In our daily life, we often get asked why branding matters. For many, brand is not something that's easily understood, and for good reason; it's complicated! So what is it and why does it matter according to us? Read on to find out...

If you like stuff, and if you like the internet, I highly recommend you mosey on over to Svpply.com.

It's been an especially busy month for me with my wedding just days away. Being in strategic creative makes an event like this all the more fun with opportunities to think outside the box and create a truly unique event that encapsulates our personalities and relationship. Anyone who's planned a wedding before knows there's a lot of pressure to architect the "perfect" day, however if our wedding invitations are any indication of the big day's success, then we're off to a great start.

Check out the full system in the post!

When proclaiming a boycott of BP, the common rhetoric seems to be that you're only hurting the families that own the franchise stations (and not the evil corporation). Brand association is a powerful thing for better or worse, and despite the baseless droning that protest only hurts the innocents in this case, new data is showing otherwise.

Oh Lawd! We've been busier than a gaggle of one armed paper hangers (whatever that means). In the last two weeks we've begun several exciting new projects including The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Voco, AdoptUsKids and the Crossroads Shopping Village in Carmel, CA.

Keep an eye out for developments on these new branding initiatives as well as a much needed portfolio update. We'll be back to our normal flow of super social banter shortly, so stay tuned.

Happy fourth ya'll!!

They're sleek, they're sexy, and they've made our team's day that much better! Now if only they would activate...

Urban Influence would like to extend a warm welcome to our newest team member, Amy Strand. Amy is our new office manager and has already been making our office a brighter, saner, happier place. Keep an eye on the team section for a proper mug shot and bio coming soon!

Ladies and Gentlemen, allow me to introduce Coda, the newest addition to the Urban Influence family. Coda is Nate's 12 week old Miniature Australian Shepherd and one of the darn cutest dogs you'll ever meet. It's hard to have a bad day with this little guy running around (and he produces less crap within our studio than most of our old interns).

It was another week at the office, and like most weeks, another student dropped off a portfolio to be considered for an internship. After our young applicant left, we dropped the black leather bound case on the pool table and unzipped it to see what lay inside. The situation was all too familiar, however the work that lay in front of us was not.

This was the first portfolio we've seen that didn't actually have any graphic design in it – No typography, layout, composition, or anything that a designer would be judged on when applying for a design job. What sat in place was a selection of well composed photographs and fine art abstract illustrations. Our applicant wasn't a designer at all, but a traditional artist looking to make the jump into the world of commercial design. Without any preconception or fear of the industry, she came in and put her work at our mercy hoping for the best...