All in all, it's been a satisfying few weeks here at Pinch. We've welcomed a new member to our small team in Bowman Leigh, who has been instrumental in making contact with some organizations that we've long admired and were too shy to approach. From those discussions, we've met some wonderful people who have taken a keen interest in our humble endeavor. Apparently, it actually helps business to remind people that you're in business.
We're pleased to be working on a new identity program and brand platform, which results from the Oregon Trout and Oregon Water Trust merger and have established what we hope is a long-term relationship with e-Discovery developer, Exterro. We reconnected with Cynthia Fuhrman (formerly of Office of Sustainable Development) who has taken her rightful post as Director of Marketing and Communications at Portland Center Stage, and we've have had our collective heads down on a history book for Columbia Forest Products, and brand development for Metro's Multifamily Recycling program with Pyramid Communications. Take a breath... We enjoyed collaborating with Celery on a nice little billboard campaign for CleanFish, a provider of sustainably managed seafood and we revisited some product branding work for our friends at StormwateRx. Further work for OSD's BEST Business Center begins shortly, as does event development for the annual Portland Parks Foundation Legacy Circle event materials. And, of course, we hope that discussions with Oregon Institute of Technology (who offers a very interesting renewable energy program), Greater Yellowstone Coalition (stewards of the most diverse ecosystem in the lower 48) and fmyi (whose collaborative product brings people together) all continue to move forward.
As posted last week, it seems that our dabblings in the social media have also taken root. Due in no small part to our Flickr page, within the past ten or so days, Pinch has been featured in UK design aggregators AisleOne and SeptemberIndustry, as well as FFFFound! and Thinking for a Living. For their green issue, Media Inc. magazine picked up a story on our work for PureBond, the industry-shaping formaldehyde free plywood product from Columbia Forest Products. We've established our loosely-knit social strategy with LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter; in part to test what it does for Pinch as well as to further our counsel in these areas with our client base in the not-for-profit sector. We've long maintained that design is not entirely about pretty pics and well-set type, but rather about considering every option for communicating an organizations' message. As the social networks have proven, it's about dialogue, not propaganda.
In addition to attending recent events at PNCA, Office PDX and our on-going AIGA Portland commitments (plus McIsaac's International Male tour schedule), it's safe to say that its been a bit busy around here. We realize, of course, that the door has only been opened due to the work and referrals that our long-time clients have been so gracious to provide. The success of those works is a result of so many positive and productive relationships. We don't say it nearly enough, but we simply wouldn't be here without them.