business shown on a world stage.

And congratulations to our St. Louis friends and neighbors at TOKY whose work was also honored. Out of all the entries in the category, only three logos were given the highest-awarded rating of five stars - and to think that two of them came from the same block in St. Louis is pretty amazing. #STL

Building a Modern Identity and Website for Homeyer

When you think “tool and die manufacturer” the first words that pop into your head probably won’t be “modern” or "high tech.” In most cases, you’d be right. But not if you were talking about Atomicdust client, formerly known as Homeyer Tool and Die.

They came to us looking for a new identity and website to reflect the changing nature of their business. Sure, tool and die work has been the foundation of their company and will always be part of their operation. But it’s dwindling. And they’ve smartly responded by shifting to precision manufacturing for some very demanding industries, like healthcare, military, aviation and energy.

Read more about our branding for Homeyer Precision Manufacturing. 

Atomicdust looks beyond the expected to create brand for consulting firm.

Daugherty Business Solutions has been quietly improving the way Fortune 500 companies use technology for more than 25 years. And while their client list includes many household names, they’ve found the competition for business to be quite intense beyond their St. Louis home.

That’s why they came to Atomicdust.

As a company, they had never done much marketing. Almost all growth had been from word-of-mouth, referrals and organic growth within existing clients. So they never really needed to. But with aggressive goals in place, that needed to change.

Growth in this sector is about more than attracting customers, too: it’s about recruiting and retaining top talent.

Read more and check out our naming, branding and web design work for Daugherty Business Solutions.

Shared Stories: BWorks

As you know, we love to tell stories, some of them even about the work we do around here. Unfortunately, there's so much going on (trust us: we know that's a good thing), we're often starting a new project the minute one wraps up. We've been looking for a way for members of our team to share the story of the thinking behind our work – but to do so in a way that's quick, interesting and compelling.

That was the inspiration behind our new video series, Shared Stories.

This month, designer Jason Stoff shares the story of our branding and identity work for BWorks, a St. Louis nonprofit organization that teaches kids responsibility through three different educational programs.

Take a look, and let us know what you think of the approach. We have lots of other stories to tell, and we look forward to sharing these videos with you in all of the usual places – here on our blog, and on Facebook and Twitter.

Atomicdust Helps Bring Pastaria to Saint Louis

You may have heard of the new restaurant coming to St. Louis from renowned chef, Gerard Craft. It is, after all, one of Eater Magazine's most anticipated new restaurants of 2012!

Earlier this year, Gerard and his team came to us to help bring Pastaria to life. Don’t worry - they're handling all the artisan, family-friendly Italian food. But we took them through our branding process to help develop the logo, visual identity, and website.

A coming soon page went up last week, where you can see a small example of what’s to come and sign up for email updates on the new restaurant, currently under construction at Centene Plaza in Clayton.

For more news on Pastaria and information about other Craft Restaurants follow @GerardFCraft on Twitter. 

Naming, Branding and Website Design for Daugherty Mobile Suite

One project leads to another.

We were in the midst of a full-scale branding program for our new client, Daugherty Business Solutions, when they came to us with a more urgent task: branding their new, mobile-oriented products.

This in and of itself represented a seismic change for the company. Daugherty had always focused on long-term consultative client relationships, rather than individual products or services. Daugherty asked us to name these new products in a way that positioned them as an extension of the company’s experience and expertise, not as a separate entity or independent division.

In the competitive marketplace, names for mobile-focused divisions run the gamut from straightforward to esoteric. We decided to leverage Daugherty’s brand equity – they have a long history in the IT consulting space – and name the set of products the Daugherty Mobile Suite. It’s simple, descriptive and accurate, while giving the company the flexibility to add new products or functionality without rebranding.

Read more and check out our naming, branding and web design work for Daugherty Mobile Suite.

A Roadmap for Successful Healthcare Marketing

Everyone in healthcare is talking about changes and the uncertainty that lies ahead. Unfortunately, as companies try to connect their products with those pain points, many are saying exactly the same things. Clients in this industry come to us to polish and promote their brands through bold statements – and that’s exactly what we did for Elsevier’s Revenue Cycle eLearning (RCE).

RCE asked us to promote their revenue cycle management training tools that support the ICD-10 changeover, due in 2013. Their educational products are numerous and complicated to describe, in an industry already buzzing with marketers, experts and lawmakers all fighting for attention in the space. Read A 'Roadmap for Successful Healthcare Marketing'

Helping a brand grow in new directions

Elsevier’s College of Direct Support approached us with a branding challenge that would transition them from a single product to a suite of tools offered in a variety of new markets.

These products provide online training for support workers who assist members of the community with mental and physical challenges. In addition to providing better care for those being supported, the curricula also elevates the professionalism of the workforce delivering that care.

As we immersed ourselves in their brand, we discovered that their training is more than courses and chapters and facts to read. Each lesson is a building block to a fulfilling career that directly enhances the care and support workers deliver. It's care and support that allows those served to live more fulfilling lives in the community.

Their courses are all about pointing support workers in the right direction with tools that educate and inspire, helping them understand how they fit into a bigger picture and setting them on the right path to use what they’ve learned to start improving lives.

That’s why we called it DirectPaths. 

In order to help the group understand the new brand, we created some design expressions so they could envision how everything would work together. 

As a result, we gave the brand everything it needs to continue to excel in its existing market and scale into additional markets. Plus, we got a chance to work with some great people that are dedicated to a making the world a better place not only for those in need, but for the workers themselves.

Design expressions for brochure systems to help illustrate the new name and identity.

We showed how the brand can still be about caring for people, but talk about things like standardized skills and career development.

Design expressions for the website.