We opened up an office in Portland a few weeks ago…but had not yet made a splash about it, because we’re waiting to get a bit more settled in the space and hire a couple more folks. Somehow a reporter heard about us and included us in this article…which was nice. So, I thought I’d share it…so, here it is:
Oregonian Article

Hope to see you in our new space.
We’re located at the base of the Fremont Bridge on the west side of the Columbia River on the edge of the Pearl District. We’re close enough to Union Station to wave to the conductors as the trains go by. Dive bars, coffee shops, and the boutiques of NW 23rd Avenue are all within walking distance.

The address is:
1800 NW 16th Avenue, Suite 205
Portland, OR 97209
T. 503.222.3700
F. 503.222.5883

Here is a photo of our office, The Triangle Building.

The actual reason for the trip is that I will be giving a presentation at “Marketing Mix” - which is the largest gathering of retailers in Brazil, and takes place in São Paulo on September 2nd and 3rd, 2008.

The theme for this year’s event is “The Consumer Transformation: Interactivity and Mobility at the Point of Purchase”. Sponsored by POPAI, the Global Association for Marketing at Retail, the event will discuss how the latest technology trends are affecting the retail industry in Brazil.

My presentation is titled “Building Brand Experiences at Retail”, and is focused on how brands and retailers can leverage branding processes from a strategic and tactical standpoint to increase the effectiveness of marketing initiatives at retail.

For more information check out our News Release, or the POPAI Brazil site.
Just for the record….(just in case) I am practicing my Samba!

Alfredo Muccino
Chief Creative Officer
Liquid Agency

Culled from thousands of entries created by top designers from over twenty five countries, this book features examples from a wide variety of professions, trades, and job descriptions. Carefully edited by Rex Peteet, the founding partner of Sibley/Peteet, in Austin, Texas – this book features an exceptional assortment of good design work…so, we’re very pleased to have made the cut.

In case you’d like to add this volume to your design library, here’s a link to purchase the book.

The show will open from September 27, 2008 thru January 4, 2009 at The Tech Museum of Innovation in Downtown San Jose. For more details, go to their website: www.thetech.org. This important exhibition promises to be the first of its kind in the US, showcasing priceless works of art direct from Italy - and over 200 artifacts and models of some of the inventions that Leonardo designed. If you’re anywhere near San Jose, be sure to check it out!

Our design solution included the image of what is known as “the flying man” - a prototype for an early flying machine modeled after the wings of birds. The artifact appears to glide into the layout, next to large lettering that spells out the inventor’s first name. As it does this, it casts a shadow…which actually is the shadow of a modern aircraft. According to Alfredo Muccino, Chief Creative Officer at Liquid: “This juxtaposition of old and new is representative of the nature of the exhibition - which seeks to present the impact and relevance of Leonardo’s inventions in the modern world.”

As part of the assignment we’ve created print, web, radio and TV spots, as well as the graphics that are featured on the website and those that will adorn the outside of TheTech. As soon as everything is released we will share it with you! We hope you will like what we did…but, most importantly, we hope that Leonardo would like it if he was around!

We have worked closely with Olive’s management since the inception of the company in the development of its brand identity, product design, interface, website, marketing, etc. Although the company is still small, it has built huge awareness amongst audiences interested in high quality sound – and we’re happy to see that the brand is starting to also reach the design community.

As part of the effort to build brand differentiation we suggested working with notable designers to further evolve how Olive’s products looked. The first one that came to mind was Karim Rashid. We’ve worked with Karim on other projects and we enjoyed it very much. Karim is not only one of the world’s best known designers of furniture, architecture and objects of desire…but is also an accomplished musician who DJs at events all over the globe. He agreed to collaborate on one of Olive’s products, the OPUS No.5, and the result is a series featuring Karim’s complex techno-patterns and singularly vibrant color palette.

To learn more about Olive and the latest products we’ve designed for them, visit olive.us…or check out the Olive Case Study on our site. And to wonder at the latest creations by Karim Rashid, visit karimrashid.com, you will find that this prolific designer is set on changing the way that we interact with just about everything around us.

Of course, if you’re a designer you probably already subscribe to HOW Magazine…but if you don’t here’s a link to sign up: HOW Magazine.com

Tim and Ben Bajarin are from Creative Strategies - one of the most respected analyst and consulting firms in the valley.

Tim is the elder of the two and the President of the company - and he started the morning by giving us his perspective on the state of Silicon Valley. The good news is that - according to Tim - Silicon Valley is poised to remain the leading source of innovation on the globe. This is due not just to the culture that has been created in the valley, but also because of the infrastructure that has been built here over the last 25 years. And the next wave of innovation is all about mobility.

Ben is Tim’s son - although you would not be able to tell by the way he looks. He provided us with an in-depth evaluation of where mobile technology is heading - and offered the attendees with very valuable insights around the branding challenges and opportunities ahead. His presentation included some interesting examples demonstrating how companies can create brand experiences that are valuable and non-intrusive through mobile technology.

The presentation included a lively Q&A session where attendees where able to ask very specific questions about issues relevant to their companies or their interests. It was obvious by the nature of the questions that this topic was quite timely for all that attended.

To learn more about Tim and Ben Bajarin, please visit Creative Strategies.com. They are fascinating individuals who work with leading tech firms helping them stay ahead of trends.

Also, they’ve provided us with a PDF of their presentation, and you can download that right here.

To learn more about the Liquid Brand Breakfast and get on our invite list, please click on this link and we’ll be glad to let you know when we organize the next one.

As a note, I’d like to thank Ron Gonzales of Presencia Technology for being our sponsor at the Capital Club. To learn more about Presencia and the services it offers to its clients, please visit PresenciaInvestments.com

Lastly, if you have any comments about the topic of Mobile Technology and how brands can leverage it to reach their audiences in relevant ways, please respond to this blog - and we’ll be glad to keep the conversation going.

Don’t forget to check out our pictures from the event as well!

We’re very happy to have been included in what is being billed as “the ultimate designer’s reference” book on logos - the book “Logo” by Michael Evamy.

According to Michael Bierut of Pentagram, “this wonderful resource will make better designers of all of us”. Now, that’s a pretty impressive statement from a very accomplished designer!

The Olive logo shares the same space as the logos for Disney, Ford and Harrods…which is pretty amazing.

“Logo” is a thick book, mostly in B&W…offering a great overview of some of the best identities in the world. For more information about the author, please take a look at his site www.evamy.co.uk …or head out to the nearest bookstore and add this book to your library!

Alex Littlewood presented a behind-the-scenes look at the branding work that was developed for 01SJ by Liquid…sharing with the audiences some of the work that did not make the cut, and a few pieces that no one has ever seen. Alex did a great job.

Alfredo Muccino shared some of his most recent work - which consisted of words and images superimposed on the picture of an ancient statue of an amazon. The artwork deals with the transformational effect that different words or symbols have on the viewer when associated with the same image.

The rest of the presenters included a wide variety of work…from industrial design by Scott Herbst and interactive artwork by Chris Wiedmann, to a thought provoking visual essay exploring the relationship between pornography and patriotism by Joe Miller.

For those of you who were not able to attend, here are links to each of our two presentations:
Alfredo: The meaning of words and symbols
Alex: The story behind 01SJ

Enjoy!!!

Liquid will be presenting a behind-the-scenes view of the development of the 01SJ brand - which offers a rare glimpse at the work that did not make the cut, and the reasons why.

As part of a separate presentation, Alfredo Muccino, Chief Creative Officer at Liquid will be sharing some of his art work…a series of images dealing with the power of words and symbols.

PechaKucha Night is a series of events that happen all over the globe…and this is the first time that one takes place in San Jose. If you have never attended one of these events, try to make this one. They are fun and dynamic…and offer an opportunity to see a lot of diverse and interesting work from digital designers, artists, architects, etc.

For more information on PechaKucha Night, visit:
http://pechakucha-sf.com

For more information on the 0SJ Festival, please visit:
http://01sj.org

Hope to see you there!!!!