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Linear Lines

It has been crazy busy!

Friday, April 25, 2008 by Linear Creative

Wow! It has been awhile since a blog was posted for Linear Lines. This has not been due to us not being busy but instead due to lack of time to inform you of the all that has is happening.

While it would be impossible to tell you about all of the events and projects happening at Linear Creative, I wanted to mention a few things. Albums Inc., the largest photo album distributer in the United States formed a partnership with Album Epoca in October to bring their product to the United States. They are a wedding album design company out of Italy, the biggest actually. This is a wonderful partnership for Albums Inc. but also benefits Linear. Along with already being the design company handling Album Inc. we will now be the primary designer for Album Epoca in the United States. With the classic feel of an Itallian Fellini movie, Album Epoca’s feel is something new and exciting for us to work on.

Secondly, two months ago, our Video Art Director, Mike Counselman, went to Las Vegas to run a presentation put on to thousands by Thomas Cook and Dough Kiley, two local photographers from TRG Studios. This had been a three month project that Mike had been working on night and day to produce. The response to both the actual presentation and to Mike’s design was nothing but amazing!

And since all great things come in groups of three, we are proud to say we are handling all of the advertising for the North Coast Men’s Chorus for this season. The North Coast Men’s Chorus have been singing in the Cleveland area for 20 years. All of us at Linear would like to congratulate and say thanks for 20 years of enjoyment. This year they have already had Broadway star Bernadette Peters come to town with the Cleveland POPS orchestra, put on Swingle Bells at Christmas with the Cleveland Jazz orchestra and will be putting on Tunes for Tales, a production adapted from the books Tales for the City by Armistead Maupina. Be sure to check out all of these pieces and so much more that I was not able to tell you about within the next few weeks as we update Linear Creative’s portfolio.

Among all of these projects Linear has taken a huge step in our own future. Last month we moved into our first official set of offices! Located at 16017 Detroit Ave. in the heart of Lakewood Ohio, we will be above the Lakewood Chamber of Commerce. The construction is still going on to renovate the rest of the building which when completed will serve as a place for us to meet with clients on site, something that was not ideal for us to do in the past. The site has the modern, relaxed feel that Linear has and gives us room to bring in more designers to help if we need and to grow. If you are in the area, stop by and say hi, we would love to show you around!

And that growth has already begun. In March, we welcomed Bismark Sleibi to the Linear team as Senior Web Designer. A graduate of the Art Institute of Pittsburgh with a degree in computer animation and multimedia, Bismark, or Biz as he is more commonly known by, brings new depth to our company. His experience in GUI (Graphical User Interface), web development and creative interactive media is significant. With it, Linear is better positioned to both attract new clients and better serve the ones we have. It partners well with Mike’s video and animation work. Think of how many hours you and your partners spend on the web. Go into a coffee shop and you see business men and woman using laptops to surf the web while they view their blackberry’s and iphones. The web is quickly becoming the best method of reaching an audience.

How is your company’s sales? If they are not where you would like, give us a call. We would love to sit down and see if we can help you to propel to the next level. And check back here, to Linear Lines, to find out how other companies are getting their name out there. That is what Linear is all about, your brand.... more modern, more cutting edge.... smarter!

Thanks for the kudos!

Wednesday, July 11, 2007 by Linear Creative

The following is the May 31 post from "Miches Commentary", a blog by Michele Cardello, marketing director of Albums Inc.


Thank Goodness for Professionals!

It’s been a few weeks since I’ve been off the road, and I must say it’s nice! Traveling to different cities and seeing customers and friends is always great, but you know what they say about home -- there’s no place like it! Now that I’m home and back in the office, we’ve started to focus on new projects here at Albums Inc. -- like the 2008 catalog, new ads for the magazines, upcoming schools, etc.

One of the best parts of my job is working with amazing creative talents like our art director, Ray Jasinski. Ray is responsible for all of the design here at AI, from the catalog and 360, our new online newsletter, to the website. Ray is able to take all of what is crashing around in my brain and make it gorgeous! I have so much that I want to tell people about my company and the products that we provide, and Ray helps me do that in the most creative way possible. He starts with nothing on a page, but then he begins to sketch out my thoughts and ideas, and before I know it he’s turned them into amazing layouts. Nancy Minter ties in the copywriting -- very important as I have lots to say and sometimes try to say too much! Nancy and Ray keep me together when it comes to creative here at AI. They’re professionals, and every time I meet with them I come away inspired and ready for the next project.

I’m often out of the office during the week. It’s not that I’m not working, it’s that I’m at my home-away-from-home, TRG Studios. TRG is the largest commercial photography studio here in Cleveland, and my favorite place to be when I’m not at AI. TRG has been the exclusive provider of all commercial photography for AI for over 8 years. They shoot the majority of the catalog, the website, all of our ads … you name it, they shoot it. Over the years, I’ve seen some amazing work come out of TRG for some of their other clients, like Moen, Things Remembered and Sherwin Williams. The photographers and digital artists at TRG blow me away with their mastery of the technical side of things and their incredible creative vision. My two primary photographers, Doug Kiley and Thomas Cook, are like brothers to me. I’ve learned a tremendous amount from them over the years and am still in awe of what they come up with. They take what starts as a simple idea rolling around in my brain and turn it into a beautiful piece of art. After nearly 12 years of photographing Albums Inc. product, my challenge is how to make it look fresh and current. I’m really proud of the creative work we’ve done here at Albums, but I’m always striving to do better.

I just spent almost a week in the studio with Thomas shooting some of the new album samples for 2007 from Renaissance and Kambara. Aside from having a blast as usual, we got some amazing images. Ray sketched out some roughs from my ideas and we went to work. We built some great sets, including a bamboo garden, a Zen reflecting pool, and a beautiful bath scene. Now you may be asking, what the heck does this stuff have to do with albums? Well, we think that our photographers will appreciate these beautiful images. It’s worth the effort! At first, I wasn’t sure how well the bathroom scene was going to work. I thought I might be reaching a bit too much. After all, a photo album in a bathroom? But Thomas went to work and the final image, shown below, is, as usual, a beauty.
My point is, there is so much to be gained from hiring a professional. I value the professionals I have the privilege of working with everyday. From my designers and writers to the photographers I use, I rely on their vision and talent. Yes, it’s an investment. But it’s absolutely worth it! We do it all because we want our customers to have the best. And without a doubt, my crew is the best!
Ciao!
Miche