Effective Use of Awesome

by Smart Creative on Monday, July 25, 2011

At Smart Creative, we never stop chasing Awesome. It's the word we like to hear most from our clients and colleagues, and it's the standard we set for every project we tackle. The best part is, Awesome doesn't cost a bajillion dollars. In fact, it's more often the clever use of limited resources that generates an idea worthy of the A-word.

Here are a couple of quick examples.

First, check out this super-cool design for a fishing lure using a Coca Cola bottle cap. Bottle caps are cool, cheap, and iconic. This design is also super-effective because it has all of the necessary characteristics of the classic lure known as a spoon. So, it will not only do it's job (catch fish) but it looks cool too. The best part is, if you lose it, you just crack open another icy cold bottle of Awesome.

Next up is our recently departed summer intern, Olivia Howard. She was definitely "BEST INTERN EVER" and as a going away gift she made all of us T-shirts using a sharpie and puffy paint. We wore them out and about on her last day and told everyone we were famous rock stars. Not sure if anyone believed us, but we got lots of looks and great service at the restaurant. We also used the occasion to snap this team photo. The moral of the story is that we grew as a team, gained a little street cred, and had a bunch of laughs for a very low investment.

Have you effectively leveraged your Awesome lately?

Love, Money, & Advertising

by Smart Creative on Wednesday, June 29, 2011

We all work. A lot. There's some work we do for the money and some that we do for the love. In our little world at Smart Creative, we encourage a balance between the two and we get totally psyched when we see our team members doing cool things outside of the office. Because somewhere in that balance, brilliant ideas emerge.

Here are a couple of links worth checking out from the Smart Creative team:


Florida Southern Men's Cross Country
Jason runs a mile in like four minutes. He's insane.


Magnificent Applesauce
This is Chad's band. They're very musical.


Hillbilly Lottery
Chad & his buddy Rob created this iphone game and apparently had a really good time doing it.


Pixel Shavings
Fred blogs with other illustrators. He's sure he'll be famous one day.



Production Notes - Endure

by Smart Creative on Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Projects with small budgets and big hearts continue to create wins at Smart Creative. We were just informed that the key art we produced for the film "Endure" won a statewide Gold ADDY at the 4th district American Advertising Federation creative competition. It's now up for a national award and we'll keep our fingers crossed. In the meantime, here's a funny little backstory that few people got to hear.

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Blasted

by Smart Creative on Friday, March 11, 2011

Smart Creative was recently tasked with tackling some last-minute communications to help get the troops from the American Advertising Federation to the Rally in Tally - the industry's chance to say our peace with legislators at the Florida capital. The chosen tactic was eblasts, and I thought this might be a good chance for a quick discussion on what makes for effective advertising with those sometimes spammy little mass messages we get.

Personally, I like to approach an eblast as I would a billboard or a poster. Few words, quick messages, strong contrast, and easy-to-understand concepts. 




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Clearly Opaque

by Smart Creative on Friday, March 4, 2011

Here's a nifty little trick from Smart Creative's Tymn Armstrong for designing on transparent materials. Tervis Tumblers now let you design your own wrap for their products, and it's easy to go overboard with colors and patterns. In this case keeping it simple actually creates a super-cool effect when you use white as a single color imprint. When the glass is empty, you still achieve a subtle reveal but add ya' a little diet coke and you get fantastic contrast and a message that really pops. Not too shabby.

How Little Projects Win Big Awards

by Smart Creative on Friday, February 25, 2011



Okay, I'll admit it. I actually tried to talk us out of working on this project. The client had no money, a journalism background rather than our preferred client-side marketing expertise, and I think maybe I even ended up paying for lunch. (Maybe not, but it makes the story that much better.)



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Tymn Wins International Recognition

by Smart Creative on Friday, February 11, 2011



The best commercial art in the world comes from places like New York, Milan, Amsterdam, and now downtown Lakeland. Since 1959, Communication Arts has published examples of the best in visual communications from around the world through a highly competitive international design competition. This year, designer Tymn Armstrong of downtown Lakeland's Smart Creative is admitted into an elite group of award-winning designers that many spend their entire careers trying to infiltrate.

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