Habitat - South False Creek is a sustainable, high-rise building that focuses on green living strategies and plans to become the first building in Vancouver to receive a Platinum Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) designation.

Problem
In response to Vancouverites’ growing concerns about the environment, the (GVRD) Greater Vancouver Regional District is starting to implement mandatory green building strategies for real estate developers. Due to the city’s rapid growth, these strategies aim to reduce energy, waste, and natural resource consumption. In tandem with green building strategies, the LEED rating system is being utilized to provide standards for sustainable construction.

Strategy
While there are many developers in the Lower Mainland who have embraced green building initiatives, only Habitat has aimed for Platinum, the highest designation in the LEED ranking system. Habitat will be located in South False Creek and is currently being developed by the City of Vancouver and Concord Pacific Developments. Habitat, a green community, is targeted towards environmentally conscious, 30 to 45 year-olds. Habitat promotes a healthy, sustainable, and environmentally friendly lifestyle choice with long-term rewards. Focusing on enriching the South False Creek community, Habitat integrates green living within its neighbourhood, architecture, and interiors. A well-rounded green living philosophy is the foundation of Habitat’s marketing strategy.

Solution
At Habitat, sustainable living comes in all shades of green. Aiming to be part of the greenest community in the Lower Mainland, Habitat plans to be the first LEED Platinum building in Vancouver. Habitat’s energy savings, waste minimization, low resource consumption, and vision of healthy living encourages new homeowners and real estate investors to embrace the value of green living. This real estate marketing campaign for Habitat is aimed at eco-savvy consumers in Vancouver’s upscale marketplace.

Cube Basic is a small business hub which provides young business professionals and multi-ethnic entrepreneurs with essential office space together with a wide range of services to help foster success with their businesses.

Problem
Currently, the office space market in Metro Vancouver is saturated with large, corporate-scale offices priced higher than most young entrepreneurs can afford. This sector of the commercial real estate market has a limited selection of small, affordable, contemporary office spaces. Additionally, Metro Vancouver is experiencing a rapid boom in population and business growth, increasing the demand and pricing of office space within the district.

Strategy
Cube Basic is a small business hub–a facility where young entrepreneurs have access to modern, affordable facilities and specialized services which foster sound marketing and business practices. This incubator-style of business hub targets the wealth of local entrepreneurial talent. It offers an array of business amenities by providing new entrepreneurs with access to marketing, public relations and accounting departments.

Solution
The success and effectiveness of Cube Basic is based on providing potential clients with a comprehensive sales package and access to an informative website. Marketing materials include a tenant’s package, print advertisements, business cards, an amenities sheet, and floor plan layouts for different types of office suites. The entire marketing campaign, including the website, is designed to be multilingual in order to appeal to diverse communities in Metro Vancouver.

Kiss Me is an innovative beauty boutique offering reusable and refillable cosmetic packaging. The store focuses on products essential for a healthy and beautiful mouth, such as mints, gum, lip gloss, and floss.

Problem
Cosmetic packaging is one of the worst offenders contributing to unnecessary waste in our landfills. There is an emerging effort to decrease the amount of packaging waste by helping consumers opt to re-use their empty containers. Globally, governments have been implementing guidelines to help companies incorporate eco-friendly practices into their business strategies such as using recyclable, reusable, and/or biodegradable materials. Unfortunately, businesses have been slow to adopt sustainable practices because they are often inconvenient for consumers.

Strategy
Kiss Me’s core strategy focuses on reusable beauty packages to help reduce waste. The store is strategically placed in Gastown, Vancouver to accommodate the look and feel of the brand’s identity: ‘modern meets vintage.’ The main target audience is female, aged 22 to 30, conscious of the environment, aware of the waste that packaging creates, and willing to make changes in their purchasing behaviours. Kiss Me’s packaging will accommodate the target audience’s desire for attractive specialty products by producing limited edition versions of each package with unique surface graphics, patterns and colours, all the while maintaining the ‘modern meets vintage’ brand feeling.

Solution
Kiss Me gives the environmentally conscious consumer beautiful, fresh breath, plus aids in the reduction of the amount of unnecessary packaging. The company dedicates itself to selling products and packaging that are both convenient for the consumer and environmentally friendly. Products and packaging are designed to communicate the look and feel of the identity. Kiss Me is a modern approach to classic romance.

Forgotten Felines is a "no-kill" donor-funded cat hospice and adoption centre in Surrey, B.C that helps abandoned and abused cats
find homes.

Problem
Research shows that an alarming number of cats and kittens are abandoned by their owners, with an estimated 6 to 8 million cats being euthanized each year in animal shelters due to a shortage of homes. Forgotten Felines is a non-profit shelter that provides refuge for abandoned, abused and homeless cats and places them in caring, adoptive homes. The shelter takes a firm stand against animal euthanasia. As a result of this policy, maintaining the shelter, while also housing and feeding a large number of cats, requires significant support from the community. The shelter is in need of a publicity campaign to obtain more donations and more homes for cats.

Strategy
The Forgotten Felines campaign educates the public about the growing number of homeless cats in the community, encourages cat adoptions from the shelter, and makes an appeal for charitable donations. The campaign targets animal lovers and potential pet owners who want to care and nurture a cat, as well as those who are willing to part with a few dollars to lend their support. The campaign uses thought-provoking images and text to emotionally appeal to animal lovers.

Solution
The concept for the promotional campaign is depicting stories of abandoned cats, from an individual cat’s or kitten’s point of view. The text and imagery intentionally tug at the audience’s heart-strings by characterizing the cats as discouraged and saddened by their predicaments. The campaign includes public transit posters to raise awareness and increase brand recognition for Forgotten Felines in high-traffic areas. Life-sized cut?-outs of cats function as doorstep mailers to inform the community that a cat is waiting for their help.

Uplift Transitional Beds are medical beds aimed at helping people cope with various degrees of immobility.

Problem
Research shows that marketing materials for existing medical beds are clinical and impersonal, and provide nothing positive that would appeal to a potential buyer.

Strategy
Promotional materials for Uplift Transitional Beds are targeted towards three main audiences: Caregivers, Medical Professionals and End-Users. Uplift Transitional Beds focuses on three core messages: growth, increased independence, and a positive approach to the selling of medical beds and equipment. The marketing materials reflect the company’s philosophy of providing products that enhance quality of life. Imagery is warm and inviting while providing comprehensive information about the company’s product line. This differentiates the marketing of Uplift Transitional Beds’ products from the cold and sterile approach used by most existing medical bed companies.

Solution
The philosophy of Uplift Transitional Beds and its warm and friendly staff is reflected through the brand identity and company website. The website is fully functional, and features inviting imagery, comprehensive and accessible information, downloadable PDF order forms, information about the company and a list of who to contact for further information.

Aquatek Spa and Pool Service is a company based in Kelowna, B.C. that offers exceptional hot tub and swimming pool maintenance and repair services, with an emphasis on quality and professionalism.

Problem
According to research, the pool and spa service industry in the Okanagan is thriving, but lacking professional business practices, marketing strategies, and well-designed promotional materials. The Okanagan attracts people from across the country because of its climate, leisurely lifestyle, and exceptional recreational amenities. A significant number of residential property owners have their own pool and spa equipment and demand professional service for repairs and maintenance.

Strategy
Aquatek Spa and Pool Service operates throughout the Okanagan. The company targets residents, primarily in the upper income bracket, aged 50 to 70, who take pride in their hot tubs or pools, and expect professionalism and quality service from a spa and pool company. Aquatek Spa and Pool Service is defined by its professional business practices, skilled technicians, and reliable, top-quality service and support. The marketing materials for Aquatek Spa and Pool Service reflect the company’s level of professionalism and commitment to high quality service, which is reinforced through its strong, easily recognizable, and enduring corporate identity.

Solution
Aquatek’s corporate identity is targeted towards the discerning customer who values both a high level of professionalism and quality assurance. The company’s professional image is reinforced through its name, a strong and timeless logo, business cards, stationery, service vehicles, and various promotional materials.

Machina is a Vancouver–based company that produces a rock music–style guitar, which features an aluminum truss that stretches from the top of the neck through the body, providing maximum resonance and sustain with outstanding durability.

Problem
Guitarists interested in Rock styles of play are constantly searching for the newest and wildest sounding guitars available. For musicians, the ability to create a unique sound is what sets them apart from other musicians. Currently, all production companies manufacture their guitars using traditional types of woods, resulting in typical sounding guitars. These guitars are then marketed to a variety of play styles from Classic Blues to Heavy Metal. Consequently, guitarists who want to create a more radical sound are not well served by traditional guitar products. Machina caters to these artists with a purpose-built product.

Strategy
Machina is a Vancouver based company manufacturing the world’s only aluminum and stainless steel guitar. Aluminum, with its low weight and ease of shaping, is ten times harder than the hardest wood, based on the Brinell hardness chart, making it an ideal material for guitar construction. Using aluminum results in an extremely efficient vibrational energy transfer, which means a longer sustain and a crisper sound, while also avoiding the typical wooden guitar’s susceptibility to moisture and abrasion. Machina’s target audience is musicians in their mid teens to late twenties. Known as 'Metal Heads,' they buy guitars based on style, sound, and reputation. Machina’s identity as the Rocker’s guitar company is reinforced through the industrial look and feel of the guitar and all of its peripherals, as well as its quality, durability, and longevity.

Solution
The industrial 'scratched metal' concept for the guitar reflects the grunge roots of Hard Rock culture and therefore, the marketing materials for Machina have this same scratchy, industrial, Heavy Metal attitude in order to appeal to the target market. The dynamic graphic elements are easily adaptable to a wide range of promotional and operational materials and they reinforce the company’s ‘edgy’ corporate identity.

River’s Edge is a gallery showcasing local photography of historic sites and agricultural areas surrounding Fort Langley, as well as photographs documenting social and cultural events.

Problem
There are currently two galleries on the outskirts of Fort Langley, neither one of which sells photography or artwork specific to the local area. Tourism in the Fort Langley area is increasing as new access points are introduced, and new developments are constructed. The tourism industry is thriving, providing a great opportunity for new businesses to be established.

Strategy
River’s Edge is an art gallery in Fort Langley focusing on photography. The gallery targets both local and international tourists, aged 35 plus, who are looking to purchase something unique as a gift, or to commemorate their trip to Fort Langley. The gallery features photography of the local area including heritage sites, agricultural areas, as well as photographs documenting social and cultural events. Consistency in the identity is created through the use of photographic imagery.

Solution
River’s Edge caters to tourists in Fort Langley, providing them with a unique alternative for gifts and mementos. The heritage buildings and the small town feeling of the area are the inspiration behind the gallery’s identity. Business cards, letterheads, and catalogue covers use interchangeable macro-shots of photographic imagery in order to reinforce not only the products being sold in the gallery, but also the River’s Edge identity itself.

Bon is a dessert restaurant located in Vancouver, B.C. that offers a wide variety of unique beverage and dessert pairings, aimed at people celebrating the small and large moments in life.

Problem
Vancouver lacks a high quality, dynamic dessert restaurant that offers a wide variety of constantly changing desserts and beverages. Research shows that people prefer an exciting menu that offers a range of choices and a reason for them to return often. Currently, there is no restaurant that is open late and caters to the after-theatre, after-shopping, after-dinner, after-anything crowd.

Strategy
Bon Dessert Restaurant is located in Vancouver’s downtown core. The restaurant targets people from a middle-to-high income bracket, who like to indulge in decadent desserts. They are fashionable, cultured, well?-educated, and like to have fun. To entice customers and meet their demand for variety, the menu offers three smaller ‘sampling’ portions per person. A distinctive, monochromatic colour scheme has been created for the interior of the restaurant. Against a backdrop of primarily black and white, the artistic and colourful desserts look even more decadent and inviting. Seasonally changing black and white photography of people celebrating life’s moments will be used throughout the brand. These concepts establish brand recognition and create consistency throughout the identity and identity extensions.

Solution
Bon Dessert Restaurant caters to the after-anything crowd, who are looking to celebrate life’s moments over dessert. Imagining people coming together to share and enjoy life’s moments, while they linger over tantalizing, and decadent desserts in a unique and eye-catching atmosphere, inspired the concept behind the identity and extensions. Business cards, signage, gift cards, a postcard, take out boxes, gift bags, and menu reflect the inspiration for the Bon identity.

Re is an environmentally focused women’s lifestyle magazine promoting sustainability through simple solutions usable in everyday life. This is a collaborative project with Camille Raschpichler. See below for more images.

Problem
The environment has become the number one social issue in Canada. There is a lot of commentary on reducing our footprint, and although there is plenty of information about the environment, there are too few practical solutions being offered. Research indicates there is a gap in the marketplace, with a limited number of outlets providing easily accessible and practical information on how to make a difference and help the environment.

Strategy
Re is a new magazine that strives to make complex environmental information and solutions accessible, understandable and achievable. Re targets women between the ages of 21 and 35 living in the Vancouver metropolitan area. Research shows that women within this target market typically read magazines as an escape from their day, and prefer inspirational topics relating to such things as home and garden, beauty, style, travel, entertainment, as well as editorial content. While the masthead for Re draws attention to the environmental focus of the magazine, this does not overtly distract readers from its socio-cultural context. Re creates an accessible source, where women are not intimidated by the scope and seriousness of the information.

Solution
Developing a magazine is the appropriate vehicle to reach the target market in a way that is familiar to them. Re not only provides useful sustainable information, but does so in a way that appeals to the predominantly female target market. Re uses a vivid colour palette and a clean graphic style to visually engage readers. Re delivers proactive information to the target audience to help them reduce their environmental footprint and realize they truly can make a difference in protecting and sustaining the environment. Articles focus on tips and tricks for reducing human environmental impact in simple, stylish, and creative ways, as well as more in-depth investigations into pertinent local environmental topics.

Re is an environmentally focused women’s lifestyle magazine promoting sustainability through simple solutions usable in everyday life. This is a collaborative project with Sarah Lucow. See above for more images.

Problem
The environment has become the number one social issue in Canada. There is a lot of commentary on reducing our footprint, and although there is plenty of information about the environment, there are too few practical solutions being offered. Research indicates there is a gap in the marketplace, with a limited number of outlets providing easily accessible and practical information on how to make a difference and help the environment.

Strategy
Re is a new magazine that strives to make complex environmental information and solutions accessible, understandable and achievable. Re targets women between the ages of 21 and 35 living in the Vancouver metropolitan area. Research shows that women within this target market typically read magazines as an escape from their day, and prefer inspirational topics relating to such things as home and garden, beauty, style, travel, entertainment, as well as editorial content. While the masthead for Re draws attention to the environmental focus of the magazine, this does not overtly distract readers from its socio-cultural context. Re creates an accessible source, where women are not intimidated by the scope and seriousness of the information.

Solution
Developing a magazine is the appropriate vehicle to reach the target market in a way that is familiar to them. Re not only provides useful sustainable information, but does so in a way that appeals to the predominantly female target market. Re uses a vivid colour palette and a clean graphic style to visually engage readers. Re delivers proactive information to the target audience to help them reduce their environmental footprint and realize they truly can make a difference in protecting and sustaining the environment. Articles focus on tips and tricks for reducing human environmental impact in simple, stylish, and creative ways, as well as more in-depth investigations into pertinent local environmental topics.

Interlude Winebar in a sophisticated nightspot in Fort Langley specializing in British Columbia’s Vintner’s Quality Assurance (VQA) wines.

Problem
Research shows that the West Coast has not kept up with the winebar trend that is now eclipsing martini bars in Eastern Canada. Social nightspots for the sophisticated crowd can be difficult to find in the Fraser Valley. The charming, historic and rapidly growing township of Fort Langley lacks any winebars, though it has several local wineries, in addition to a thriving tourism market.

Strategy
Interlude Winebar is an Art Deco style destination in Fort Langley B.C., featuring locally produced vintages. The target market includes wine aficionados and those who aspire to be, which includes both locals and tourists. The Art Deco style of the establishment keeps it in line with the historical integrity of the surrounding area and reinforces the sexy, sleek ambiance that one finds when visiting Interlude to enjoy or purchase wines. Art Deco elements keep Interlude’s identity strong and distinctive from alternative nightspots in the area.

Solution
A high percentage of wine drinkers fall into the primary demographic of the Fort Langley area. Interlude Winebar’s corporate identity, signage, menu, and retail wine packaging demonstrate how well the Art Deco concept not only suits the overall identity campaign, but also its Fort Langley location and its wine-loving demographic.

Thrive Eco-Boutique is a fashion forward clothing store in Vancouver, B.C. that exclusively sells garments made from sustainable materials and produced using environmentally friendly practices.

Problem
Research shows the fashion industry is full of destruction, consumption and waste. People are now educating themselves about the environmental impact of the fashion industry on the Earth, becoming conscious and responsible consumers, and taking steps to protect the future of our planet. Fashion designers are targeting a more fashionable, trendy, professional consumer as opposed to the usual organic–hemp–wearing hippies. Currently, there is not a store in Vancouver that specifically focuses on fashion-forward clothing made from sustainable materials and produced using environmentally friendly practices.

Strategy
Thrive is an eco-friendly fashion boutique located in Vancouver’s downtown core. The boutique targets women, aged 30 to 45, who want to make a difference, but don’t want to sacrifice fashion in the process. It offers the best of both worlds: high fashion and an ease of conscience. The Thrive philosophy is founded on three core messages: sustainability, sophistication, and style. These messages are communicated in the marketing materials and are reflected in Thrive’s corporate identity. This strategy establishes brand recognition and creates consistency in the identity and identity extensions.

Solution
Thrive caters to the modern woman and provides her with fashionable eco-friendly clothing. The different types of sustainable fabrics used in eco-fashion inspired the concept behind the identity. Fashion illustrations were created to use as in-store graphics and are extended throughout the identity. Business cards, stationery, and shopping bags have also been designed as identity extensions.

B’tween magazine aims to empower tweens, children aged 10 to 14, by educating them on issues that affect their daily lives.

Problem
The media, laden with pop cultural trends, often accompanied with little to no censorship, is currently influencing the social behaviour of tweens. There are few resources to counteract this unhealthy role model. Tweens are at the age where they are increasingly influenced by their peers, looking for validation, information and advice, and are beginning to distance themselves from their parents. Magazines are a viable resource for developmental information, as research shows that 72% of girls and 63% of boys, ages 9 to 14, say they read as many as three or more magazines a month. There is a niche in the marketplace for a tween magazine that deals with controversial issues.

Strategy
B’tween magazine educates tweens through other youth experiences and takes a ‘raw’ truth approach on controversial issues facing them daily. The magazine targets female and male youths, aged 10 to 13, who are exhibiting or who are likely to exhibit at-risk behaviour, and would benefit from more substantial guidance. The main objective of B’tween is to educate tweens by giving them an opportunity to share their ideas and learn from their peers, while developing an increased awareness of the world around them. This objective is accomplished by including youth perspectives on wide-ranging issues and up-to-date information that is reflected in B’tween’s identity and supporting content.

Solution
B’tween provides tweens with the knowledge to make informed decisions about issues that will affect their future. The B’tween identity reflects this core concept, and includes symbols that represent the various sections in the magazine that have been carried into the supporting website. The name, B’tween, and the controversial approach it takes on tween issues is what makes it stand out from other tween magazines currently on the market. The launch issue revolves around the controversial topic of bullying, with each section taking a different angle on this emotionally charged subject. Special issues, such as this one, cover one significant and intensive topic in depth, whereas standard issues deal with one major cover story, along with various peripheral topics. This reinforces the message that B’tween takes important issues seriously, allowing tweens to get the information they need.