Merry Christmas!!!

Well hello friends!

2013 has been quite the year for the monster duo. We've been extremely busy (in a good way), but more importantly have had the pleasure of working with the greatest folks. Some of whom we've had relationships with for over 10 years and others whom we consider new friends. The common link they are share is they're some of the greatest people we know and we're super blessed to work with.

We don't look at our jobs as a series of individual projects, we look at them as opportunities to help our friends' businesses grow and achieve new heights. And as people who are addicted to positive change, it's been a rewarding year.

So to share a little of our holiday joy with you, we wanted to share our e-card we've been shooting out to our business friends.

On behalf of the Monster Crew, we wish you the greatest Christmas (or holiday of your choice) ever and even greater New Year!! Celebrate safely and stay awesome!

Look Who's Talking Too

Not only was it an amazing sequel to an amazing movie (Bruce Willis babies are adorable), but it's what's happening in the near future. Visual Voltage, a student run design organization and chapter of AIGA, is hosting their annual SPARK conference and they've asked me (Luis) and 3 other talented and established individuals to offer up our thoughts on this year's topic: INSPIRE. Check out the link for more details: http://vvspark.com/

Monster Update

Hello friends!

It's been a while since we've posted, but that doesn't mean we haven't been doing anything. On the contrary, we've been kept busy by our rock star client family and also developing personal projects and even a little Idea Monster passion project/venture. We're still too early in to disclose any specifics, but take a peek into what lies ahead.

In terms of personal projects, we view these as opportunities to stretch ourselves and work outside of our comfort zone and try a new approach. Below is a piece that was developed to appear as if it were done on a letterpress.

We also have the tendency to have a random thought pop into our head while working and we'll either jot down the idea or do a quick sketch so we can return to it in between projects. Below is such an example. Friends, there's no need to hurt Mr. Chocolate's feelings. Ever.

Well, thanks for dropping by! Hope you enjoyed your stay! Drop by any time :).

An A-maze-ing Project Update!

Hello friends!

Sorry for the pun. It's almost impossible to not share bad puns around here. Don't judge.

Anyways, we're excited to have received the green light to post this project we did for the super great (I almost said a-maze-ing) folks at Marbles: The Brain Store. If you're not familiar with who they are, please do check them out. They're a store (on-line as well) that specializes in keeping you mentally healthy and growing through classic as well as new and innovative games, puzzles and activities, so we respect them right off the bat. What makes them even greater are the people. Very down to earth and very funny. More importantly, they bring their humor and wit into their own products and quality is not a close second, it seems to be their number one priority.

That's what made this project so great; they put as much work/thought/quality into their packaging as they do their product. We were asked to create the packaging for their updated version of Labyrinth. They gave us little guidelines and much freedom. Having designed packaging for national retailers, we know every penny counts, so we played it safe (but sexy) with most designs, but we also threw in a couple of pie-in-the-sky options and thankfully they went with our personal favorite! We designed a 3D maze with an actual marble on the cover of the box and allowing it to dot the "i" in Labyrinth as an extra wink. Their team of genius engineers and manufactures were able to make it come to life and the feedback has been, and I apologize in advance, A-MAZE-ING!! I believe the term "hot cakes" was used to describe how well it's doing. But we're only one small piece of the puzzle. They did an incredible job updating the game with regular, yet challenging, mazes, and in true Marbles fashion, they put their own spin on it and added a Periodic Table of Elements and map of the USA on a couple of the mazes. A nerd's dream come true. So check out a couple of the photos below and if you, or someone you know, is in need of some brain exercise, give them a visit here or find a store near you.