Lisa Ballard

There has been a change in the air and my thoughts are heading towards the holidays. I have been working on a new line for my licensing clients that I am calling “Winter Wonder”. This look falls into my licensing category called “IaM” because it is based on icons and patterns found in nature. In the licensing industry, manufacturers are trying to get holiday lines to live longer on the shelves and, by making it more of a winter theme, I think this will help. Above are some of the images I have created so far, but I am also working on product applications and coordinating patterns. Here’s a sneak peak.

I can finally say that I have been through a hurricane and what blew through us was a breath of fresh hope.

After hurricane Ivan made its way through the mid west, what was left in its path was a blackout and a whole lot of downed trees. This was especially true in our yard. We live in a large lot subdivision and our house sits among a grove of Locust trees. The hurricane left us with 10 to 12 downed trees in our yard and we began the clean-up the next day.

Much to my surprise, my kids and almost all of the kids in the neighborhood gathered in force and worked with an enthusiasm I don’t get to see very much anymore. Because there was no power and no school, the kids came out to offer their help and they had fun in the process! At one point, I asked them if they would rather be in school, and they all replied, “Heck no, this is fun!”.

The day gave me a great hope for the kids of our future.

It always seems that when the kids go back to school, the business world wakes up after a long summer haitus and things start to happen. Last week reinforced this fact. I received many calls about potential product collections I had designed last year and submitted for presentation and production since the new year.

I designed a Halloween Collection based on my TypeOs style of words inside icons. Right when I did it, I had a good feeling about the look. Halloween is a very requested theme in licensing as it has become second in sales to Christmas. I did the initial collection sheet and showed it in Atlanta this past January. Thanks to the diligent followup of my licensing reps, Creatif, and my own willingness to provide specific applications to specific manufacturers, I received the news that my Halloween collection is getting produced for next year’s sales!

Sometimes it’s funny how one insignificant image can make such a big difference in your career path. At the 2007 Atlanta Gift Show, a manufacturer named “Raghu” glanced at an image in my licensing portfolio that my agent was showing him. Even though it had nothing to do with his product line, something about the style of the image struck a chord with him and he wanted to meet with me. Because I was at the show, I visited his showroom and introduced myself. After explaining my background in design and branding, Raghu immediately began showing me his product lines and asking me if I could help him reposition his company’s brand to appeal to a wider audience.

With a new company name, “Home Collections by Raghu” and a request for a new holiday product line, I proceeded to create an icon based upon a cotton seed (something he used in his previous logo) and a type treatment that includes a signature-like treatment of his name.

Next, I created a custom holiday pattern that mimicked a classic Damask style. Raghu sells to the antiques markets but wants to expand to a more mainstream home interiors market. The deer and bird motif and the classic deep red and cream palette made this line fit with his current lines but the clean damask paired with a geometric pattern brought it into a new style level for him. The fun part was developing the products that the patterns were applied. Raghu has resources in India that can produce fabric, metal, wood or printed products.

In January of 2008 at the next Atlanta Gift Show, I walked into Raghu’s showroom and had the pleasure of seeing the new identity etched into the front windows and the first samples of the new Woodland Damask Holiday Line.

Note: My friends at Bronze Photography in Cincinnati shot these photos in my house. I want to thank them and tell you to go to their website at: www.bronzephotography.com