TCC Insights

Photoshop of Horrors

 By Joe Sweeney, Associate Creative Director

The art of retouching can be a beautiful thing – undoubtedly, it opens a lot of doors for us so-called creative types. Because of the wonders of photo manipulation, nothing is off limits in a brainstorm. Want to attach a laser cannon to the top of an economy car? That’s doable. (That’s a real suggestion from a recent concept meeting, for the record.)

But, like any powerful thing, retouching is often used for evil. If you’re interested in how human beings actually look, then you might as well never look at another magazine again. And when I think about all of the Loch Ness Monster and Bigfoot hoaxes, my heart breaks (still believe you’re out there, Sasquatch).

The Starbucks Brand

 By Alyssa Mayer, Account Manager, Interactive Strategist

I am among an elite group of coffee drinkers – the Starbucks Gold club. This essentially means that I spend too much money on coffee.  But it is not just the delicious drinks that I love about Starbucks.  I am a very loyal customer at businesses that recognize my patronage and make every effort to make me feel special.  From a free drink on my birthday, to discounts on purchases, everything about Starbucks has me hooked.

I recently started reading The Starbucks Experience: 5 Principles for Turning Ordinary Into Extraordinary that outlines how Starbucks has created such a strong brand. In 1971, Howard Schultz had an idea to take a “quality coffee bean and merge it with the charm and romance of the European Coffeehouse.” That first coffee store in Seattle has grown to over 11,000 stores worldwide.

Successful, in a kickass way.

By Jeff Bucki, Copywriter


“I think you’re going to have something that ends up in Print magazine.”

Those words from our associate creative director proved prescient when we found out that our 2009 campaign for Compeer of Greater Buffalo’s fundraising gala would be featured in the influential design publication.

Earlier this year, the campaign placed third overall out of 387 entries at the local ADDY Awards. This was just the start as it went on to earn regional and national ADDY honors as well.

But creating the campaign wasn’t easy. At times, it was very challenging. When we knew we were on to something that could be big, it felt like the stakes and expectations grew higher.

Think Beyond White Paper

By Betty Ann Krischan, Production Manager

There seems to be a trend lately of only printing on white paper. It doesn’t seem to make a difference whether it’s letterhead, posters, invitations or brochures. I’m both a little disheartened and perplexed by this trend.

Why aren’t designers and production managers specifying more colored substrates? Is it because a generation of young designers start all their designs on a blank white screen?  Is it because it’s just a safe/default choice? Is it tight budgets? Is it the result of so much digital printing? Or is it just being a little unsure and uneducated on what stocks are out there and how they can be utilized?

I’m not sure of the answer but I know that paper choice is an essential part of the creative process and directly influences how the finished printed piece will look and feel. By using a colored stock, you can increase your color palette in a simple one- or two-color printing job. Using a metallic stock can elevate the perception of a printed piece and convey a richness and sense of elegance. Printing a metallic ink on a dark stock can have very dramatic results.

Flower Power

By Betty Ann Krischan, Production Manager

One of Buffalo’s greatest treasures is the annual Garden Walk. If you like flowers, they are definitely “the star” in this much-anticipated summer event.  You can take a self-guided walking tour through some of Buffalo’s most historic neighborhoods and enjoy an astonishing range of planting styles and landscapes. With more than 300 homes participating, you will see everything from exotic water gardens to lush hanging gardens to classic English gardens and more.

This year marks the 15th anniversary of Buffalo Garden Walk and this event gave me the opportunity to work on a very special poster project with Sue Hough (friend, fellow gardener, TCC art director and member of the Board of Directors for the Garden Walk). Every year, the posters are beautiful and showcase one of Buffalo’s garden treasures, but this year needed to be extraordinary. So how could we take an already successful series of posters and make this year’s even better?  The answer was to utilize an exciting new innovation in printing: in-line foiling.

Dual Printing had recently installed a Prindor in-line foiler and I was just dying to test it out.  In-line foiling is a cold foil transfer method that provides designers and print production managers a new and compelling way to add another dimension to their projects without the size and cost constraints of traditional hot foil stamping. The result was an absolutely stunning poster featuring a full-color metallic bloom.

Social Networking with Sharpie

By John Schnitter, PR Intern

To anyone who has ever used a Sharpie (that is to say, everyone)…when you were doodling or scribbling away, did you ever wonder what other, perhaps more artistic, people could do with those same colorful felt tips?  Or maybe you are one of the more creative types and have used the iconic permanent markers to craft your own masterpiece, but just never had the chance to share your creation with the masses.  Based on my entirely non-scientific, non-random poll (of two people with a margin of error of plus or minus one), I would say that most people probably fall into neither category.  They use Sharpies when a ballpoint pen or the classic Crayola Washables just won’t cut it, and that’s about it. 

But Sharpie is trying to change that.  Last week, Sharpie launched the website www.sharpieuncapped.com, a social networking site which, as USA Today’s Ad Track puts it, “features a gallery of work by users, a drawing tool, 12 bloggers who talk about using Sharpie products, and a how-to section.”  Check out the website gallery, because it turns out that there are quite a few people out there who can do some pretty amazing things with a Sharpie, as evidenced by the numerous drawings and pictures users have uploaded.  The website even allows the uploading of videos, so people at home can follow along as skilled Sharpie enthusiasts reveal the secrets behind their artwork. 

One recurring feature on the website is the blog of “Sharpie Susan.”  Susan interviews people who have used their Sharpies for particularly intriguing or imaginative purposes.  One father uses Sharpies to draw pictures on his kids’ sandwich bags, which make their everyday sandwiches much more interesting.  Another woman, Alysa Sallade, uses Sharpies to draw henna-inspired designs on fabric-covered benches, and they actually look pretty cool. 

No Risk Goes Unnoticed

By Danielle Hein, Advertising Intern

About a month ago, my friend Jordan and I were driving back from a photo shoot for a final presentation on a dull back road. The road was lined with rickety, abandoned buildings long forgotten by the busy college town of Tallahassee. Right before turning onto the main street, a slab of concrete covered in cursive writing and green ivy caught my eye. We pulled over and decided to check it out.

The building was covered in spray paint murals, ply wood, and weeds. The concrete slab that sat above the street entrance of the building read Coca Cola. After poking around the side of the building we found an entrance. The basement was identical to the scene in I Am Legend, where Will Smith is wandering around a dark basement - minus the flesh eating alien zombies. We spotted a staircase and headed up. Pushing through a battered door above our heads, the entrance unfolded into a room covered in giant spray painted squares of lime greens and yellows. On top of the squares of color lay chaotic portraits, landscapes and names. Both of us being artists, this was the comparable to Peter Pan’s Neverland. Continuing on through the metal doors, we came across five more rooms, some with similar patterns and others that mimicked the spastic works of Jackson Pollock.

After doing some research on the building, I discovered it is a historical landmark and has been there since 1904. It was one of the original Coca Cola factories. The factory was used for distributing. There were once two buildings that you can see from a bird’s eye view using Google Maps, but only remnants of the foundation can be found today.