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Later in Frank Lloyd Wright’s career, he was asked what his favorite design was. Wright’s reply was, “my next one.”

Over the past 11 months, we’ve had the opportunity to create some favorites of our own: Oden or Durant, Cinco, Authenticity. We’ve travelled to some favorite events in Minneapolis, Nashville, Hollywood and here in Portland.

So… what’s next?

bambu
We’ve started working on the new digital brand for bambu. To quote the client after our initial concept presentation, “There’s nothing that we hated.” So that’s a good start. The new site is scheduled to launch toward the end of January, 2008. If you’re not familiar with bambu, they have a great video profile featured on the Lexus Hybrid Living site, but you can also view it below.

Portland Trail Blazers
We’ve been doing some research on what it means to be a Portland Trail Blazer fan. We’ve also been thinking about how people come together to support a team… the players, coaches, broadcasters, Blazer dancers and fans together form a community around the Trail Blazers. For 2008, we’ve been challenged in rethinking what it means to be a community, and how this can be expressed through a digital brand.

Arakawa
Haven’t talked about this relationship on our site yet, but it’s not because it isn’t interesting. We’ve just been busy with it. Technically, Arakawa “supplies quick-release cable grippers to retail stores and fixture manufacturers, exhibit builders, galleries and museums, and general contractors.” But what they really do is create solutions that show stuff off for their clients. We’re currently working on Arakawa’s digital brand and how it plays into their 2008 marketing strategy. Beyond simply a web site design, the digital brand represents how easy it is to find the right products, and how Arakawa helps craft solutions. Phase One launches in early 2008, with Phase Two set to release sometime around President’s Day, 2008.

Substantial Coffee Morning, December 14
Having been delinquent to the last few Likemind coffee mornings, we’re going to try and redeem ourselves by having you over to the Substance living room for coffee. We’re currently looking at December 14th, around 9am. Details and invitation to follow shortly. We have enough seating for about 10 people, so if you’re interested in coming, please let us know by emailing “mrcoffee (at) findsubstance (dot) com”. Note that we’re not equipped to make any sort of “fancy” coffee beverages, so if that’s what you’re looking for you may want to stop over at Genie’s first and pick up your latte.

Substance One Year Anniversary
January 19th marks the one year anniversary of Substance. In the upcoming weeks, we’ll take a look back at some of the highlights from 2007, some of the challenges we’ve gone through, and a look ahead to the future of Substance in 2008.

Happy Holidays
Please note that Substance will be closed on December 24th and 25th, 31st and January 1st. If you’re looking for us on one of those days, you won’t find us in the office. Unless we get that XBox 360 and Rock Band like we’ve been asking… then we might be here, but we won’t be “working.” (We’ll be ROCKING!!!)