by Erik August 31, 2010 • 12:12 pm • Comments (0)

Olive and Company has moved! With just a right turn and a two-minute drive from our old home in Nordeast, you’ll end up at our new pad in historic St. Anthony Main. Our worldwide headquarters now sits comfortably in the heart of the Minneapolis Riverfront District, with a spectacular view of the Minneapolis skyline and, of course, the mighty Mississippi. In fact, if you’re feeling as adventurous as our buddy Olive (in the image above), you could just hop on a homemade raft and float down the river from our old space right up to our new front door!

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by Erik May 5, 2010 • 03:53 pm • Comments (1)

Several months ago, we created our own Olive and Company Facebook Page. This fact probably won’t surprise anyone since A) we are in the creative services industry and more and more of our projects include social media elements, and B) most of us have been actively using Facebook as individuals for quite some time now. With that said, we thought we’d take some time to discuss our reasons for creating a Facebook Page, and invite you to follow us as our Page(1) grows and evolves.

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by Erik May 4, 2010 • 04:03 pm • Comments (0)

As a design firm, the only thing we value as much as creativity is the relationship we form with our clients. We feed off the energy that they bring to their own projects, and, just as we relish the opportunity to help guide a brand as it grows and evolves, we also cherish the opportunity to get to know the people we work with along the way.

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by Erik January 14, 2010 • 12:21 pm • Comments (3)

The following article was originally included in the October 2009 issue of our OliveNotes newsletter, but we feel like the content is worth sharing with non-subscribers as well, so we’re republishing it here in its entirety. We’ve also included a brief postscript to update a few aspects of the article. As always, please share your thoughts in the comments section below.

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by Tom January 4, 2010 • 04:16 pm • Comments (0)

Quite a while back, I shared some insight into a project where we were designing the UI for a soon-to-be-released Web app. Now we’ll take a look at the concepts we presented the client and the feedback they provided. As before, the client and project are held in confidence. Here’s a look at our first round:

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by Tom October 29, 2009 • 10:32 am • Comments (2)

You can see his design influence in both your current home and that of your parents, probably. Jens Risom is a Danish designer who personified simple, elegant furniture design a half-century ago, and still works today.

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by Tom October 2, 2009 • 12:39 pm • Comments (0)

A couple weeks ago I served as a judge for the 13th Annual Minnesota Publishing Excellence Awards, which are awarded each year by the Minnesota Magazine and Publications Association (MMPA).

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by Tom August 18, 2009 • 03:07 pm • Comments (1)

One of the exciting new projects we are working on is designing the user interface (UI) for a Web app due for launch later this year.

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by Tom April 24, 2009 • 11:33 am • Comments (0)

When it comes to presenting design, sometimes it’s best to leave the impression-building to the client.

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by Tom April 13, 2009 • 03:42 pm • Comments (0)

We took some time recently to optimize our site for mobile viewing.

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by Tom April 3, 2009 • 06:56 am • Comments (0)

... another reminder that terrific content can be lost in a sea of unfocused design. I was recently asked to judge entries in the Nebraska Collegiate Media Association Web Competition along with another individual who is part of a Pulitzer Prize-winning team at the LA Times.

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by Nyla March 10, 2009 • 09:41 am • Comments (1)

In January, Pepsi launched the 10th rebrand in their history.

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by Barb March 6, 2009 • 01:48 pm • Comments (5)

My dad was a great salesman. His most reliable selling tools were a pocket full of dimes, a well-pressed business suit, and a briefcase stocked with company literature.

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by Tom February 27, 2009 • 03:41 pm • Comments (0)

Normally, the atrium here at the Bottling House looks like an abandoned prison floor. But today they are setting up quite the staging for a dance performance. Kinda makes it look like First Ave. if you stripped away all the gunk on the ceiling.

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by Tom February 24, 2009 • 12:18 pm • Comments (0)

This past weekend I presented a session at the Best of the Midwest conference for the Associated Collegiate Press. The conference attracts advisers and student journalists from the top colleges and universities in the midwest.

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by Tom February 13, 2009 • 04:27 pm • Comments (1)

Last week my family bought a new fish tank. We had been considering it for a few years and now that our boys are a little older we thought it would be a good new project.

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by Tom February 6, 2009 • 05:27 pm • Comments (1)

We don’t enter competitions very often, but when we do it usually results in something good. We were recently awarded a quartet of 2008 W3 Interactive Awards, presented by the International Academy of Visual Arts and Advertising Age magazine.

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by Tom January 30, 2009 • 05:25 pm • Comments (0)

We are thrilled to announce the addition of 2 talented individuals to the Olive team.

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by Tom January 28, 2009 • 05:23 pm • Comments (2)

We’ll kick off our blog with an introduction to our revised branding! Last fall marked the five year anniversary of Olive and Company, and we started to feel a little constrained in our old “clothes” .... ready for a fresh outlook for 2009 … a renewed sense of optimism.

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