Charpie

Food for Market, a food styling, advertising, branding and strategy business owned and operated by Shannon Charpentier, now has an online presence! Yay for food! We’ve initially created a simple, one-page site showcasing capabilities and offering the necessities for the new business to get off the ground. The new site will give them a pretty face on the internets and world wide webs while we work on building out a more content rich version. Delicioso!

Follow Food for Market on Twitter. | Become a fan on Facebook.

From our eyes in the skies to our pixels on our screens, UAV drones have dramatically changed the Military’s methods of gaining intelligence. What that has to do with the pixel half of this analogy, we don’t know. But… when was the last time you saw an icon designed for the Navy look this pretty?

Big props to our homey, Sherwin Schwartzrock, for the original sketches. He’s good.

How do you create a simple icon to represent a generic physical sensor depicting one in a multitude of shapes and sizes? Easy. Draw a box, put some fancy tape around it, and stick an old-school radio antenna on top! Voilà!

This icon will be used in a web app and represent devices all over the world relaying everything from sound, vibration and location to you name it. 

Heyoh!

Check out our shnazzy new identity piece for Fargo-based firm, Stahl Architects and Builders. The idea behind the design was to create something far different from your typical architecture firm logo sporting either some sort of trendy san-serif font or alas… a Roman or Greek column. Sorry Futura, Century Gothic and Roman Empire, but you’re not needed this time.

We think the logo twists a nice modern feel with an old school carpentry/handyman/craftsman-like warm feeling establishing a sense of long-standing reputation without dropping “Est. 1889” below the name. It also offers a unique and great direction for future collateral that will separate them from competition for sure.

But… the client didn’t like it. Or rather, they did, but it wasn’t the direction they wanted to take. Shucks! It happens though. This is the design business.

So, this will be the only place you see this logo. We wanted to give it one last shiny little moment before filing away. Goodbye my looooove!

Ok, we’re over it. Next!

Just in case you have a handful of gears, er… sprockets, you might want to keep them in the new 2010 limited edition designer sprocket folder.

Cosmo G. Spacely may not approve, but hopefully it would pass inspection from George Jetson.

We’ve just launched a little site for Iowa based Energae, LP!

Energae is a consultative/project management partnership offering expertise for today’s growing renewable energy needs. Basically, they find new ways to make energy. Cool beans!

They’ve told us about some top secret energy formulas, but we can’t tell you what they are yet. You’ll just have to stay tuned, and it’s not because we’d probably get into a lot of trouble for telling you, but more so that it makes us feel special.

Follow them on Twitter or Facebook!

Office space available for lease.

Little red car icon. Probably has the best turning radius of any icon we’ve produced to date.

Today we built a factory with our bare hands. Ok, that’s a lie. There was a Mac Pro involved.

If we were to produce an icon for an underground gas tank, this is what it would look like! Please note, not actual size. Next time you’re fillin’ up your rig at the gas station, one of these big old green doohickies will be nestled below the concrete you’re standing on.

Again, special thanks to fellow illustrator Sherwin Schwartzrock for the sketches!

As promised, the Panic Transmit inspired cargo truck icon. This will be just one of a series of over 60 icons to be created for an undisclosed web application. We’re working on these with the help of fellow illustrator Sherwin Schwartzrock. Can’t wait to show ya more!

Hello, world. We’re still cranking out design work nonstop, so it’s about time we start getting the blog up to date! Charpie has been contracted to develop a series of icons for a yet to be disclosed web application. We can’t say what it is, but we do have permission to showcase design work as we move forward. So, from here on out we’ll be frequently posting our latest little delicious design morsels for you to enjoy.

To help us speed up the process we’re working with a good friend and extremely talented illustrator, Sherwin Schwartzrock. Sherwin is a Minneapolis-based illustrator with a great style and eye for design that says a lot in a small amount of space. Thanks, Sherwin!

The first icon in the series is a gas station. The next will be a cargo truck, which is what really inspired the entire set. Panic’s Transmit icon is well loved and being fanboys, we just couldn’t help but be inspired by their design. So we’ll give a shout out to those guys to give credit where credit is due! Speaking of which, this reminds us of this site about other Panic inspired findings. Stay tuned for more!

Just launched! We’ve created a new site for Bethany Retirement Living!

Bethany, formerly Bethany Homes, contracted Charpie to freshen up their existing site. We wanted to create something more friendly and approachable and look toward the positive side of retirement living.

We also wanted to focus on the actual people residing at Bethany and shed them in a new light. There’s so many great stories within the Bethany community that we just couldn’t resist not telling them. So, the site will feature newly updated pictures and biographies of actual residents that will not only keep fresh content flowing but develop an entire library of great stories from the Bethany community.

Additional features include the ability to email residents, look for jobs and careers, apply for admission, and check out maps and details of all their locations.

The site was coded by Jason Hummel of Humjay!

Check it out at http://bethanynd.org.

Felt like drawing a bowl of tomato basil soup. So here it is. kthxbye

We are so super excited to launch our up-and-coming sister site, GrillingAddiction.com, that we just have to give you a visual taste of what’s in store. Introducing the Grilling Addiction logo.

For us, it started as a love for grilling over hot coals in our trusty Weber grills with a cold beer in hand. Now, it’s an addiction. Grilling has not just become a past time or a means of preparing that which we need to survive. It’s become our life.

We want to know every tip, trick and recipe for every meat, fruit and vegetable that could possibly come in contact with a grate. And, we want to share our experiences with you through GrillingAddiction.com

The final design took a couple weeks to finish off and is vastly different than some of the first concepts. We originally went down a road of traditional western-style typefaces and used visuals such as flames and wood grain. Although nice, the designs didn’t pertain to the feel we wanted the site to have — something lighter with more modern lines and easy on the eyes.

Follow Grilling Addiction on Twitter!

Yay Earth Day! We’ve put up a quick site for our friends over at EcoSet. They are extremely busy reducing the environmental impact of the film, television and commercial industries. What an awesome business! Check ‘em out.

With all the Twestival excitement going on, I figured I’d offer up some simple, fun desktops depicting my design submitted to be the official Twestival t-shirt for the 2009 event. Voting for the winner of the t-shirt contest will end tonight, February 8th, and the official design will be unveiled on the 9th at 10:30 AM CST.

The folks over at Desired Hearts are hosting the contest for Twestival and will be producing and selling the shirts with proceeds going to Charity: Water.

Get yo’ desktops here:

1024 x 768, 1152 x 768, 1280 x 854, 1280 x 1024, 1440 x 900, 1600 x 1024, 1600 x 1200, 1680 x 1050, 1920 x 1200, 2048 x 1280, 2560 x 1600

I’ve got a design in the running to become the official t-shirt design of the upcoming February 12th event, Twestival!

Twestival is an event that will be held in over 180 cities across the world in an effort to raise money for Charity: Water. The Fargo Twestival will be held at Ristreto Coffee & Tea on February 12th from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm. Ristreto is a coffee and tea shop that also has a selection of beer, wine, edibles from the Green Market and pastries. Ristreto is located at 4150 40th Ave S in Fargo.

Charity:  Water is a non-profit initiative bringing clean water and basic sanitation into impoverished communities. They raise money to build freshwater wells and sanitation projects in developing nations, giving away 100% of the funds raised.

Also, Fargo’s own ‘The 404’ will be playing a rousing selection of tunes for your listening pleasure.

My design is number 10 of the 12 available to vote for (the one with the big birdie feeding the little birdie water). Check it out:

http://desiredhearts.com/twestival/

Vote! Vote! Vote!

Yay for new work! Recently, an up and coming electric vehicle manufacturer asked me to polish up their image. Fargo-based Electric Vehicles Unlimited wanted something that looked clean and professional that would have room for future growth.

Up until I met them, they strictly referred to themselves as EVU, and their current logo also suggested this moniker. So, this is where I began. Hiding the word “electric” was not something I wanted to do for it was the foundation of the company’s existance. Let’s get EVU out the window and bring Electric Vehicles to the world. Now when someone sees their name they’ll know exactly what they are all about. It won’t be another acronym guessing game.

I also didn’t want to overcomplicate things. I’d like Electric Vehicles Unlimited to have a symbol, but I don’t wanna go overboard with something that overshadows the most basic definition of the business. My solution was to make Electric Vehicles Unlimited a text based logo accented with a well known symbol for electricity - the good ol’ bolt. The bolt also ties the two basic elements of the company; electricity and vehicles.

The room for future growth will rely on the bolt. It will be able to be used with tags and as a physical emblem on the vehicles themselves, and it will create a second wave of branding after the initial establishment of Electric Vehicles Unlimited. For example, check out this spec animation I whipped up: Watch. (Requires QuickTime)

Pepsi is about to launch an entire brand overhaul.

Looks like they’re not only changing the face of the logo, but changing the face of the logo several times over. The widely recognized spherical red, white and blue emblem will take a personified twist when the company decides to turn it on its side and make a little smiley. Sorry, that’s the best way I could describe it. However, that’s not all. Depending on what drink it appears, the smiley’s facial expression will change. For example, Diet Pepsi packaging will have a little smirk while Pepsi Max will have a wide open chuckle.

Mountain Dew will also become Mtn Dew and get a much needed, in my opinion, facelift. I was dang sick of the logo as they continued to try an modernize an old image. You can only skew type and round corners so much.

I can understand the opinions of both those opposed and for the decided rebrand. It can certainly feel like it’s a rebrand just for the sake of some short term publicity. However, as a designer, I know what it’s like to get completely bored with something and a little refresher may do the trick in bringing back some excitement. Is that a good reason to spend nearly $100 million while the economy tanks? Probably not, but who am I to judge.

Check out some more packaging examples at Brand New

Just whipped up this graphic to be used in conjunction with some other materials I’m working on for stencil maker, Industrial Stencil Design. I’m currently working on a new logo for the business as well as a spankin’ new site! Zip zing!

Just spotted this incredibly awesome milk carton vase by U.K. designer James Burgess. Even better, it’s only $6.95 which is great because if it were any more expensive I’d choose to make it myself. Now, I don’t have to. People are awesome.

We’ve revamped the logo for San Rafael based production group Dandy Dwarves! They really wanted something simple with room to add a little fun later, so I’ve initially based the logo off the Century Gothic typeface. I evened out all the stroke widths, and rounded everything off. A little nip there, a little tuck there, and that’s what you see.

NYC artist and local native Richard Borge came back home last week to speak at an AdFed luncheon about moving into an animated world. His work is fantastic and inspirational; mixing his illustration skills with found artifacts that melt together in a Photoshop pot. I guarantee as an artist, you may never look at a muffin wrapper the same. Now he’s putting his technique into motion directing and animating music videos for Ozomatli and Jesca Hoop and more. Great work, Richard!

We’re gearing up to launch the official Grill-A-Thon website within the next few months! The site will be a great source for event information as well as grilling tips and tricks. Once underway, we’ve got plans for even more grilling fun with all kinds of merchandise and podcasts. Stay tuned!

Check out the preview here.

If you know me, you know I love to grill. And who love to grill just as much as I do? Well, a lot of people, but mostly my friends and family! So, this year we’ve created a seasonal event dubbed Grill-A-Thon. The idea is simple. Wake up and start grillin’ and keep on truckin’ until you literally can’t stand anymore. We gather as many grills as we can find and get as many chefs and eaters as we can to take part of this little spectacle.

Grill-A-Thon was created as a time to get together with friends and learn from each other tips, tricks, and recipes. You can come and cook, or just enjoy the food. There’s really no rules at all.

What would an awesome event be without a little design for desert? That’s why I created this logo for us and am currently working on a website and some merchandise. I figured I’d through the design in a starry night scene around a glowing grill as is how the event usually comes to rest. So feast your eyes!

This week will mark the beginning of a brand overhaul for Minnesota-based Redline Performance Products. The company had been widely known in the performance vehicle industry for their snowmobiles, but they’re letting go of the snow-chained vehicles for a more dynamic, all terrain genre. They call it a Sport Terrain Vehicle (STV). Think of a dune buggy after a case of Red Bull, throw in some Fox shocks, a 72hp Weber engine and hit the trail; be it dirt, snow, or sand. These machines truly rock any terrain, and they do it right out of the box.

I got an opportunity to ride one of these devils a couple weeks ago. It’s a thrill that has to be experienced. I’m not a skilled enough writer to even attempt putting it into words. I can say that I about crapped my pants on the first jump I took at the company’s two and a half mile test track. I was not expecting to get the air that I did and was definitely not expecting such an easy landing. It was as if I shot into space and came back down on a cloud.

Getting back to business, the above type treatment utilizing the new campaign tag ‘Redefined’ is the first snippet of an all out makeover. What’s to come? New print pieces, a dealer kit, online video campaign, and a few other surprises. Stay tuned. This will be a fun one to watch.

You can find awesome Obama artwork here.

Hey, everybody! The TEP Inc. website is now up and running! The site for Thermal Energy Products was designed a couple months ago as part of an identity makeover. We wanted to keep the design simple, clean, and refreshing given that there would be a lot of complex images the user would be bombarded with once delving into the content of the site.

TEP Inc. is the leader in thermal and accoustical insulation covers for very large equipment in factories and plants. Their solutions help businesses maintain efficiency from an energy standpoint. Go green tech!

We’re pleased to announce the launch of the new First and Deli site! We’ve pushed up a simple little one page design for your enjoyment. First and Deli, formerly Barbara’s First and Deli, is an outstanding place to grab some fresh grub in downtown Fargo. I frequent quite a bit and highly recommend the Combo sandwich on the garden vegetable bread. Their salads are great, too! What’s more? They deliver! Yippeeeeeeeee! I think you stop in, though. There’s usually a pretty good crowd around the lunch hour, and that’s always more fun.

If you’re on the Twitter bandwagon, check out www.twitter.com/firstanddeli for the soup of the day. We’ve incorporated Twitter into the site as well. We wanted to make it as easy as possible for First and Deli to update the soups on their site. Knowing they’d have to do it every day, we thought what better way to do it than with Twitter. So now, all they have to do is text the soups from their cell phone, and the First and Deli site will automatically style and update the graphic at the top of the page. Pretty nifty! And on top of it, fanatics like me get the soups delivered to our cell phones as well!

Enjoy!

If you know me, you know I like to grill. So, over a few beers and some minor planning, some friends and I developed “Grill-A-Thon.” About once a month we get together and grill over some hot hot coals from 9am until roughly 2am. There’s no rules, except that the food prepared must be made on the grill. There’s a lot of meat, a lot of booze, and a lot of good times!

Each Grill-A-Thon seems to get twice as big as the previous, so it was time to start branding the event. I whipped up this logo, and am in the process of getting a website up and running so everyone can follow along or even join in on the fun. We’re in preparation of the next event, July 19th. It will be held at Rose lake in Minnesota and feature the live music of The 404.

All are invited! I’ll get directions posted soon!

We’re currently in the process of giving Thermal Energy Products Inc. a little facelift! I’m super excited about the project. It’s been a long time coming!

TEP Inc. specializes in reusable, removable insulation blankets. These fancy blankets wrap around valves, pipes, and other big hot or cold things you’d find in large factories. The blankets will help keep the equipment at acceptable temperatures to help the facilities maintain efficiency and reduce the amount of energy needed perform. That’s my take on it anyway!

The original logo was created by the company’s owner, Mark Walstead, using a some sort of plotter and CAD software. The company has grown quite a bit since 1985, so TEP came to Charpie for a makeover. I didn’t want to stray too far from the original design, so I maintained the ovalish shape. However, I incorporated red and blue, dare I say ‘swooshes,’ to symbolize the ‘thermal’ aspect of TEP’s products. An inner gray oval represents the client’s pipe, valve, etc. to which TEP’s thermal blankets are applied.

We’ve got a website redesign in the works, so stay tuned!

Today launched SCADshorts, a project developed by fellow production group Dandy Dwarves and the Savannah College of Art and Design. Dandy Dwarves asked me to take on the site’s design and I did so enthusiastically being a big fan of the group’s work. The project takes a unique approach to the new ‘YouTube’ generation. As a viewer, you get the opportunity to take part in the short film fun. Watch the monthly released shorts and try to come up with the most creative title! That’s right. If the SCADshorts team chooses your title as the short’s official title, you not only get the prestige but a shiny new iPod touch. So head over and start submitting titles!

Special thanks to Britt Spencer for the awesome SCADshorts lettering!