As the decade I like to call the twenty-oh’s ends, think what a transformational change we have all witnessed in our culture. We are moving from selling facts to buying benefits. We all know where we are. But I think many of us have forgotten where we were, and just how dramatically things have changed in the last few years. What are you doing different this year? Better yet, what’s on your STOP DOING list?

That’s right, what are you going to STOP doing? We spend so much time thinking how to navigate our lives, why not stop the chaos?

The twenty-oh’s was the digital decade for bubbles. The twenty-teens will be the decade for D.I.Y. busting of the bubbles of life’s chaos. Time to get cracking.

Focus on what you have, not what you’re missing.
-Scott Hull

Read below to see what the rest of our illustrious illustrators have to say on the subject of “what to stop doing” in the New Year:

	I’m going to stop making excuses and find more time to make other things. 2010 shall be my year of making, and I will work as hard as I can to branch out and explore! -Meg Hunt
	I’m going to stop underestimating the possibilities. -Mark Riedy
	I want to stop doing anything that doesn’t blend my art with purposeful and meaningful application. I love it when I can use my talents to further influence in a positive way. I want to keep growing and exploring new ways to create great visual pieces and have them have a supportive audience. -Andrea Eberbach
	I am going to stop procrastinating. At least, next month I will take a look at that idea. -Curtis Parker
	I’ll stop making promises I can’t, or don’t want to keep–maybe that’s two things… -John Maggard
	Everything seems to be a risk now-a-days, so I’m preparing to take more creative risks myself. That means 12 months of living in the “No Comfort Zone.” -Von Glitschka
	I believe that it’s the perfect time for me to quit “cold turkey” my habit of doubting everything. So from now on, I will dropkick the doubt, and put trust in its place. The only thing that will stand in between me and my aspirations will be thoughts of bigger, better aspirations. -Grant Gilliland
	What? A “stop doing” list!? All these years I’ve been trying to change my language to positive and pro active, intentional and forward thinking. My Monty Pythonesque ‘bright side’ repertoire, as it were. And now you want me to actually commit to beginning the New Year with a proclamation that has a negative in it?! Can I bring myself to do it? …Oh alright. Here it is. “I am going to stop being so difficult”. -Lorraine Tuson
	I think I’m going to stop reading all non-fiction and add some fiction in for fun. -Penelope Dullaghan
	I am going to stop doing the same things over and over again expecting different results. –Dave Reinbold
	I am going to stop waiting for an email. What I mean by this is that I am going to be more proactive instead of reactive. I find myself waiting with bated breath for the next email-based job inquiry. Instead, I am going to work harder at establishing relationships with new customers. -Lisa Ballard

“A new decade of effective creativity.”

Why is this year different from the past years?
To start with, I’m a little wiser. As a result of the current market, the world of creativity and business is changing and I’m seeing opportunities to take our artists and myself, to a whole new level. With the passion of Scott Hull Associates to help others, it comes down to bridging the gap between creative and corporate. Collaboration and understanding the new culture of business is very important in creating a successful visual brand image. With insights learned from the challenging economy, we are excited not about only a new year, but a new decade.

What would you consider your “mantra” for the coming new year to be?
Original Art Works through Collaboration. I’m viewing 2010 as a new year of effective creativity. When resources are constrained, the key to growth is teaming up an analytic left-brain thinker with an imaginative right-brain partner. Look at the latest articles in Harvard Business Reviews, Business Week, or Fast Company magazines; they are blending creative and business minds.

What role does the client’s target customer or end user play in everyday business?
The new business model is building products around consumer needs, not the business needs. This is where original artwork can help client’s empower their customer. This is because original art can be tailored to more specific emotions of a targeted customer.

How important is open communication with a client?
Now more than ever, marketing executives and artists must listen and understand what the client is trying to say/achieve. The closer we can get to define the elements of a client’s desired customer experience, the more value, longevity, and uniqueness we can offer.

Why do you need a company like Scott Hull Associates?
STATUS QUO IS IN BIG TROUBLE. People yearn for change, they relish being part of a movement and they talk about things that are remarkable, not boring. I’m excited for the new era of visual branding. The marketplace (every marketplace) rewards innovation: things that are fresh, stylish, and new. After all, the best way to teach is through the eye and the hand. It’s harder to retain what we hear. Listen with your eyes!

We have had the privilege of working with some of the best and brightest in the art world. And I would like to personally thank them all for such incredible business over the years and a continued partnership into the new decade.

Doug Knopp, art director for Visual Marketing Associates, started his search for the perfect artist by speaking personally with Scott Hull, then went to the SHA website and picked a style appropriate for the client. Doug and his team discussed each style of each artist they were interested in and landed on Curtis because of his sophisticated approach to the theme. Curtis Parker offered his stylistic solutions to give the school a visual voice.

The school wanted the concept of the illustration to support the tagline for the Bell Tower magazine…”Connecting Schoolcraft College Alumni & Friends”. It’s all about cultivating and sustaining a lifelong relationship with Schoolcraft College’s extended family of alumni, students, faculty, staff and the community at large.

So why did Doug and his colleagues decide to go with art versus photography? Several reasons. The client had an illustrated idea of what they wanted. It would set them apart, from most collage magazines that are driven by photos. Always a big fan of illustration, they wanted to go against the grain. Their final outcome must be more customized than stylized. Marrying both style of illustration with the architecture within in the school. They wanted something tactile and approachable.

Curtis describes the initial stages of starting the process, “The school has a bell tower on campus so I wanted to connect all the alumni to this tower. I thought it might be cool to have the alumni crowd holding on to the bell ropes as the ropes weaved their way through the crowd.”

The finished product was described in a brief but effective statement from Doug, “The client is ecstatic.” That’s about the best response any director can hope for. He also went on to say, “The staff is excited about new style the magazine is taking via the illustration. We absolutely loved working with Curtis. He started with thumbnail sketches, so we had a sense of what final illustration would look like. And we were more than thrilled with the final outcome. Conceptually, it was spot-on.”

An interview with Penelope.

Client: Starbucks – print and web campaigns. Agencies: Tribal DDB for web and TracyLocke for print.

Target audience: Art director for the project, Stephanie Hancock says, “The Frappuccino campaign is called ‘You Deserve One,’ and it centers around rewarding people for doing the day to day things in life that often go unnoticed. In short, consumers can come to the site and nominate a friend who deserves a Frappuccino by creating a webpage for them which features their friend’s photo and story. Penelope’s illustrations served as the background to all these nominations.”

What was the creative challenge? For the web portion of this work, the challenge was creating each element of the illustration on a separate layer to be animated easily. For the print work, the challenge was to incorporate the pour from the Frappuccino bottle into the scene, kind of creating the space for the figures to be enjoying their found free moments.

How did you resolve the challenge? For the web, it was really fun to think up elements in each scene that could be animated. For instance, with the beach scene, I drew a fiddler crab, a seagull, the ocean tide, sailboat, etc. It was no problem creating each of these on different layers because my work style is a mixture of hand-made elements compiled digitally. So I was able to deliver a layered final file to the animators and make their jobs easy.
For the print campaign, we wanted to evoke a feeling of relaxation. So the figures look like they’ve found these spare moments to take a break and enjoy a Frappuccino.

What was the final outcome of the project? For just recently being launched, the campaign is a big hit. The website http://you-deserve-one.com/ has a lot of participant nominations for those who deserves it most.

Stephanie compliments Penny by saying, “It was such a pleasure working with Penelope. We’ll definitely look to Scott Hull Associates and his team for future illustration needs.”

Penelope was extensively interviewed and will be gracing a feature in the upcoming issue of CA magazine—so keep your eyes open!

Two of Scott Hull Associates premiere artists, Andrea Eberbach and Andy Hayes were recently featured in CA magazine.

Check out the pieces below:

Be on the look out for the January/February issue of Communication Arts, which features our illustrator Penelope Dullaghan.

Today’s marketing is about engaging with the audience and delivering products and services with stories that connect. We need to be part of a team that relates and then spreads the stories that get others to notice the trends. All you need is the desire. Take the initiative and make things happen. The organization that needs innovation the most is the one that does the most to stop it from happening. Realizing this is a tremendous opportunity.

People yearn for change, they relish being part of a movement, and they talk about things that are remarkable, not boring. Every marketplace rewards innovation, things that are fresh, stylish, genuine, and innovative.

Being part of a team that relates is a must! Over the years, our job during the execution phase has been to roll out art by the deadline. And today that means building an ever-widening support base of like-minded thinkers with the same passion– to create. We must collaborate to make a difference visually on the world. Never stop selling your passion to create! Never stop recruiting followers!

And finally, don’t lose the emotion; don’t let these hard economic times dry you up. Just as important as keeping the deadline, you must keep it WOW! Face it: The project execution can be emotionally draining. I can speak first hand regarding this. It’s easy for the big project to slip away slowly and imperceptibly. Go back to first principles and see whether you’re still on course emotionally. Bring in a new recruit to your team, someone with fresh energy and enthusiasm. But don’t lose the energy that created the project in the first place.

The ones that are willing to embrace the challenges rather than be threatened by them will bring prosperity and reign with growth and renewal. Keep in mind that your latest project should be the “brand of you”. No one will know about you if you don’t knuckle down and take care of the customer. Let him or her know what value you bring to their business. We can only do this together– as a team that relates.

VisualAmbassador.com

SHA Artist/Illustrator: Larry Moore and Andrea Eberbach
Art /Design Director: Jay Jung
Project: Panera in store murals

Panera’s brand is focused around artisan breads with a lifestyle element. Within that perimeter, the art directors for the world famous company are trying to build a visual brand image, through illustration. They selected Larry Moore and Andrea Eberbach because of their contemporary styles. With each artist working on a separate project, Andrea’s illustrations were placed in west coast stores, Larry’s on the east coast.

Larry had this to say about working with Panera, “While Jay was very forthcoming about what he wanted, he was also very clear about what he didn’t want. He didn’t want people sitting around in a café eating. No clichés. He wanted something broader. Jay explained the visual he wanted, of two worlds connected by a baker and his peel (the long-handled bread spatula). The next part was easy.”

Larry’s work was geared more towards the European neighborhood feel (pictorial scenes), which was depicted through his plein air style. While Andrea’s illustrations were focused on stronger graphics and shapes. Her style represented the individual in daily life, enjoying the comfort of home, relationships, etc.

Jay Jung, Panera’s Vice President Design Creative, first worked with Andrea, Larry, and assorted other Scott Hull Associates artists a few years back when developing other artistic visuals for the eateries. Jay says, “In my past experience with these artists, knowing the strength and visual impact that both Andrea and Larry have given brands, I knew that with their artistic deftness combined, it would be an impactful and elevated look and feel. I knew the results would make Panera a stand-alone collector.”

The CEO of Panera fell in love with the paintings so much, that the original art is hanging in his personal office.

SHA Artist/Illustrator: Greg LaFever
Art/Design Director: Greg Fehrenbach
Project: Value Dossier on Thoracic Surgery; Medical Illustration of Lungs

What creative/business goals did you have with this project?
We were asked to translate an 80+ page Word document of information, graphs and surgical procedure images into a comprehensive, branded communication tool. It was determined that the client would benefit from the ability to use these illustrations in future marketing communications.

Describe your target audience/client base:
Our client is a leading manufacturer and marketer of surgical devices. The target audience is both field sales reps and C-Suite decision-makers for health care providers (i.e. Humana, Anthem Blue Cross & Blue Shield, etc.)

Were there any special hurdles or requirements that the artist had to address?
Greg had to do some research to help him develop the illustrations of lung anatomy. Additionally, he had only 10 days in which to deliver final art, including illustrative time. He met the deadline spot-on.

Describe the final outcome of the project:
Greg created 16 illustrations that helped communicate complex procedural information to a non-surgical minded audience.

Tell us specifically about your experience working with our artist:
It was easy to secure client approval on the illustrations Greg developed for us due to how clean and precise his sketch work is. I was impressed by how quickly Greg was able to take his pencil sketches to final digital art. He was also able to make revisions without hesitation or increase in budget. Greg was easy to communicate with and responsive to our needs throughout the project. We look forward to the opportunity to work with him and Scott on future projects.

SHA Artist/Illustrator: Lorraine Tuson
Art /Design Director: Sheri Myers
Project: Riddel Williams Brand: Holiday Card

Lorraine Tuson, consummate illustrator for the law firm Riddell Williams, has done it again. For the past several years Lorraine has taken on the enjoyable project of illustrating series of images for the company’s brochure and then eventually translating them into holiday cards.

This year Lorraine transformed the focal image of a flower made up of hands and turned it into a wreath with a ribbon. This changed the color palette completely and gave them a decidedly different interpretation of their classic brand identity.

Lorraine is a key element in keeping the law firm’s look and brand fresh and updated. She took the old and made it new. Art director Sheri Myers has this to say about the working relationship with Lorraine, “The past three years, I have worked with Lorraine to transform one of the original branding illustrations she created for Riddell Williams into a winter scene for our annual holiday card. This transformation process allows us to retain the branding of the illustration, while expanding its usage, giving us more bang for our buck. Lorraine has been fantastic to work with and has created a beautiful transformation again this year.”

Click here to see Lorraine Tuson’s striking illustrations throughout the Riddell William’s website.
Also see: Lorraine’s portfolio