ben rush visual communication is a graphic design firm specializing in logo design, print & web design for small businesses

transit world tour campaign Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) manages and operates mass transit services in North Texas. For the 2005 annual conference of the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) to be held in Dallas, DART needed to sell the city as an attractive destination for conference attendees and their families.

To highlight a diversity, richness and excitement that many people don’t readily associate with Dallas, we chose a music theme, capitalizing on the long list of artists with roots in North Texas. That theme was introduced with an invitation in the form of a music CD, containing tracks from twenty Dallas musicians.

The project also included a trade show booth, event signage and even a set of custom-made electric guitars, inspired by the shape of the DART logo.

The design featured collages of contrasting colors, textures and materials to mirror the diversity exhibited in the music. The end result was fun, expressive and memorable.

gunns textile restoration branding Gunns provides specialty cleaning and repair of soft goods damaged by fires and floods.

For their branding materials, we began with the idea of “softness” – referring both to softness of material and softness of character. The former was obviously appropriate to the materials they work with, and the latter was essential to their customer relationship, given the emotional hardship that brings customers to Gunns in the first place.

We approached the the physical softness with visual cues that evoked memories of fabrics (a stitching pattern around border elements, and stylizing the logo to look like it was an embroidered tag). For the emotional side of softness, we combined text and images to tell stories about customers’ emotional connections to the material things that fill their homes. From heirloom blankets to wedding gowns to baby clothes to a favorite pair of shoes, the website says, “Some things are much more than possessions.”

stomping grounds playland branding Part coffee house, part indoor playground, Stomping Grounds is a place for parents and their kids to have their daily breaks.

For the opening of their flagship store in Sugarland, Texas, we worked hard to develop a brand that was whimsical and casual, but first-class and professional. It needed to be just as inviting to a five-year-old boy as to a thirty-something mom.

livelovelearn video biographies website LiveLoveLearn helps families create professional, broadcast-quality documentaries, capturing their stories on video for future generations.

For their website design, we expanded on the flowing lines of the logo, using the line to guide the eye through the page as it connects the logo to a series of illustrations sprinkled through the site. We echoed the flow of the lines with curved and waveform shapes (keeping straight lines to a minimum), which served to further soften and humanize the design.

The undulating, flowing design also creates a sensation of movement, symbolic of movement through time (and generations) and of the movement of video images.

valley view janitorial services branding One of the oldest janitorial companies in the Dallas area, Valley View believes it provides a superior level of service (evidenced by their impressive customer retention rates). But since many of its potential clients view janitorial service as a commodity, Valley View has struggled to distinguish itself in the industry.

Our solution was to create a brand reminiscent of 1950s vintage soap and home appliance ads. The strategy not only served as a reminder of Valley View’s heritage, but the simple, naive and straightforward language inherent to the style was refreshing, clean and fluff-free. It implied a “good ol’ days” work ethic and honesty, all delivered with a friendly smile.

united leather sales kit United Leather is a manufacturer of premium-quality custom leather seating for the home and office.

For their growing line of home cinema seating, the client needed a high-quality marketing piece to sell their product to designers, contractors and retailers. The challenge was to present their product as a crucial part of a premium home cinema, worthy of as much attention (and expense) as the high-end electronics and architecture that usually accompanies these luxurious rooms.

“Stop. Play. Recline.” The cover begins the argument that nothing complements premium cinema electronics like premium leather seating. Inside, the high-tech colors, typography and composition reflect the theme of the cover while offering contrast and emphasis to the warm, soft product photos. The over-sized 10.25in × 11.5in format, besides demanding extra attention, complements the large, plush leather chairs and with big, powerful audio and video systems.

gizmo product launch Marketed toward low-income and credit-challenged consumers, Gizmo was a “disposable mobile phone” – a simple, no-frills product that was a precursor to the pre-paid mobile phone.

Representing a completely new category of phone product, the brand had to distinguish Gizmo from the fray of phone products and calling plans, while communicating the freedom and control that this simple product provides.

After defining on “control” and “freedom” as the product’s benefits that appeal to all targeted audiences, we created a campaign with a playful spoof of socialist propaganda posters, positioning Gizmo as the “cell phone for the masses.” The bold design and copy demand attention as they offer a refreshing alternative to the mindless smiley-happy-people of cell phone and calling card ads of the time.

echo website Empowering Church Healthcare Outreach (ECHO) provides consulting services for churches to open non-profit health clinics in their communities.

For their website, ECHO needed to make the argument that these two things (churches and healthcare) could be combined sucessfully.

Inspired by the “outreach” in the company name, our solution began with a set of images featuring hands, which proved to be an especially expressive subject. Depending on the context, they could demonstrate a wide variety of concepts and activities, including prayer, community, help or medicine. And because all the images featured the same subject matter (hands), the religious images looked entirely appropriate next to the healthcare images.

We then divided the layout into quadrants, with the logo at the center, which subtly implied a cross. And, a cool blue and white color palette contrasted nicely with the warm hues of the photographs, providing a healthy dose of visual activity to counter the stability of the rectangular shapes throughout the layout.

rush-purcell wedding invitations When my sister told me she had found a pair of white Doc Martins to wear under her classic white wedding gown, I knew her invitations needed to be something more than ordinary. Inspired by her attire, we took patterns, materials and imagery typical of formal invitations and used them in unexpected ways, mixing formal with funky. All of this served as a backdrop for the central image (a series of sketches that show a pair of male/female symbols transforming into a single diamond ring), which provides warmth and meaning to the piece.

pegasus solutions brochure Pegasus, the leading provider of data technology to the hotel industry, needed a unique sales piece that would communicate the breadth of technology services Pegasus provides and emphasizing the company’s experience with the hotel industry. Also, this sales piece would need a pocket for standard letter-size inserts and other customized materials, but the client wasn’t interested in a stereotypical 9×12 pocket folder.

In this solution, hard, precise lines and illustrations of binary data streams are juxtaposed with soft, warm, hotel-room photography. This visual contrast hints at the sharp contrast between what Pegasus does (technology), and who they do it for (hotels). In turn, it demonstrates that the two aren’t incompatible, and Pegasus knows how to make them work together seamlessly.

The horizontal 9×12 format allows for standard-size inserts without looking standard. But to provide a less imposing, more intimate scale for the reader, the interior pages are reduced in size. The result is beautiful and memorable.

whataburger convention booth To attract investors at a franchise convention in Las Vegas, this booth capitalized on the famous a-frame style of the classic Whataburger restaurant, along with a wealth of beautiful professional photography of Whataburger restaurants and food products. We used these elements to help set the stage for a discussion of the past, present and future of this Texas fast-food icon.