Simple, colorful design is prevalent throughout Europe.. probably because it’s one of the clearest ways to communicate with a multilingual audience (more on this later).  However, again the contrast between the old and the new is vivid.  When you spend as much time as I did visiting historic sites and museums, viewing mosaics, neo-classical paintings, maestàs, ancient sculptures and ruins, your mind gets lost in a sea of ornate backgrounds and muted tones.  Bold, clean design provides a refreshing contrast and helps differentiate itself.

And besides that, simple design serves another extremely important purpose that’s much more utilitarian in nature.  Western Europe has… wait for it… 230 languages!  Sure, many are obscure, and English is a fairly common second language, but there’s still a great need for a common visual language.  This challenge has led to the invention of many clever symbols such as those below.

The only problem with having a wonderfully massive monitor is that it’s hard to get a good wallpaper that actually fits, hence the reason why Bryan is still using the Snow Leopard default.  Guess he’ll have to make one.

For sometimes getting a bad rap from other designers, the iMac is actually a pretty sweet system.  A lot of designers out there swear by the burlier Mac Pro as it has a lot more upgradability. Our thought process was this – we usually buy laptops as they’re small, portable, but pack quite a bit of punch when it comes to processing power.  The iMac, by comparison, has pretty much the same if not better hardware, is dramatically cheaper, but lacks portability.  We were more than happy to sacrifice portability for huge monitors and equivalent or better hardware.  The only downside of not having a huge Mac Pro is that you can’t fill it with 32 GB of RAM or add extra hard drives.  However for day-to-day production machines, the iMac is perfect.  We’ll probably snag a Mac Pro at some point (we always like to have at least one ultra-burly computer in the studio in case we need to do any heavy rendering work), but for now everything with the iMac is going swimmingly.

When we asked Bryan to give us a quote about his new toy, we hoped he might say something like, “Wow, I’m so much more productive!”  Alas, no.  “I’m having fun breaking websites on purpose with absurdly large browser sizes.”  Thanks Bryan.

Also! College aged designers take note: ripe is accepting applications for our fall semester internship position.  For more info please view the job listing here, or read the blog post about it here, and start polishing up that portfolio!

As always, here’s a blog post we asked one of our past interns to write – while we could just tell you what we think it’s like to intern at ripe, we’d much rather you read it from someone who’s had the experience. Bryan was our intern from January through May, and he did such a great job that we hired him on as a Junior Designer.  Here’s what he has to say:

Having started my illustrious career at ripe as a lowly intern, saying that the experience surpassed my expectations would be an understatement.

I was aware of ripe’s work before I heard about the position, and after a friend gave me the heads-up, they became number one on my internship hit list. I appreciated that the first phase of the application process was all-digital. My portfolio had undergone some serious revision since I last printed everything out, so I didn’t have to waste money, time, or paper. I designed my cover letter, resume, and portfolio as a unified piece, and sweated every detail of the design. Adrian Shaughnessy’s How to be a graphic designer, without losing your soul was invaluable for advice ranging from how to address the cover letter, to what ripe was probably looking for.

Although web design wasn’t my strong suit, I emphasized in my application and interview that I’d taken an initiative in learning HTML, CSS, and jQuery, and that I was interested in learning more. I also stressed that I would be happy to do whatever unglamorous work was required.

The internship isn’t all grunt work—you’ll definitely be designing—but the less glamorous stuff is really valuable experience. You’ll pick up lots of tips and tricks all across the Adobe Creative Suite, as well as get a feel for studio life in general.

But all design-related reasons aside, the internship would probably just be worth it in terms of free lunches, coffee, and tea…

We’ve gone in and added a little bolding for emphasis.  The biggest selling point (we think!) of ripe’s internship is that we’ll have you doing real work.  During Bryan’s time as an intern he worked on the following projects in addition to many, many more: 42° Catering, Ted’s Bulletin, sauca and La Palina.  As far as we’re concerned, if you’re interning with ripe, you’re an integral part of studio.  As such, you’re involved with everything the studio does.

So get your portfolio put together and apply!

They both spent a day reading reverse movable metal type being set in a forme, organizing the California case, registering furniture, and working the press with good ol’ Bill of ACME Printing. While the letterpress process is more time-consuming than modern alternatives, the history and love going into the piece were worth the wait.  In this age where the vast majority of media we consume is either electronic or printed as cheaply as possible, it’s nice to lose yourself in a heavy, almost creamy paper, and a printing method that’s been around since the 15th century.

Most girls get excited about their dresses – designers get excited about how they’re going to print their invitations.

And lucky you, your first week has been a busy one, what with websites launching, a couple of us attending release events, birthday cake and more. The previously mentioned La Palina website launched last week, and we’ve been burning the candle at both ends to get it filled out with content. On launch day it had only two sections – About La Palina and Blog. We added the third early this week (Our Cigars), and have continued working on getting the rest up and running as soon as possible.

Of course it doesn’t help to have the client distracting us with parties. On Thursday the 24th Senior Designer Ian and Creative Director Tomas wandered on over to Morton’s the Steakhouse on Connecticut Avenue for the DC release party. Inside we had the pleasure of rubbing shoulders with some of DC’s cigar-smoking A-listers. While neither Tomas nor Ian are really cigar smokers, the airflow (regulated by dozens of huge fans) ensured that if you weren’t a smoker you wouldn’t be caught in a cloud. We have to say, the whiffs we caught smelled damn good.

Creative Director Tomas and La Palina owner and refounder, if that’s a word, William Paley. Guess which one spends more time in front of the camera…

After the La Palina event, Tomas attended the Puro Cafe opening, which was catered by two clients of ours – 42° Catering, and Alembic Cocktail Catering, and promoted via the magical PR of a third, JML Marketing + Communications. As Tomas put it, “We love it when our clients get together, what a great combination.” Delicious food, tasty cocktails, good PR… a great combo indeed.

Last night was the first time we actually saw the new 42° truck, which is silly considering we designed both it and their logo.

And speaking of tastiness, our new intern Christina had her birthday over the weekend which gave us an excuse to buy a cake. We were meeting with Jenn (also known as the “JMLator”) from JML Marketing + Communications on the same day, and we’re beginning to think that she has some sort of treat related psychic power. Last time she was in the studio for a meeting, Ian had brought in a milk chocolate bacon bar. We’ll have to keep an eye on her…

We’re happy to announce that our brand for the Art of Peace Foundation was showcased in Designing For the Greater Good, an international collection of non-profit, cause-related design. As author Peleg Top says, “This work helps us create a sense of purpose that is bigger than us.”

The Art of Peace Foundation raises funds for peace projects close to the heart of the Dalai Lama, such as encouraging Western companies to stop aiding internet censorship in China. We’re proud to be featured in the “human rights” section of the book. You can get more info about the book on its website. We’ve been poring over our copies and getting inspired by the great designs and even better causes. ]]> http://ripe.com/blog/2010/06/07/art-of-peace-featured-in-designing-for-the-greater-good/feed/ 0 http://ripe.com/blog/2010/05/18/so-green-were-golden-glc-certified-that-is/ http://ripe.com/blog/2010/05/18/so-green-were-golden-glc-certified-that-is/#comments Tue, 18 May 2010 17:56:57 +0000 Maryam http://ripe.com/blog/?p=344 Make no mistake, declaring a set of corporate values can be an intimidating process.  While doing what we love (designing, that is) is more than enough to keep us happy and glowy, we’ve long felt that sustainable design and business practices are concepts everyone can rally around, and towards which it is worth dedicating some time and effort.  It’s for that reason we’ve spent the past several years refining our green ethics and working on an intra-studio cultural shift under the guidance of Adrienne Spahr Kim of Green Living Consulting.

Addie, who’s encyclopedic knowledge of green practices is intimidating to say the least, has been a nurturing guide, and has helped us raise our certification level from silver to gold.  Getting up to this level required a bit more than just swapping out old light bulbs for energy-thrifty CFL’s, or recycling paper products.  A few of the new practices we’ve implemented include increasing the incentives for employees to use green transportation, giving each ripie an air filtering plant for his or her work station, and shifting to all natural or environmentally friendly cleaning solutions.

It’d be easy for us to cozily rest on our laurels in our now certified greener studio, but we’re not finished yet!  We’re always working towards the elusive platinum level certification.  While many of the hurdles between gold and platinum are building/construction/infrastructure related (and thus, even more difficult to accomplish), we’ll continue puttin’ aside some green to be green(er)!

PS. If you’d like to start greening up your own business, you can start by taking a look at the tips in the Greener section of our site.  Or, better yet, you can give Addie a call.

Fast forward to several months down the road when Todd came asking if we’d ever gotten around to answering his questions.  Of course we had… and they’d been sitting as a draft in Ian’s outbox the whole time.  Oops.  Sorry Todd!  Better late than never, hopefully?

Anyhow, go give the post a read if you’d like to learn a bit more about ripe!  There are even some fun pictures of us from way back when Brad Trent shot us for the Business Week article, and we begged him to do some profile shots while he was in the studio.  So, you know… we’re not just random pieces of fruit and glasses of wine like the Team section of our web site suggests.

Although the studio consists of just a few team members, I quickly realized that ripe is no small deal.

During my four-month internship I experienced what it’s like to be a designer in a full service studio. While I was part of the team, I had the opportunity to do a mix of everything – whether it be researching and inspiration-gathering for a new brand concept, designing layouts for a website, sitting in on a client meeting, or final production work for a stationary package. There was always an interesting task to tackle.

It’s been great to work with a team that is just as serious about environmental responsibility as they are about creative, high-quality design. ripe considers how sustainability can affect all aspects of design, from conceptualization to final output. And from bamboo floors to French-pressed coffee, ripe is always seeking newer and cooler ways to become even “greener” around the studio itself.

One of the most valuable experiences I had was being immersed in behind-the-scenes organization of such a productive studio. Staying on task was vital, but the laid back atmosphere helped the day-to-day flow of photoshop files and phone calls, while generous amplification of Pandora radio tended to boost creativity by 300%. And of course, there was an adorable kitten to play with while taking a break from the screen (and occasionally some amazing chocolate dipped bacon lollipops from Farmers & Fishers to munch on)!

Anna

As you can see by Anna’s post, when we say in our internship listings that you’re going to be doing real work and not just crappy “go xerox this, go get me a coffee” stuff, we mean it.  We want to make sure that our name on your resume isn’t the only thing you get out of an internship with us.

Anyhow, to take a look at Anna’s online portfolio, click here.  Some of our favorite pieces from her portfolio are posted below. Thanks again for all your hard work, Anna!

You may remember the website we made for sweetgreen — it won Best of Category in the web division, which we were super happy to hear.  Our other wins included our work for Alembic Cocktail Catering in the logos & trademark division, the repositioning of the Agraria Farmers & Fishers brand in the complete branding systems category, the fun, plastic business cards we produced for VSAG in the business card division, and the Brick-Stainable branding package, again in the complete branding systems category.

So all in all it was a good year for ripe at the AGDA awards.  They’ll be publishing this year’s winners on their website in the near-ish future, so keep an eye on it. We look forward to next year’s competition!