House Day
Marketing event for landlords
Duets
Gemstone & mother of pearl jewelry pieces
Gear Guide Mike
Outdoor gear review website
Sheet Metal Skin Graft
Electronica music artist
Titan Inspection Services
Home inspection company
Glass Home Inspection
Home inspection company
Trail Marker
Election season news series
IHQ Pro
Home inspection company
Survey Gizmo
Data collection, analysis, and integration
Dragon Youth Project
Youth mental illness outreach program
Lightning Bolt
Noise rock band logo
Slab to Slate
Home inspection company
Wiretap
News column about top political headlines
Eau Claire Community Foundation
Eau Claire philanthropic organization
The Bucket List Challenge
Fundraiser for Childrens Future International
Sew Reversible
Hand-made and reversible knit wear
Morlox
IDM/noisecore/electronica musician
Rhinoceropolis
A variety of designs for a DIY venue called Rhinoceropolis. The venue is a bastion of subculture and a recusant Denver institution which has been around for about 20 years.
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Rhinoceropolis showcases a variety of arts. The venue’s most active patronage revolves around live music. For this reason the controls on an amp seemed like a good fit.
Due to the outlaw nature of DIY venues, incorporating an interdictory circle seemed like an appropriate way to emphasize the pariah nature of Rhinoceropolis. These examples are a fun representation of balanced chaos.
This one incorporates the saying, “DIY or Die.” A mantra which emphasizes the attitude among insiders – DIY venues are not just a place to go, they are a way of life, and the lifeblood of the underground art and music scene.
Cautionary tale: How not to build a brand
Ink and Lyrics – The craziest client I’ve ever had
Working with a designer should be an offshoot of your foundational business plan or quarterly goals. More specifically, design work should be part of your content marketing strategy. Content marketing is creating and distributing, relevant content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience. This is usually done with the objective of driving profitable customer action. It is important to define marketing goals along with a timeline and budget for the execution of each goal.
Structure, planning and setting goals are key to building a business or a brand. This might seem like common sense to many. For those new to this concept, a great article from Entrepeneur.com titled 7 Steps to a Perfectly Written Business Plan can help. In it you’ll find resources for developing a content marketing strategy. Entrepeneur.com also has many other great resources for people who wish to start their own business. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel.
Below are a few different pieces that I did for someone who hired me to do design work exclusively. He wanted to create an online magazine focusing on art and music. The focus ended there.
The requests were to create content and branding for everything from t-shirts to business cards to article categories. However, he had no overall strategy, never responded to texts or emails and was basically shooting from the hip. Often he would have an idea, text me about it, and ask for finished art. He was all over the place, saying things like, “Just make it and I’ll decide what it’s for later.” The most consistent branding concepts I could pull from him were that he wanted the brand to be turtle themed and wanted “INLY” as a contraction of the brand name “Ink and Lyrics.”
My efforts to convince him to create a business plan, or at least an outline of what he wanted to focus on, were futile. When I brought up administration related topics he would tell me he had a business guy, and to just focus on design.
His lack of organization and strategy resulted in him running out of money before he was able to turn his ideas into anything concrete.
Despite all of this. I had a lot of fun turning his ideas into finished work and created some things that I really liked. 🤷🏻♂️ So, here it is.
The plan for this was that it would be the header for a music reviews column on the website. See what he did there.
Logo Concepts
Never got him to settle on one. But, I really enjoyed using Illustrator’s gradient mesh tool on the bottom left one.
Coat of arms. What was this to be used for? I asked him the same question. He said he’d back to me on that. I’m still waiting.
Design for a t-shirt and “probably some other stuff too.” Using Adobe Illustrator, I traced photos of my own hands and added some cartoon exaggeration.
T-shirt designs
Cyber Punkrockers
This is a brand I created to test organic Facebook marketing strategies. The brand is intentionally subculture in nature to access the same hurdles any niche market might face. Initially my main focus was to gain Facebook likes using a variety of tactics. Here is the link to the page.
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A Facebook art page shares many of the same challenges in gaining likes as any business that starts from the bottom. During my best stretch I gained 761 likes in a 2-week period, using a 100% organic methods. Facebook likes translate into a captive audience.
Using a grid to create the font from scratch, I aimed for a fusion of tech and punk aesthetics.
One key to creating a successful brand is featuring something that nobody else offers. Even though I only created a page that shares the art of others, there was a specific hook in mind. In my opinion, the cyberpunk genre of art and films has never been punk-rock enough. Especially considering it’s incorporation of the word “punk”. My page appeals to those who relate to that sentiment.
I realize cyberpunk’s use of the term is not intended to carry the same meaning as the music and fashion movement that took off in the 80s. However, I felt there was definitely an audience that would be eager for such an approach. Cyberpunk art and films constantly, albeit peripherally, feature elements of punk rock. The goal of Cyber Punkrockers is to put the punk in cyberpunk.
Eventually I will also use the brand to test social media ecommerce strategies.
I sometimes post pieces of original art to bolster and further define the niche.
BEHIND THE SCENES
The Metro Design House Logo
Brainstorm Process – Is there anything more fun than creating a logo? Yes. Disneyland. I’ve always loved Disneyland! But a close 2nd is making logos! I absolutely love making logos. Here is a look at some of the visual experiments and ideas I had while creating a logo for Metro Design House. Being a company that focuses on marketing content creation, I initially wanted to incorporate a colorful palate. There are a few reasons I didn’t end up going in that direction.
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I really wanted attention focused more on the work itself. Also, the empty square is intended to represent design possibilities. So, I didn’t want clients to think that I only specialize in happy colorful design. Instead I wanted the logo to represent more of a neutral blank canvas. Another reason was economy – printing promotional materials, like business cards, is always cheaper in black and white. I’d rather spend money on better paper and unique printing materials/processes. In the end, black, white and grey just felt more contemporary to me.
CONTACT
MARK A. CASTILLO
Metro Design House
Minneapolis, MN
Feel free to use the form or email or call my cell with any questions.
I’ll be glad to hear from you!
Mark@MarkAC.com (720) 785 – 4198
