Branding A Wholehearted and Independent Home Builder

Nathan Smith met Elizabeth Meade when they were introduced by a shared sub-contractor. They were in different areas of building: he, in a roofing sales business; she, in health and wellness. The sub is long gone, but there was a…

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Nov
12

Building a Boutique Agency

Ellen Bruss Design – EBD began after I had been working for a few years in both the music business and for agencies big and small. I primarily worked for Fey Concerts, the largest music promoter between the Midwest and…

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Oct
30

Celebrating a Century of Sweetness

‘I’ve heard tell that what you imagine sometimes comes true.’ -Roald Dahl, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.  When Carl T. Hammond Sr. opened his candy factory in 1920, he probably couldn’t imagine that his business would still be flourishing 100…

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Aug
12

High-Rise in the High Desert

In 2019, Lennar Multifamily Communities (LMC) approached EBD to brand a luxury multifamily project right in Scottsdale Quarter, a mixed-use development with a high-end outdoor shopping area. Our scope-of-work included naming the project, the brand identity collateral, temporary signage to…

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Jul
1

Family, Friends & Freedom

Whiskey tastes better in good company. Pair that good company with a campfire and you’ve got an unbeatable recipe for cultivating great ideas.  A few years back, a group of three work friends were drinking whiskey, around a campfire, and…

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May
29

4/20 Wellness

Wellness and self-care are currently at the forefront of everyone’s mind. COVID-19 has many people reaching for different modalities as they navigate this challenging time. A time where feeling ‘well’ seems harder to come by in all corners of life….

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Apr
20

Support Local Business

As a society, we’re all experiencing and learning about the COVID-19 pandemic in real-time. And we’re doing it together. The concept of community has taken on a whole new perception in the past couple of weeks. Here at EBD our…

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Mar
25

Luxury Living with Historical Roots

Denver’s development has occurred at such a rapid pace over the past decade, it sometimes appears as if the construction crane has become the new state bird of Colorado. As much as we have seen the downtown area booming from…

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Feb
28

Bringing Farmers Market to Family-Owned

Neil Young said it best in his 1977 country-infused ballad, Saddle Up the Palomino, ‘It’s a cold bowl of chili when love lets you down.’ Neil knew and understood that a great, warm bowl of chili was comparable to a…

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Feb
14

A Residence Inn by Marriott Becomes a Mountain Local

The Wilson Hotel, which opened summer 2019 In Big Sky, Montana, took design inspiration from the historic architecture found throughout the state—an overt nod to the grand hotels of Montana’s past. Its name is also a local reference to nearby…

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Dec
26

Cracking the Nut on Dip

What happens when you combine an experimental foodie with a crew of hungry college kids in search of 100% organic foods? A whole lot of hope for a good snack and a very delicious outcome. Insert Hope Foods, a Colorado snack…

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Nov
7

The Case for Design: A Graduation Keynote

Good morning to all of the graduates; and their families and friends. I am honored to be speaking to you today, at a place that I have watched grow into a great institution. My design & marketing firm, EBD, has…

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Sep
24

Building a New Kind of Museum Brand

It was 2004. All contemporary art museum brands looked the same: lots of whitespace, san serif typefaces, primary colors anchored by black. Adam Lerner, the Director of MCA Denver, was forming a new contemporary art institution called “The Lab at…

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Aug
8

Notes from a Production Manager: Turning Dreams into Reality

The time had finally arrived, not holiday time, but the Museum of Contemporary Art – Denver VIP Gala Invitation time! Every year, EBD is tasked with designing the gala invitation for MCA’s Luminocity Gala. As one of our most anticipated…

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Jun
10

The Thinking Behind Design Thinking

We were excited to launch our new brand for TARRA at their annual summit on Saturday, March 2nd. TARRA is an organization devoted to cultivating the next generation of entrepreneurs, creators, innovators and business leaders. The summit included part one…

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Mar
29