Client Spotlight: Sugar Bee Sweets Bakery

We are proud to have helped evolve the branding, web presence, and printed collateral of Sugar Bee Sweets from day one, when the company consisted of one young woman baking cakes from her home kitchen, to the flourishing business it is today. A favorite among North Texas' most discerning brides and area families alike, Sugar Bee Sweets specializes in couture wedding cakes but also offers all-occasion party cakes and sweets like cupcakes, cake balls, cookies, french macarons, brownies, and more.

Heidi, the founder and owner of Sugar Bee Sweets, loves styles that blend masculine and feminine design elements, and you'll see that juxtaposition throughout the bakery. When we were preparing to launch the new Sugar Bee Sweets logo, website, and overall branding this spring, we decided to keep the design simple and clean. We created a hand-lettered logo, which can be used with or without their custom-drawn bee for a pop of color, seamlessly combining Sugar Bee's palette of slate grey, mint green, and a buttery yellow

Sugar Bee Sweets' business cards are die-cut hexagon shaped and showcase the logo on one side (with their custom bee) and the back side features all of the bakery's contact information.

Below is a gallery of some of our favorite work we've designed for Sugar Bee Sweets, including shareable social media graphics, the logo shown on the outside of their new building, hexagon-shaped die-cut business cards, a screenshot of the website, outdoor A-frame signage, print ads for Brides of North Texas and D Weddings magazines, and even the logo recreated on a cookie! We think it's all pretty sweet - let us know what you think!

Project Spotlight: Exalt Gala

A sampling of printed collateral for PCA's EXALT Gala, created by Green Apple Lane

When Pantego Christian Academy approached us about beginning a new annual gala for supporters of their school, we jumped at the opportunity to fully brand the event all the way down to its name. After a meeting to discuss the gala's intent, purpose, and a little creative brainstorming, we came up with a list of associated words and together we kept coming back to EXALT. The client knew from inception that the inaugural event would have a "Gatsby" theme, so to this name "A Great Gatsby Affair" was added.

We began choosing typefaces for the branding, then created a logo design and social media save-the-date graphics soon after. Throughout the event-planning process we created a printed save-the-date, postcard flyers, large promotional signage, printed invitations, VIP invitations, variable-numbered bid paddles, table tents, table numbers, easel signage (and additional large event signage), and a large program booklet including sponsor advertisements and live auction package details for bidder reference.

The EXALT Gala was a huge success in this, its first year – so much so that plans for next year are already well underway (stay tuned for new theme and branding details)! In the meantime, enjoy this handful of photos from EXALT 2017: A Great Gatsby Affair...

Feeds & Reads We Love

We wanted to take a moment this week to share a little behind-the-scenes look at where we gain our motivation and what media we take in to keep us inspired to create fresh new designs for you!

Our jam:

• clean design.
• combining masculine and feminine type and design elements.
• COLOR. Bold brights, muted neutrals, dreamy pastels, high-contrast black, crisp and clean white, even electric neons – we simply love color.

Top left (9 squares): @wildhumm
Top right (36 squares): @begoodnatured
Bottom left (9 squares): @thefoxisblack
Bottom right (9 squares): @hol_fox

IGs for Inspiration

The work in these feeds is astoundingly diverse – fine art, embroidery, textiles, crystals, baked goods, wool felt paintings (it's a thing!), interior design, urban street art, naturescapes, macrame, carved stamps for printmaking, floral design, toymakers – you name it. These artists are at the tip top of their crafts, in our humble opinions, and we love watching them work! Positively inspiring.

Quotes to Note

#truth

“You wouldn't worry so much about what others think of you if you realized how seldom they do.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

“And still, after all this time, the Sun has never said to the Earth, ‘You owe me.’ Look what happens with love like that. It lights up the sky.” – Rumi

"Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone, just remember that all the people in this world haven't had the advantages you've had." – The Great Gatsby

“Anxiety is fear with negative anticipation. Excitement is fear with positive anticipation. You control which one you see.” – Mastin Kipp

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” – Theodore Roosevelt

“The first week at August’s was a consolation, a pure relief. The world will give you that once in a while, a brief timeout; the boxing bell rings and you go to your corner, where somebody dabs mercy on your beat up life.” – The Secret Life of Bees

"I am a firm believer that you cannot do epic shit with basic people. We just can't. My time is valuable." – Pum Lefebure

Work-Related Reads

No matter your industry, these books will motivate you to do whatever it is that you do best:

Do the Work, Steven Pressfield
Who Moved My Cheese, Spencer Johnson

These books are more a bit more specific to those in creative fields:

Big Magic, Elizabeth Gilbert
Steal Like an Artist, Austin Kleon
Show Your Work, Austin Kleon

Any other reads or feeds we need to know about? Let us know!