Its one thing to explain an idea, its another to get the story across using visuals. We'll tell your story through a handcrafted experience not limited to illustration, typography and photography.

Graphic Design

The Commence designers collaborated closely on the project with founding principal Travis Brown and the team of directors at the the school to realize an identity that inspires and encourages exploration across the school. 

A brand that resonates with students and faculty

Pharos Academy is unapologetically committed to educating Bronx kids. Casting a huge beacon of light and achievement in one of the lowest-performing school districts in New York City.  The Commence designers developed a graphic toolkit of core elements that give the school a high degree of creative flexibility and recognition.

A Guiding Light

The primary mark is built from a combination of monogram “P” and “A” as well as a lighthouse. The name Pharos is derived from the name of the ancient Lighthouse of Alexandria, one of the seven wonders of the anceint world.

A monogram and a lighthouse

“The identity draws on Pharos Academy’s values to create a modern design system that reinforces the school’s bold, intellectually curious positioning.”

Pharos Academy Charter School believes in the power of team, or CREW as they call it. Commence Studio designed a set of crests to represent the crew that is the school.

The shields

What creature would you most often find near a lighthouse? A seagull no doubt. The team created a flexible set of designs featuring the fierce sea-loving character.

Charter schools have mascots too

To assist and guide how the Pharos Academy staff and students show up and contribute everyday, the team developed a set of illustrations relaying the values of Radical Inclusivity, Collaborative Curiousity, Storytelling, and more.

Illustrating Community Culture

After establishing the brand identity for Pharos Academy, the team moved forward onto the web design, strategy and development phase of the project.

Showcasing the brand to the web

Our studio worked to create a fully customized framework and design components for the Pharos Academy website. The goal was to create an easily navigated digital funnel for prospective staff members, students and their families.

Getting people where they need to go quickly

Web GIF

Pharos Academy encourages the unique pathways of individuals and the design studio built the website to match that sentiment through visual storytelling and interactive pages.

Better to be bold

“Unconventional layouts bring a refreshing look to the educational institute’s website without compromising usability, legibility, and professionalism.”

The merchandise designs were inspired by sports branding and streetwear to give a “It’s cool to stay in school” subliminal message to students and staff.

Dressed for success

Banner designs showcase the school’s brand an evoke a sense of pride and familiarity for students passing them in halls each day. 

Brand systems for the halls

Institutional identity and web development for the K-12 public charter school in the Bronx, New York, that draws on the extraordinary, forward-thinking vision the school executes.

Bold in the Bronx

Gravallese Co. products are driven by 100 years of heritage in barbering, by barbers for both themselves and those in the chairs before them.  For products created with meticulously researched natural ingredients, we built an organic brand narrative, and a visual identity that reflects attention to detail.

Building a brand based on tradition and advancement

Video

Vinnie, the master barber, strives to do better; they’re making more sustainable & plant-based grooming products. Our packaging designs support that effort and highlight each of those key ingredients.  The product photography was inspired by stone masonry, dedication to craft, and the unity between rough and beauty.

Steps towards sustainable packaging

The charm of the Gravallese Co. flagship barber shop isn’t limited to it’s in-person location. We implemented and themed the gravallese.co website to be just as welcoming, accessible, and informative as the shop experience. Utilizing Shopify for fast checkouts and driving sales, we were able to guide their team to launch and start selling online.

The digital storefront, ecommerce

We add personality and storytelling by drawing fierce animal characters paired with raw expressions of the plant ingredients. Perhaps we're all wild animals in need of a little grooming. 

Illustration as information and inspiration

Lid illustrations

We made it clear for customers to find their desired product with bright-yet-earthy colored labels, prominantly displayed ingredients, and themed categories.

Creating product families

Gravallese Co is a brand that appeals to those with and without a beard. Barbers and non-barbers. Speaking the notion that self care and wanting to look your best is available for everyone.

Transparent Product Photos

Gravallese Co. came to us to create their brand identity, packaging design, website, and product photography centered around the refinement of traditional grooming products and self-care.

Italian Heritage Brand & Grooming Products

50|50

Black Rabbit Mead Co. partnered with us to create a brand identity and packaging system for their mead. Although their product is produced with honey, they make a significantly less sweet mead than other traditional varieties. It was a goal of ours to carry over this idea to a less sweet, more eerie, and regal look for their brand.

Down the Rabbit Hole Packaging Design

50|50 logotype

33% details

50|50 Food Photography 

33% food photography

We knew the Zero Hospitality Group had something up their sleeves when they told us they were turning an old mechanic garage into a family-style restaurant in an upcoming neighborhood for Reno, NV. After a few branding and positioning exercises, we landed on Von Bismarck together. We were honored to be brazen with the brand across the architectural revival with historically themed typography, menu and web design, as well as food photography. 

Branding German Hospitality

We're always up for a challenge. When Bombadil approached us to help them build a Lord of the Rings-inspired flower brand, we were more than up for it! It goes without saying, we have a passion for building corporate brands but love to roll our sleeves up and have a little fun as well. 

Fantastical Flowers

Row 2 - 3 image blocks

2 column image block

tear sheet

Them Duqaines came to us for artwork and design for their studio album ‘The Story of the Moral’. We illustrated the story told across the track list and brought the honky tonk characters to life through CDs, custom vinyl design, and merchandise. We tip our hat to these folks.

Story of the Moral Album Art

Barnacle Foods challenged us to create a new label for their Bullwhip Kelp hot sauce that reflects their personality and helps pull in new customers. Originally the Bullwhip woman was supposed to be a salty older gentleman, but after meeting the women-led team at Barnacle, it was clear we had an opportunity for more accurate representation. After releasing the new packaging, the product became a best seller and is featured on Patagonia Provisions.

Bullwhip Hot Sauce

A simple and intriguing branding and web project we did for StreamNative.

Branding and Web Design

We love working with the Magpie team just as much as we enjoy their coffee. If you've ever stopped by, purchased a bag of their delicious coffee, or met any of the amazing staff working there, then you already know what we're talking about. When they approached us to give their packaging a new refresh from the old packaging we created, it goes without saying, we were over the moon. 

Going Minimalist

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We refreshed the look of Coffeebar to match their attitude. Bold, bright, yet sophisticated and refined. With such a growth taking place in the company, and a dedicated, loving fanbase - it was of upmost importance that we complete every action with strategy. Our measure twice, cut once mentality was something we were taking into account every step of the process.

Identity Exploration 

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In addition to Coffeebar’s signature orange, brown and tan color scheme, we introduced some pronounced secondary colors because coffee offers the ideology of comfort and energy of movement all at once.

Step One

Badges are great for everything from identity extension, to website ornamentation, to clothing designs or patches.

More than text and color 

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While we wanted to keep things modern, we also didn’t want to erase the human element. That human element is what differentiates all of Coffeebar’s locations from so many other coffee shops. We thought some handwritten elements would carry that ideology accross their brand.

Handwritten <3

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One of the goals we established when we first met with our pals at Coffeebar was the desire to have a kickass website. We wanted something that highlighted all locations, encompassed everything a customer could look for, stand out above the ordinary and, of course, look amazing.

This is the first page Coffeebar’s customers see. It not only gives them a taste of the custom video components, eye-catching transitions and integrated handwritten elements, but it also highlights the shopping experience and invites them to check out Coffeebar’s individual locations, blog, ideology, spotify favorites and lifestyle portfolio.

Homepage of champions. 

This site starts with the expected. You’ll find the contact, about, culture and shop pages quickly. Then it adds some pizazz. It includes pages dedicated to the senses— photos to look at, playlists to listen to, news to read about and menus to salviate over. As if that wasn’t cool enough, each of Coffeebar’s location pages link to these experiences, displaying corresponding examples of each. Lastly the site finishes off with some truly special surprises, roadtrips and brew guides, but you’ll see those later.

Where can we visit?

Coffeebar has done a fantastic job of keeping their brand consistent throughout each of their locations while making each space uniquely fit into the local area. Our challenge was to do the same thing digitally.

Keeping it all together 

We chose Shopify as the platform of choice. It has a beautiful back-end that gives us the ability to hand-craft the shopping experience, and staff the ease of use. (Added bonus for their top-notch analytics, data reporting and ecommerce insights. )

The shopping experience is well organized into three categories and kicks things off with a couple different suggestions. Each product page includes pictures, its story and a sticky header that displays the most important details 100% of the time as you scroll to explore a product. Which means, yes, customers can add that baby to cart no matter where they are on the page.

Bring in the money 

Its always sweet to see artwork on items people bring with them (or wear on them), because that means theres’s a higher chance that art will touch more souls. Here’s a couple products we merged with our badges and typography as proposals to add to Coffeebar’s online store.

It ends with swag

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What’s a coffeeshop without rad music? We embedded Coffeebar’s favorite playlists with each location page, suggesting a set of songs that will always bring you back to your favorite coffee artists.

Feed all the senses 

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Ever wonder how you’re favorite coffee spot makes their drinks so perfect? Well here’s how. Visit Coffeebar’s brew guides page to explore four in depth brewing methods. And if you’re already a master brewer, at least check it out out to admire the awesome handwritten elements.

We've hit the jackpot 

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As if detailed steps and a complete instruction list weren’t enough, the illustrations that pair with each step blew it out of the water.

Illustrations for the soul 

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When you first visit Coffeebar Roadtrips you’ll see a map with a bunch of stops Coffeebar employees handpicked. Each stop’s point is color coded brown, blue, yellow or green which corresponds to the stop type: discover, explore, drink or eat. Filter by location, or type, or both. Zoom in or out, and scroll right or left. You can even click on each point to see a preview of the stop, its name and city.

The bells and whistles

There’s even a corresponding card that scrolls to display whenever you click on a point. It offers you all the details you need to know, its website, a link to google maps, which employee suggested it and why.

Know it all 

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There was a lot of fun with photo and video on this project. We were able to work with on-location and studio photography as well as cinemagraphs, custom video and timelapses.

Great for website and blog photos, we shot everything Coffeebar where all the magic really happens.

In their environment 

Great for social media, we shot some messy, but worth it, looping cinemagraphs and in-studio scenes. The cleanliness of the solid color backgrounds and attention-grabbing hand placement allowed us to create a whole new feel and interest.

Bringing it back home 

Each coffeebar location got its own video. Some are captivating timelapses while others show just how cool the shop and their employees really are.

The reel deal

Being a group of creative professionals, its only natural to be fueled by caffeine and cold brews. Coffeebar is a supplier of just that— not to mention wine, baked treats, good times and great memories with even greater friends. At the start of Summer 2017 when Coffeebar was gearing up to open their 5th location we began a partnership to achieve an enhanced social presence and build a brand new website in preparation for the much-anticipated arrival in Silicon Valley.

Un Vero Gusto Italiano

Full Width Images 1-5,10. Half Width Gifs 6-7 + Stills 8-9, 11-12 Grid

Time to celebrate. Patagonia has hit the 20 year mark at their Upper West Side shop. We worked together with the Patagonia NYC team to create some custom illustration and tears sheets for this anniversary. Being in the ‘business to save our home planet,’ Patagonia has worked with dozens of different environmental non-profits in the NYC area the last 2 decades, so we wanted this project to tell that story and depict the history of the area.

The Freedom & The Escape

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Growing in the high desert of Northern Nevada is difficult, but Future Fresh laughed in the face of mono-croppers everywhere and is now bringing fresh produce to the desert. It was only fitting that we made their brand identity represent innovation, all while keeping it light and simple.

Keep it simple

The Fresh Future logo was designed to represent the convenience and quality of aquaponic farming-- shaping the future of modern agriculture with sustainable, local produce for the community.

Logo Design 

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The Fresh Future color palette was created with inspiration from different crops. Contrasting colors on the warm & cool spectrum leave a lasting feeling of organic novelty.

Natural + Fresh 

We wanted to fully embody what it means to be natural. So we kept it sweet and simple

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To keep your future fresh, your delivery could be no more than a tap away.

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Through re-imagining organic produce in a box, we started creating an enticing and environmentally progressive identity for the Fresh Future Box; the aquaponics solution to the end of the Farmer's Market season. Whether it’s spicy peppers, rich butter greens, or plum tomatoes, we made sure we incorporated all elements of sweet sweet sustainability. Ensuring that they sacrificed nothing when it came to authentically representing their brand promise, we created their brand so it was replete with natural elements and vibrant visuals.

The Future of Community Supported Agriculture

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Lorable’s iconography reflects the clear shapes and style to match its brand identity. The icons take the approach of being recognizable and functional. The simplicity allows for the tone of the content to be at the forefront.

Lorable uses a color theme inspired by rich yellowed pages of a novel, complemented by the dark blues of the night sky.

Let's Talk Color

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The interface must adapt to different lighting conditions to avoid poor readability or glare. Designing for dark mode allows for content to be easier on the eyes in dimmer environments.

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Lorable’s stories are developed based on casual human conversations so users are acclimated effortlessly. The UI we created assists in guiding the user through a natural flow of conversation.

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Lorable is a storytelling app developed by the Northern Nevada based startup to engage both readers and writers with interactive plot building. Through strategic branding, material design, and clarified theming, we helped create an app experience that is engaging and easy to explore.

A Story Worth Sharing Through UX

The DVA color palette was created to reflect the central focus of water in their sustainable farming practice

Aquaponics Through Color 

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The Dayton Valley Aquaponics logo was designed to represent the harmony between technology and tradition, and promoting locally grown, ecologically sustainable food.

Harmony in Design 

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With eye-catching transitions and photos of their produce and facility, it invites users to learn more about DVA, sustainability, and what it means to grow fresh produce year round.

Eye Catching

The animations and movement on this site are something you'll want to experience for yourself.

See For Yourself

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Dayton Valley Aquaponics partnered with us to create a brand that represented their bio-fueled take on farming that provides fresh produce year round in the High Desert of Nevada

Rethinking Produce through Aquaponics

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As much as we love doing work for our clients, we also love doing work for our planet. In conjunction with Patagonia Action Works, we designed and implemented a mural that spanned across three of Patagonia’s vast windows. The imagery and statements were chosen to bring awareness to the fracking threat that would damage the Ruby Mountains’ landscape and habitat in search for oils and fuel. The Rubies are not only full of beauty and popular for recreation, but are also Te-Moak ancestral homelands and a place that many magnificent animals call home. We stand with the thousands of people who have already raised their voices against destroying this iconic landscape. With Patagonia’s immense following and a little paint, we hope to make a big difference for the future of Nevada’s Ruby Mountains.

Defend the Rubies

First impressions can be everything. We worked alongside the wonderful team at Whitmore to design a purely unique brand identity and a rich, illustrative unboxing experience to leave a lasting impression on their customers.

It's All About the Experience

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We like a good whiskey. Especially when it’s smoked and made of the finest quality ingredients just down the way from our Reno studio. We revived the Forsaken River brand with a new visual identity and family of packaging, including wood veneer engraved labels.

Rye Patch Whiskey Wooden Label

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The surf lifestyle and merchandise company Worldwide Nation partnered with us to create designs and illustrations for their first season of apparel. Inspired by the desire for surfers to be more connected.

Uniting Surfers

A community platform built scalable before anything else

Designed for scalability 

Developing a bilingual, neutral identity that married verticals together was paramount.

Finding the right fit 

A breathable means of iteration during every step proved beneficial for a breathable family products.

After iteration and iteration, we ruled out the elephant concept. Chosen because of the wisdom and memory of an elephant, it meant a lot to our team but just wasn't resonating with our audience.

Sometimes it just doesn't work

We started to shift our crosshairs towards something a bit more universal. At the end of the day, our mission with Craftlog was straightforward: create a platform to share your passion and tell a story.

Speak to a wider audience

Leveraging geometric precision as well as Fibonacci techniques throughout our mark, we set sail in the direction of the play button concept due to its instant recognition as well as scalable geometry.

Representing all verticals 

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As with the initial exploration, we chose to explore every dimension we could take with the mark before landing on a final approach.

Finding out what you do not like 

And, as usual, we toned it back a bit and infused our vertical marks with our family brandmark to be most safe, which down the road we will learn is a bit more difficult than once thought.

Go bonkers, then simplify

The most universal language you can execute within your product is illustration. So, we made a language of illustration that not only adopts colors but also adopts the emotion between verticals.

Universal language

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An ever growing set of illustrations was imperative to a successful launch.

Speak my language 

Once we dialed in our initial identity, it was time to set sail and start iterating on prototypes.

Prototypes

Design is an ongoing imperative, and when building products, it’s an indispensable trait to iterate as quickly as possible between design and development.

Our goal is not to reinvent the wheel, but design experiences that speak to the users on an emotional level of connection while improving our algorithm and retention in every step.

Follow me into the dark 

This means leaving no stone unturned - including the wonderful world of email notifications. The last thing in our crosshairs was a spammy, mindless email to receive in the morning.

Show me what you got 

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With the badass team behind Craftlog, we had very smart algorithms that improve upon themselves based on each email you get. In return, the users receive what they want. On top of that, we built a system for the people at Craftlog to build any retentive loop they wanted to measure.

Get smart 

Dialing in a web interface was paramount to a delightful experience, so we focused on a design for desktop that not only provided its own value to the power users, but provide the same experience to the users who may not be able to download the app.

The final frontier

When you love what you do, whether it be cooking, woodwork, home improvement, or even sewing you can’t help but want to shout it from the rooftops. Our San Francisco (also Brazilian and Italian) friends at Craftlog make it easy for you to not only share your projects with others, but find new projects to fall in love with. Featuring a flexible user interface, user experience, and well crafted interaction design, we’ve worked hard with our long-term partners-in-craft to make an app that's so easy to use even your mom can make your family recipes live on forever.

Graphic Design

Pharos Academy: Bold in the Bronx

Gravallese Co.: Italian Heritage Brand & Grooming Products

Black Rabbit Mead Company: Down the Rabbit Hole Packaging Design

Bombadil Flower Co: Fantastical Flowers

Them Duqaines: Story of the Moral Album Art

Fresh Future: The Future of Community Supported Agriculture

Whitmore Leather Goods: It's All About the Experience

Worldwide Nation: Uniting Surfers

Craftlog: A Platform for Passion

Remy & Max: Coffee Packaging from Down Under

Patagonia Surf: We're Out To Change The Industry

Matanuska Apothecary: Alaskan Cannabis Dispensary Branding

Deso Supply Co.: Spend a Week In The Woods

Patagonia: Defending Public Lands

West Elm: Reviving Retail in Reno

EDAWN: Startup Deck 2.0

Clever Baking Co.: Get Baked

Home Means Nevada Clothing Co.: Born to be Dusty

Shawarmageddon: The Last Supper

Moment Skis: Live In Lightning

Blackbird Go: Branding a Marijuana Logistics Company

State of Nevada: Celebrating 150 Years

Off Beat Music Festival: Reno Is For Creatures

City of Sparks: The Last Friday, For Now

Triton Algae Innovations: The Forefront of Algae Science & Food

Magpie Coffee Roasters: Coffee and Aneurisms

Turn Loose: Sun's About to Rise, Sleepy Eyes

ICRAVE: Crystal Drive, A New Hub is Rising

Loki Pet Treats: Better For Our Pets, Better For The Land

Indo Herbal Tonic: Rethinking the Shelf

Piñon Bottle Co.: Great Brews