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JAQKD UP OVER DESIGNER WINES
SAN FRANCISCO CA
What do you get when you mix a graphic design team with some grapes and a sense of whimsy - a new wine with eye-catching labels and playful names to boot. JAQK Cellars, so named for Jack, Ace, Queen and King, is the brainchild of graphic designers Katie Jain and Joel Templin and wine industry veterans Craig Maclean and Bernard La Borie. Jain and Templin are co-founders and creative heads of San Francisco-based Hatch Design, whose clients include Coca-Cola, Apple, Target Stores and Quiksilver. The JAQK team is producing eight limited production wines, with four from the Napa Valley appellation and four with a California appellation. The wines are playfully named for the high-stakes world of gaming — High Roller, Soldiers of Fortune, Black Clover, Pearl Handle, 22 Black, Bone Dance, Her Majesty and Charmed — and images from playing cards prevail on the company’s marketing materials. Contact: www.jaqkcellars.com

TAKING PUBLICITY UNDERCOVER
BOULDER CO
The creative team at TDA Advertising & Design took promotion to a new level, using invisible ink in their debut job for new client USA Network. To create pre-Emmy buzz among the Academy of Television Arts and Science judges for the network’s new spy show Burn Notice, USA Network, NY, mailed 14,000 “FYC” or For Your Consideration kits printed in invisible ink. TDA creatives, led by Jonathan Schoenberg and Thomas Dooley, designed slip-covered three-panel, hardcover kits holding a UV flashlight and instructions for reading the hidden images, press blurbs and Emmy nomination news. Under white light, the kit appears blank apart from instructions; in black light, all is revealed, in keeping with the show’s espionage theme. Contact: www.tdaad.com

METHODOLOGIE CELEBRATES 20 YEARS
SEATTLE WA
Methodologie, a Seattle-based brand firm, is celebrating 20 years in the competitive world of graphic design. The firm, with just 28 employees originating from two separate companies, TeamDesign and the Traver Company, shapes brand development, interactive and graphic design, investor and CSR communications for some of the world’s biggest names including the Coca-Cola Company, Boeing, Microsoft, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Sun Microsystems. A multi-disciplinary team is one of the keys to Methodologie’s success, says Dale Hart, a Partner and Creative Director. “We hire both left and right-brained strategists who understand creative work, in addition to designers who are strategic thinkers,” he said. The growth plans seem to be working for the firm, which recently made it onto Inc. Magazine’s list of the 5,000 fastest growing companies in America. To celebrate two decades, the firm recently relocated to a new, completely redesigned space in the heart of Seattle’s financial district. As part of the festivities, which included a big party, it also installed a vibrant Dale Chihuly glass sculpture in its outdoor event space and garden. The sculpture consists of 20, six-foot fire red glass reeds and took about four hours to install. Contact: www.methodologie.com

MICHAEL BIERUT GETS MAD
NEW YORK NY
Michael Bierut has designed the visual identity for the Museum of Arts and Design, which opened in its new home at New York’s Columbus Circle in September. The new logo draws attention to the museum’s new digs — Columbus Circle being the only circle in Manhattan’s grid — creating letterforms from arcs inscribed in square blocks. The simplicity of the logo means the letterforms can be filled with bespoke treatments that correspond to the art on show in the museum at any given time. Bierut, of course, is no stranger to museums: his work is represented in several permanent collections including the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and the Cooper-Hewitt. Contact: www.madmuseum.com

CITIZEN MOBILE GETS OWN HOTELS
AMSTERDAM NL
Mobile citizens of the world are getting new places to stay on their travels, thanks to Amsterdam agency Kesselskramer, which helped create the name, design, communications and branding for a new chain of "affordable luxury" hotels. The hotels are named citizenM, for the so-called mobile citizen clientele they're targeting. The brand personality of citizenM, which has already launched at Amsterdam's international airport, is based on the idea that travelers want well-designed rooms for a low price, lots of mod cons, free movies and wi-fi and a stylish lobby such as the Vitra-designed one at the new hotels. Kesselskramer's creative team worked on design for everything from the soaps in the hotel bathrooms to menus and food and drink packaging, the website and do-not-disturb signs. The agency also helped citizenM collaborate with artists to develop artwork and in-room films to playup the hotels' cultural personality. A second hotel is planned in Amsterdam, three for the UK and 20 more in Europe in the next five years. Contact: www.citizenm.com

FASHION + ART COLLIDE
AMSTERDAM NL
A hefty, wood-bound Mood Book is headed to fashion editors and stockists to launch the Spring/Summer 2009 collection for Onitsuka Tiger by ASICS. The book, designed by ad and branding agency Amsterdam Worldwide, features a tiger drawing by Japanese artist Takeshi Fukui intricately laser etched into the solid wood cover. It comes in two halves, one for Spring/Summer and the other for upcoming Autumn/Winter looks, all of which take inspiration from Zodiac animals. The latest looks show models in fairytale-like landscapes shot by Dutch photographer Ruud Baan. The models are embellished with pencil drawings from London illustrator Jo Radcliffe, so they take on the appearance of Zodiac animals. Contact: www.amsterdamworldwide.com

TIRED OF YOUR PLANET?, VISIT SPORE
PORTLAND OR
Wieden + Kennedy is leading the advertising blitz for Spore, tipped to be the next big thing in the video-gaming market. The role-playing game, which lets gamers create a creature, build it a habitat and lead it through evolution, is the latest from game developer Electronic Arts, already well-known for NBA Live and the Sims. A large billboard with the moniker “Tired of Your Planet?” is part of the ad campaign led by the Portland-based firm. Creative Directors Jed Alger, Aaron Allen and Jose Cabaco came up with a string of ads featuring Spore-like characters, with tag lines including “You’re Weird” and “Youngest of 436 Kids.” Matt Murphy and Jimm Lasser were Art Directors, with Illustrator Drew Marshall and Copywriters Chris Jacobs and Matthew Carey. Contact: www.spore.com

VOTE EARLY, AVOID CROWDS
MADISON COUNTY IL
Vote early and dodge the crowds, that’s the message Madison County, IL, hired Steve Hartman’s Creativille, Inc. to spread. The St. Louis, MI-based agency came up with a straightforward red, white and blue advertisement on a black background, using a little bird to spread the word: “Early Bird Voting: Before Election Day, At Any Location.” Said simply, the campaign aims to cut what could be record election-day turnout by 20%. Contact: www.creativille.net