Posts Tagged: NC commercial branding
Boondocks Brewery | some commercial photography with a beer chaser
American forefather Benjamin Franklin famously said, “Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.” This isn’t actually true. What he wrote was, “Behold the rain which descends from heaven upon our vineyards, there it enters the roots of the vines, to be changed into wine, a constant proof that God loves us, and loves to see us happy.”
What is true is that both rain and beer can put a smile on our faces, and one place that handles the beer part is Boondocks Brewing Taproom and Restaurant. These guys have been open since August 1, 2012, which makes today their 4th anniversary! Well done, team.
It’s a 40 minute drive for us, but it’s our neighborhood spot because we love them, they love us, the food is fab and the craft beer is exceptional. And while “boondocks” means out-of-the-way, backwood, or rural, the set up the Boondocks Brew Haus, just down from the restaurant on South Jefferson Avenue, is all modern. They just updated the brew system a week ago to a larger one and it is sleek, sophisticated and state of the art. Equally cool is that everything about the brew system was customized, from the piping, the control panel, motor/pump mounting all the way down to the Boondocks logo on the lids for the tanks.
Because we consider owner Gary Brown, head chef/general manager Jared Yelton and the staff family, we offered to help with the installation of the new equipment. When we arrived however, all the heavy lifting of getting the 3 new large tanks in place had already happened. Gary was still doing some fitting work so we stayed a little while to take some photos to help document the history of the installation, even getting a couple “proud poppa” photos with Gary at the tanks.
The brew haus is responsible for creating the amazing craft beer for the restaurant, but the space is also open for events like monthly beer and wine dinners, private functions, rehearsal dinners and family reunions. The gang at Boondocks is very active in the Ashe County community, as well, supporting local farms and hosting events. They were just awarded the Ashe County Small Business of the Year award for 2016. Finally, manager and chef Jared came to the Pixels anniversary party in 2015 and provided appetizers and cooked other items on site. We just love these guys and are raising a glass to them. Here’s to many more years of making people happy. CHEERS!
We love family portraits whether they are set in the studio, the great outdoors, a specific location like the mountains or high country, or on our property in our outdoor portrait garden. Pixels on Paper photographs babies and kids, engagements and weddings, brides and special events and portraits of all kinds in our Wilkesboro, NC studio. We would be honored to meet with you, learn about you and your family and be a part of taking special portraits that will become, we hope, family heirlooms.
pixels does portraits, outdoor shoots, weddings, newborns & (wait for it) LOGOS
We showcase our photography on this blog more than anything. It’s fun and we’re proud of our work and all of the relationships we get to document and those that we now have with so many of our clients. Photography gets primacy, because everyone enjoys creative pictures paired with stories that resonate. What we don’t often highlight is our flourishing graphic design business – which gets the same care and focus as our photography biz. So, we sorta buried the lead in this blog title. It’s not really just “logos” – it’s branding and it’s graphic (by definition) and it’s creative work.
BUT – the first thing most of us learn about and then remember about a brand is the logo.
As most of you know, a brand isn’t a just a logo or a tagline – it’s a business, a product, a person – so we spend quality time with each client learning about their business, their goals, their competition, their target audiences and then reviewing images that they think capture who they are and what they’re about. As with photography clients – collaboration is important, so there is back and forth, sharing, communication process where we home in on the best version. Getting close is a blast! Getting to “YES, that’s it!” from the client is even … “blast-ier.”
We love it when clients bring examples of fonts, colors and images we can use for inspiration and as jumping off points. Then the fun really begins! Sketching, playing with palettes and possibilities, even escaping to other media for a break. Ever been stuck working on something and gone to the movies? Could be a spreadsheet or a screenplay, but you need to get up and go watch something or be somewhere else. Clearing your mind with something or someone wholly unrelated to your work can suddenly make you think – “I’VE GOT IT!”? Inspiration can come from anywhere, so we also pay attention to that unexpected magic that happens.
Each client is different – and thank God for that. Otherwise, where’s the fun? And naturally each logo is different and needs a different voice, look and that little something extra. Picture the curling “come-here” pointer finger that says, “come have a look…!” That’s our goal: to execute a successful logo, but also to establish a brand and make our clients happy and ready to move forward on their dreams.
We develop the business cards, stationery and any other promotional items, make sure all designs are scalable so that they can be used across all media, and then we watch and hope and pray for the best outcomes for each business or project. Have we mentioned that we love our clients? Business development projects are some of our favorites and if you need us, we’d love to work with you! Check out Pixels for other examples of branding and commercial work.