Design Portfolio

Colby Frame

Story: In the summer of 2006, a friend of mine had discussed an interest in pursuing a new business venture. At about the same time, I had heard that a museum-quality picture framing company based in the North Side of Pittsburgh was looking for a buyer. It seemed to be a natural fit.

The company, Colby Frame, had built a reputation among local museums for their high-quality craftsmanship. With a customer list including the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Museum of Art, Heinz Field and the Pittsburgh Pirates, it had a significant base from which to build. The next step was building awareness in the consumer market. It was bigger than simply picture framing; it was a company that had been called upon to preserve collections and artifacts in a variety of forms.

Goal: Develop a brand strategy that could be incorporated into the business plan that would help secure the necessary funds to acquire the company.

Solution: Colors and styles needed to be approachable and professional. A very natural color scheme was incorporated, which helped to reinforce the manual process used to create moulding from stock woods. A comfortable serif typeface was used, giving the look a classic-but-professional feel. The tagline "Preserving Life's Passions" was added to the brand to help communicate to customers that the company made other products (shadowboxes) and sold artwork (specifically John Stobart's work). The "brush" element brought the entire design together.

Colby Frame was a family business, so the final design was presented to the company's founder. He was incredibly happy with the design and complimented our team for paying so much attention to the soul of the company. It was a tremendous professional compliment.