FORT COLLINS, Colo. – Fort Collins-based graphic design and marketing agency Toolbox Creative is recognized for award-winning logo design in the December 2008 issue of Print magazine.
Toolbox was one of 8 Colorado agencies to be featured in the publication, and the only marketing firm from Fort Collins to appear in Print’s prestigious award annual.
Founded in 1940, Print is a bi-monthly national magazine dedicated to promoting emerging trends, exceptional design and important influences shaping the graphic design industry. Print is one of the creative industry’s leading trade publications, and its December 2008 Regional Design Annual showcases winners of the magazine’s yearly design competition. Print’s December issue is hailed as a must-read for designers and companies who want a glimpse at the best creative work in the country.
Toolbox Creative’s Fiber Fanatic logo design was selected over tens of thousands of entries in the competition. Toolbox co-founder, president and curator of happiness Dawn Putney was also interviewedfor the publication.
Joyce Rutter Kaye writes in her introduction to Print’s 2008 Regional Design Annual, “The volume of entries into this year’s Regional Design Annual – a tribute to traditional media if there ever was one – attests to the value of print for delivering a tactile, portable, beautiful message that can be easily read, referenced, and archived.”
Toolbox Creative’s Putney agrees, and she also sees her company’s spotlight in the publication as an opportunity to keep Fort Collins on the national radar.
“A win for Toolbox is really a win for Fort Collins,” said Putney. “Print is the leading publication for designers, and it’s also a valuable resource for companies looking to hire a creative service agency. Recognition in this type of publication has the potential to introduce more national clients to Toolbox and to Fort Collins, and that means more dollars for our local economy.”
The Print award is not the first for Toolbox Creative this year. In October, the agency was featured in HOW magazine’s 2008 Self-Promotion Annual for award-winning book design. Another leading trade publication, HOW provides the design industry with relevant business information, technological tips, project case studies and profiles of professionals who are significantly influencing design.
The winning logo featured in Print was designed by Toolbox for Fiber Fanatic, a Colorado-based company with a line of complete project kits for simple and advanced knitters. Kits include yarn, knitting needles and detailed, illustrated instructions to create everything from socks to dish cloths. These kits are sold at hospital gift shops, dude ranches, ski resorts and other locations, where people might find themselves away from home with idle time on their hands. Although Toolbox designed the entire Fiber Fanatic Knit Kit packaging, the stand-alone logo was selected for the Print award. Toolbox co-founder and funkmeister general Tom Campbell, with business partner and wife Putney, provided art direction for the entire project. Toolbox senior designer Wendy Brookshire designed the winning logo.
“Good design is good business,” said Campbell. “Awards are nice, but what it really boils down to is visually helping our client deliver on their brand promise. When we hit a home run with a strong design, we help a client succeed. That’s what it’s all about.”
Written by cultural reporters and critics who look at design in its social, political, and historical contexts, Print explores why our world looks the way it looks, and why the way it looks matters. For more information about Print magazine and the 2008 Regional Design Annual, visit www.PrintMag.com.
Award-winning Toolbox Creative is a full service marketing agency with a knack for pairing strong, hand-crafted graphic design with thoughtful, clever copy. Keeping it fresh and delicious since 2002, Toolbox is where ideas, strategy, writing and design get down and get funky to the groove of the client’s brand promise. For more information about Toolbox Creative, call (970) 493-5755, visit them online at www.toolboxcreative.com, or stop by their studio at Cherry Street Lofts for fresh-baked cookies and tall tales.