Written by the flicker of candlelight
We’re unbelievably flattered to appear in Dwell Magazine’s October issue, “Made in the USA.” You can read the article online while we wait for the real thing to hit newsstands. Huge thanks to Kelsey Keith who penned the article and photographer Daniel Shea.
The article focuses on our home at 141 Spring Street. We couldn’t have done it without our friends. The shortlist: Johnny Tucker, Michael James Moran, Peyton Avrett, Tim Hussey, David and Grace Rice, Holly and JR Kramer, Matt O’Hara, Billy Compton, Jason Rucker.
Painting by Tim Hussey.
Our office also makes an appearance. Big thanks to Jonathan Thompson, Simons Young, Chip Adams, Michael James Moran, and Peyton Avrett.
See more photos in Dwell’s slideshow for “Raise High the Roof Beams.”
Written by the flicker of candlelight
The Kickin’ Chicken menu starts off this new blog by UnderConsideration.
Written by the flicker of candlelight
Even tweets.
See our tweet confessing our love for Kokoro & Moi’s crazy design in PRINT Magazine.
Written by the flicker of candlelight
Feeling pretty good about seeing Kickin’ Chicken on the Typekit blog today with the new Denny’s site. Happy Friday.
Written by the flicker of candlelight
Proud to see G. Schirmer Inc on UnderConsideration’s Brand New B-Side today. Take a look.
Written by the flicker of candlelight
Feels so good to read about the work we did for The Kickin’ Chicken today on Brand New.
Here’s what Armin Vit from UnderConsideration says:
With the first location opened in 1997, The Kickin’ Chicken is a full service, full bar, full menu restaurant featuring chicken wings, tenders, wraps, sandwiches and burgers. (Hungry and thirsty yet?). The Kickin’ Chicken now has seven locations in North and South Carolina and is revving up their franchising business so they needed an overhaul to their identity to attract franchisers. The new look has been designed by Charleston, SC-based Fuzzco.
The old was pretty hilarious. I mean, a chicken, kicking Hobo? And Hobo is all, like, “don’t kick me”? I love it. Of course, it was bad. Not bad a for a one-locale small restaurant but with great franchising comes great responsibility and the old one would have had a hard time portraying a solid business model. In contrast, the new logo is really great. It reduces the chicken to just the head, not just saving significantly on space used but in creating something much more iconic and on par with franchise restaurants — its red crest rivals the pigtails of Wendy (who’s been on this site too much this week already). The rendering of the chicken is spot on. It’s energetic and concise. I also very much enjoy the type lock-up with the “N”s lining up on the right and the “K” and “C” on the left, leaving a little nook for the “The”, and major bonus points for the hanging apostrophe.
The rest of the identity comes very nicely together and what makes it work above all else is the color palette. It’s chicken-ey, it’s sophisticated, and it’s fun. Even the website — where usually good identities go to die — is perfectly aligned with the visual punch and tone of voice. Plus, an icon of a chicken leg with phone sticking out of it? Awesome. Entrepreneurs: Someone get a franchise here in Austin. Now.
It’s also been fun to read the comments. Some of our favorites:
Icons are tremendous. Color scheme is also tremendous. You mean to tell me work this awesome can be accomplished outside of the “big shops” and from designers NOT located in NYC? Wow.
Anyone else a total menu design snob when you go to a restaurant? That’s the first thing I notice and comment on. I must say this DEFINITELY passes the test, with kickin’ colors. This gets me excited as a designer. Oh, and I love that chunky script. So fun.
I love the identity and now know where I’m going to eat the next time I go home to Fayetteville.
Written by the flicker of candlelight
Written by the flicker of candlelight
A background building that stands out
Charleston is predominantly a city of background buildings.
For every St. Michael’s Church or U.S. Custom House, downtown has scores of smaller buildings whose architecture doesn’t stand out nearly as much.
Still, the ongoing preservation and creative reuse of these buildings goes a long way toward giving Charleston its charm.
Take 85 1/2 Spring St.
It’s hard to imagine a more modest structure: a single-story cinderblock shoebox tucked between two larger woodframe homes (that also are essentially background buildings, more or less).
But to Josh Nissenboim and Helen Rice of Fuzzco –founders of a cyber ad agency that specializes in websites, logos and online ads — 85 1/2 Spring was just the sort of opportunity they were looking for.
Since there was so little historic fabric or ornamentation, their hands were freed up.
“We felt we could tackle it in a reasonable amount of time for a reasonable amount of money,” Rice says. “It’s a great shell.”
Built sometime in the mid 20th century, the building apparently began life as Freelain’s Quality Cleaners — a commercial laundry — then later became a neighborhood laundromat, stood vacant for a while and eventually was used as a church. A cross with the words “Jesus Saves” continued to decorate the facade when it was used most recently as a hat shop.
The new design is sleek and contemporary, with the older stuccoed block surrounding a new solid glass front. The new Apple store on King Street was an inspiration, says architect Simons Young of Thompson Young Design.
“It was conscious move to step the storefront back from the plane of the front of the building,” he says. “The idea there was to have the contemporary element set back from the existing element to show what once was and what the insertion was.”
The glass storefront exposes a bare-bones conference space with a concrete floor and a rear wooden wall with hidden doors.
The wall’s material was salvaged from an old industrial plant in Kentucky and installed by furniture maker Michael James Moran.
“The idea is clients will come in, and they’ll only be in this space,” Helen Rice says. “We tried to keep it pretty minimal.”
Behind the wooden partition is the main work area — a long work table suitable for a series of personal computers and lit by a series of small windows, sconces made of yellow plastic and a web of snake-like lights attached to the trusses.
This workspace contrasts not only with the front conference area but the more open and sunlit break area at the building’s rear.
“It’s a womb like space in there with a more open feel on either end,” Young says.
The interior design was shaped by Fuzzco, while the work was done by Crescent Interior Solutions.
Young says Fuzzco was good about connecting with friends and clients who were creative. “They took certain areas and focused on them,” he says. “It sort of makes them pop a little bit.”
While the building is easy to miss for those passing along Spring Street, it actually terminates the view of those driving south on Ashe Street.
Young says he most appreciates it from that view, particularly at night, as it glows like a lantern in the distance.
“I think it’s a glimmer of what Spring Street can become,” he says.
Look at the real thing.
Written by the flicker of candlelight
We coasted into Columbia this past Friday on our last drop of gas to attend this year’s AIGA InShow awards. It was our first time submitting and participating so we had no idea what to expect. This was the 16th year and the theme was Sweet 16.
We were surrounded by our friends and peers, sweet berry wine, chicken satays, birthday cake and some beautiful work. After getting acquainted with all of the above we settled down for the awards ceremony. There was some great work that was recognized and we were proud to have been included.
We left with 12 awards including two Special Judges Awards and the coveted Best in Show.
Congratulations goes to:
Written by the flicker of candlelight
Fuzzco duo create culture of fun at work
By Shelia Watson
Charleston Regional Business Journal, Nov. 8, 2010
Photo/Leslie Burden
Fuzzco might seem like a funny name for a company, but after spending a few minutes with founders Helen Rice and Josh Nissenboim, whose fun factor is to the 10th power, it makes sense.
Nissenboim played an April Fools’ Day joke on Rice with help from a client who was getting a logo redesigned.
They recently came up with a contest for the “worst logo ever,” complete with judges and prizes.
And when they got engaged, instead of traditional invitations, they designed a Web-based invitation (www.helenandjoshsittinginatree.com) that they e-mailed to friends and family — and it went viral, with 15,000 views in the first week.
“We really hope all those people don’t show up for the ceremony,” Nissenboim said, laughing.
So naming what Rice calls “a branding company that focuses on the Web” was an exercise in fun.
“When we started our business (in January 2005), it was important to give it a memorable and concise name,” Nissenboim said. “It was also important that we owned the name. It’s pretty cool that we have a trademark on a six-letter word.”
“We just made it up,” said Rice. “If you Google ‘Fuzzco,’ you’ll find only us.”
In the midst of the fun-loving atmosphere, Rice and Nissenboim have built a company with an impressive body of work, nabbing a couple of Addy awards, the advertsing industry honors, this year.
Among the company’s Web design work are sites for the Charleston Wine and Food Festival, the Coastal Conservation League and Westbrook Brewing Co. The client list is extensive and includes several pro bono clients, but the duo are quick to point out that Fuzzco is more than a Web design firm.
“We make a distinction about that because people assume we’re just a Web shop,” Nissenboim said. “We’re a branding firm; we develop identities. We create logos, brochures, all the collateral, and we manage photo shoots and video.”
“We’re a full-service creative company,” Rice said.
Nissenboim said he thinks what sets Fuzzco apart from other designers is the high level of intensity with which they approach a project.
“We translate services into something an audience can touch and feel,” Rice said. “What gets us excited is getting to know a business inside and out and coming up with creative ways of helping the audience understand it, too.”
Nissenboim said, “We’re small, and that makes us very accessible. But we also have a ton of energy.”
Most of the company’s clients are local, although a handful of them are in New York, and Rice and Nissenboim say they are not limited by location.
“We don’t do a tremendous amount of advertising,” Rice said. “Most of our work comes from word-of-mouth. That’s what Charleston is all about: You build relationships, and they become solid and some of that turns into work. We don’t actively go and seek business from other markets. We just stay busy by people knocking down the door.”
One thing keeping the pair busy for the past several months has been the renovation of a new office at 85 Spring St.
“It’s a great building, and actually it’s been so many different businesses over the years,” Rice said. “It was an ice cream shop, a church, a laundromat, a hat shop — and now it’ll be a modern design studio.”
Another busy endeavor was the idea of launching a logo contest, except — true to form — something fun and different.
“It’s a contest for designers to develop the worst logo they can possibly think of,” Rice said.
They designed the site www.howlowcanyourlogo.com and have secured several sponsors and high-profile judges. Submissions are being accepted Nov. 15 through Dec. 8, and prizes will be awarded for the best — i.e. worst — design. Rice said the impetus was mostly comic relief.
“We all work very hard for our clients, and we felt that it was important for us to work doing something for ourselves,” she said. “Something kind of fun.”
Naturally.
