Just before COVID hit, I was brought into the braintrust on a new concept a close friend and collaborator wanted my help to develop. I ended up becoming a founding partner, and have been leading the brand and marketing systems ever since.
The name 'Alpenglobe' came about while driving home from Mt Hood in Oregon one evening after a day of skiing. In the rearview mirror, the mountain was illuminated in vivid pink and orange Alpenglow as is common on winter nights at sunset. I’d been straining over the naming process for weeks at that point and it was one of those bolt of lightening ideas I knew was right immediately as soon as I said "Alpen...GloBE! That's IT!" aloud. We never looked back.
In the coming months we managed to get the globes designed and built, and started to see my go-to-market strategy of targeting major mountain resorts, ski areas and restaurants in places like Park City, Deer Valley, Aspen, Big Sky, Jackson and Telluride spring to life. We began getting calls from people wanting them as a 'public distancing' solution, as well as a means of extending their outdoor dining spaces during the colder months, while creating a uniquely magical experience for their guests . We’ve had a steady stream of interest all over the country and in a number of international locations since.
I designed and produced the brand and all of the creative products & collateral you can see at alpenglobe.com/resources.
It’s been one of the best projects I’ve ever been part of. Super fun to work right smack dab in the middle of the intersection of so many different things I love and am inspired by like design, architecture, mountain culture, brand strategy, social engineering & product development all at once.
Since we created this, a 2.0 version of the Alpenglobes using higher grade, more sustainable hardwoods have gone into production and have been showing up consistently in some of the world’s premiere resort destinations and restaurants.
For a nice case study, check out how: Café Galleria has used them.
The Native Arts and Cultures Foundation (NACF) is a Native-led philanthropic organization dedicated exclusively to the perpetuation of American Indian, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian arts and cultures nationwide. As one of our longest creative partnerships, we've been honored to lead branding, digital strategy, web design and development, advertising, and integrated marketing initiatives for the Foundation, and the artistic community at the heart of its mission. In addition to the billable client work with NACF over the years, Russ has served as a volunteer for the Foundation, donating over 100 hours of pro-bono design and creative consulting work.
When Mona Johnson and Jaret Foster founded their unrestaurant slash experience-based culinary company, they asked us if we'd help build their brand with them. We jumped at the chance because they're not only dear friends, but also happen to be the very best at what they do.
From Tournant’s About Page:
Food, Fire, Nature, Togetherness
Jaret and Mona love food and feeding people. After years spent cooking in restaurants on both coasts, they met while working at Portland Farmers Market, where their passion for community, cooking from the source and one another blossomed.
Tournant is a French word meaning turning point or watershed moment. With Tournant, Jaret and Mona have sought to create something meaningful and new. Their seminal farm-to-fire approach to cooking celebrates time, place and purpose. Often served outdoors in nature, their meals are guided by the seasons and local bounty from land and sea. Though ephemeral, these dining experiences create space for guests to slow down, connect, savor the moment, and create lasting memories.
Also translating to turning or revolving, the name is meant to capture the multifaceted nature of Tournant’s offerings, which include imaginative and immersive dining experiences, bespoke events for private clients, partners and brands, a charming dining room for gatherings and collaborations in Dayton, Oregon, open-fire cooking classes, and slow food and lifestyle retreats held around the globe.
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Pulling from the inspiration embedded in their unique wood-fired cooking style, their respect for details, and the name itself, we created a hand-painted brush script for their logo, paired with earth-inspired tones and visual styles that give their brand identity an elegant gravity. We also designed and developed marketing materials, signage, as well as their website and event ticketing system.
Photography: Eva Kosmas Flores & Christiann Koepke
Oregon Manifest’s Bike Design Project was an ambitious campaign and design contest that paired design teams with bicycle craftsmen in five major US cities to imagine and prototype radically innovative new urban utility bike concepts. Once unveiled, the concepts were put to a public vote online, with Fuji Bikes ready to begin production of the winning bike. The overall goals were to enhance public awareness of urban cycling as a transportation alternative and spark innovation in the market for commuter-specific bikes.
The entire project was heavily web and social media driven, and it needed a well-rounded hub for sharing info about the campaign as well as news from national publications like Fast Company, weekly sponsor contest updates, and social feeds to keep the design teams and the project’s followers up to date while encouraging engagement across the board. Crucially, the site would also serve as the platform for the final public vote that would ultimately decide the favorite bike and the winning design team.
As the digital creative team for Oregon Manifest, we created a site that was accessible, loaded with important and up to date information and media, tied together critical social and news media feeds, with a robust custom web voting system in a single cohesive mobile-first package.
Our partnership with ChefStable Group has resulted in a number of exciting projects within the city's vibrant food and drink culture.
Beer O’Clock is a craft bottle shop and taproom located in Portland's West End neighborhood, for which we were asked to design a brand system that unified the sublimely simple new identity, marketing tools, signage, packaging, website, and the interior environment.
As part of a project spanning over two years, we partnered with Nike's Community Impact team to design, produce, and launch a new sub-brand called Back Your Block.
The platform revolved around sustainability and community engagement initiatives ranging from grant-making efforts for underserved youth across the US, to creating a network of drop-boxes for used sneakers to be recycled and used to build basketball courts and playgrounds for kids without access to open spaces to play.
Partnering with local community leaders and Nike Factory Stores in each city, our team also produced and managed a series of large-scale events organized to give back to the communities that had helped support the educational and recreational initiatives for the kids in their area.
Café Galleria is an impossibly charming Italian-focused neighborhood restaurant housed in a restored historical property in the mountains of Midway, Utah.
I was invited to help reimagine and build a new brand identity, which included stuff like the logo design, digital strategy, environmental signage, menus, website, reservations system, merch, etc.
More at http://thecafegalleria.com
One of the Pacific Northwest's most highly rated restaurants came to us for help reinventing their online brand and experience for their guests, who were increasingly, and almost exclusively visiting the site on their phone. We updated their brand identity, modernized their web platform, and distilled its content and functionality down to an accessible, enjoyable experience that can be fully realized with just one thumb from any device. We arranged a partial trade for restaurant & bar credits. It was worth it.
We worked with award winning glass studio, Esque, to create a living brand identity by unifying their physical, experiential, and digital tools. This included a new website and online store, product photography, social video content, print marketing materials, and an overarching brand strategy that connected them all together.
One elegant example of our overall effort to sync-up the entire Esque brand as an interconnected and sustainable living system, was the designing of a custom fabricated steel branding iron, as a waste reduction and packaging efficiency solution.
Utilizing their already roaring glass ovens to heat up the steel, the irons are used to sear the Esque logo onto outgoing shipping crates, product binders, and anything else that had previously required a seemingly never-ending supply of additional packaging and printing materials, which had been historically wasteful, expensive, and time consuming to manage. As the cherry on top of this holistic strategy, the symbolism of fire, heat, and their juxtaposed power to render both beauty and scars tells a meaningful story about the essence of what has always set Esque apart.
Here's a video of Andi and Justin hard at work in their Portland, Oregon studio, featured on Cool Hunting.
Our partnership with Northwest Rafting Company, based in Hood River, Oregon, was forged through a common interest in environmental conservation, Oregon's unique river system, and straight-up envy of their commitment to world-class wilderness adventure.
NWRC came to us to redesign the group of websites that their business relies on to manage and grow the marketing, booking, outreach, and education efforts that make their award-winning whitewater outfitter brands thrive.
Over the last three years, we’ve collaborated with NWRC on improvements to nearly every aspect of their web experience, from design and usability to mobile and search optimization.
“The team at Totally are highly competent and easy to work with. They know web design inside and out. Highly recommended!!”
–Zachary Collier, Owner, Northwest Rafting Co.
We were invited to partner with the team behind some of Portland's finest restaurants to create the digital experience for their new Belgian-style brasserie, La Moule. In collaboration with artist Damien Gilley, the brand identity's moody, innuendo-infused atmosphere was translated from physical to digital environments. We also developed a simple custom menu management system that allows the La Moule staff to quickly and easily update their fresh seasonal menu on-the-fly from any device. One of the best business decisions we’ve ever made was to work for trade with this crew.
As part of the company-wide In It For Good brand marketing campaign, and in collaboration with Metropolitan Group, Zero Waste announced New Seasons Market’s status as a zero waste company as verified by Portland State University’s Community Environmental Services. The campaign included in-store displays, buttons, stickers, social media strategy, and full campaign microsite.
Bee Part of the Solution was New Seasons Market’s initiative to address the problem of colony collapse amongst bees and to bring awareness to this issue. It was part of the In It for Good campaign and was implemented in stores with signage, buttons, banners, social strategy and campaign microsite.
The Community Cycling Center is the non-profit community resource for all things cycling in America's most active and progressive bicycle city. We were invited to lead the development of their new online hub, store, and digital resource center as part of their complete brand refresh.
Completely redesigned and redeveloped, the site showcases the Cycling Center's extensive outreach and community partnership programs, maintains their catalog of bike resale inventory, and stays fresh with news and event info. #pedalstothepeople
Flush with a blend of lifestyle, studio, and outdoor adventure photography shot by longtime partner, Boone Speed, we were excited to help one of our favorite American heritage brands create their wool blanket workbook and suite of marketing tools.
This Woolrich project reminded us once again of two of our guiding principles:
1) Work with brands that you admire.
2) Work with your friends.
D Street Village is the result of a neighborhood renaissance in Portland, Oregon's Southeast district that revived a former country western saloon where Johnny Cash used to play. We partnered with the developer and architect to give it a new identity that celebrated its legacy while bringing it into the 21st century, including: logo, architectural signage, posters, apparel design, website and online leasing tools.
Strategic consulting firm Coraggio Group first hired Totally over 10 years ago to help them redevelop their digital presence, overhaul their website, and refresh their brand. After dozens of various projects from then to now, the relationship remains strong and productive to this day.
We've crafted radio spots, social campaigns, lots of presentation and pitch decks, two complete website re-platforming overhauls, and have been on speed dial as their primary creative consultant. They've been a dream client all these years, and we're proud to call them friends.
