Maine’s Office of Policy and Innovation for the Future (GOPIF) released a Climate Action Plan in December 2020. The challenge? Gaining widespread understanding and building momentum around the Plan’s actions and recommendations, needed to reach the state’s ambitious goals for emissions reduction, resilience planning, and economic growth. Starting in 2021, Better Yet Studio and partner […]
The Katahdin region in Maine has a long and prosperous history of paper making, but the industry started a gradual decline in the 1980s, culminating with the closure of the last mill in 2014. The loss of its primary employers was devastating to the local economy, resulting in population loss and economic depression. However, the […]
How do you articulate the mission of a social innovation nonprofit that does not neatly fit into any boxes? How do you create an event that doesn’t just tell people about your brand, but provides a strong experience of your brand? Context The Treehouse Institute is a small, highly creative non-profit in the social innovation […]
Maine’s forest industry has experienced decline in recent years as global markets have shifted dramatically. The rise of the internet and e-communications has led to less demand for printing paper, and with that the closure of 5 of 11 pulp and paper mills in the state since 2014. These plants were sited in small, rural […]
Portland Maine is a popular and growing city, and the Portland Regional Chamber of Commerce wants to claim a leadership role in marshaling the conversation around managing the growth. To kick off the initiative, named “Imagine Portland,” they held an event to bring all their constituents together and learn about the case for growth. We created the branding, invitation and event […]
Sea level rise will seriously impact the Bayside neighborhood in Portland, ME. The City of Portland wanted to run a design competition to solicit visionary responses to the challenge from designers. We developed and identity for the program and submission materials, in order to engage the desired audience in the problem. The competition was a great […]
Maine Startup & Create Week needed a new visual identity and user experience that felt as vibrant and innovative as the content at the conference and the startups they support, but still unique to Maine and this particular context. Based on a strategic phase of user research, we developed an identity system inspired by Maine’s outdoor […]
Maine Startup & Create Week is an annual conference in Portland, ME whose goal is to foster the innovation and startup economy in the state. Going into its fourth year, there was a lot of energy and enthusiasm behind the event, but it suffered from a lack of clarity in its goals, and also wanted to […]
The Hudson Valley Writers Center has a big mission to support and promote serious writing in its region, but the small administrative capability of a non-profit. The center needed a brand that would make people take it seriously and website that streamlined many of the center’s administrative tasks. Workshops with writers and teachers in the […]
The New York City Dept. of Design and Construction builds and maintains the buildings and infrastructure that keep one of the world’s greatest cities functioning. However, as in many large bureaucracies, many employees were disconnected from a sense of the importance of their work. With the arrival of a New Commissioner, we undertook a brand refresh, […]