Huge thanks to pals and super creative ninja geniuses Darrin Crescenzi now of Prophet, Tim Haskins of Copious, Adam Garcia of The Pressure and Aaron Zurcher of Spoke. These guys reviewed work like champs! Thanks to DWP for putting on such a great week, and Behance for continuing to strengthen the global design community.

Photos courtesy of talented graphic student Ethan Allen Smith.

The first dinner took place on a Thursday night at Sharp Restaurant, and highlighted the culinary genius of Inaki Aizpitarte of Le Chateaubriand in Paris, and Daniel Patterson of San Fran’s Coi. Aizpitarte has lifted his restaurant to a global ranking, number 15 to be exact, while Patterson has received a two-Michelin star rating at Coi.

The second dinner was led by Matthew Lightner and Sean Brock, which took place at Le Cordon Bleu. Both are considered to be some of the most exciting chef’s in the states. Brock comes by way of his place Husk McCrady’s in Charlestown, SC and has a James Beard Award on his mantel. Mr. Lightener recently left Portland’s Castagna to open his own 4-star rated place in the Big Apple, Atera. He’s boasts two James Beard Award nominations and Food & Wine dubbed him Best New Chef in 2010.

All said, we’d still put our money on Ken Norris over at Riffle in a cook-off. Photo credits to Bon Appetite and Leek Soup.

In January we were invited to pitch the full athletic department campaign for Oregon State University. Their primary goal was to improve upon the past years marketing efforts and maintain their position as a humble, passionate and dedicated force in college sports. Second on the docket was to step out of the shadows of in-state rival Oregon University, which has overwhelmed college sports with their recent marketing and branding efforts.

We began by setting up a short list of goals:
- Present a growing & maturing OSU athletic department.
- Stay true to the fan base, energize and give them a new reason to believe. Sell the true OSU.
- Provide a great experience, improve ticket sales and increase fan support.

Our big message – dedication and willingness put OSU athletes in the position to overcome, they deliver at the critical moment and this is what attracts fans to OSU games. We summed it up with “Lights Out.” Our secondary messaging was that OSU athletes understand it’s what you do off the field that determines what you can do on it; commitment leads to game day success. “Own the night. Take the day.”

We chose images that highlight defining moments on the field, and tied them back to the core “Lights Out” message with a punch of energy and excitement:

Along with our messaging and imagery, we developed various concepts to create student body & fan interaction. A few of our ideas included an OSU Athletics branded glowing mobile application to pair with a “lights out” chant, glow-in-the-dark apparel, stadium lighting and a handful of others.

Improved social media branding and a new athletics emailer:

We were excited to be invited to pitch alongside a few of Portland’s most reputable studios, Hovercraft being the smallest in the bunch. Unfortunately, this campaign won’t be stretching across the 80′ banners at Reser Stadium. Better luck next time, Hovercraft, better luck next time…