a verynice design studio is the world’s first internationally operating social graphic design enterprise. We are a full service design enterprise that dedicates over 50% of its efforts toward pro bono design. a verynice design studio has helped build over 250 brands in every sector and industry across the globe. We work with a diverse clientele that range from Fortune 500 companies to small local shops. Some of our clients have included The United Nations, MTV Networks, Human Rights Campaign, Facebook, Amnesty International, and Disney. As of 2011, a verynice design studio has also provided $250,000 worth of pro-bono design and consulting services in 6 continents to 125+ clients thanks to our team of 60+ international volunteers.
At present there is no internationally recognized symbol for human rights. The “Logo for Human Rights” initiative wants to change that! Logos win people over through their symbolic power, distinctiveness, clarity and universal applicability. The initiative was established out of conviction that a human rights logo will make a peaceful contribution towards the global spread and implementation of human rights. In order to find this logo, a global creative online competition with cash prizes and open to everyone is to be launched. The initiative has the support of renowned stakeholders, supporters and partners from all walks of life.
a verynice design studio was proud to have been invited to participate in the competition, and generated over 30 marks that we believed to represent "human rights" at an international level. 13 were submitted, and one of our designs earned a rank of #25 out of over 13,000 submissions.
Creative Director: Matthew Manos Design: Maya Ben-Ari, Cris Bernabe-Sanchez, Barbara Lebow, Jessica Lee, Lara Oliveira, and Jeannette Wiley. Client: humanrightslogo.net
The Boyle Heights Learning Collaborative works to elevate academic achievement by means of strengthening parent capacity, developing students leadership, and fostering civic engagement. verynice was approached by BHLC to design and develop a new website that could reach audiences across all media platforms. We leveraged responsive web technology to allow the design of the site to adapt to all dimensions and platforms - from mobile to monitor to laptop to tablet. Development still in progress.
Creative Director: Matthew Manos Design: Alyssa Anduiza Client: Boyle Heights Learning Institute
Built on utopian aspirations for the future, Forward Step is a non-profit organization based in Los Angeles that is dedicated to helping people take a forward step in their lives by creating an environment for learning that encourages the development of each individual's potential.
"Imagine a world where work is joyous, where everyone performs at their highest potential, doing what they love to do, while actualizing themselves and making valuable contributions to the global community. Forward Step undertakes to make personal growth, human development, compassion and understanding the central focuses of individual and social life, so that governments, institutions, businesses and communities naturally and actively serve advancing human and world consciousness."
Upon beginning the development of a brand system for Forward Step, a verynice design studio became interested in the design of a dynamic identity that could communicate this essence of individual growth. Through the process of making and iteration, we developed a typeface out of these generatively stacked blocks.
Creative Director: Matthew Manos Design: Jessica Lee Client: Forward Step
Sung & Hwang LLP is a law firm dedicated to protecting and advancing the legal interests of the Korean population in the Washington D.C. and Baltimore areas. The firm was founded by Charley Sung and Peter Hwang, who recognized that the time was ripe for the launch of a full-service Korean law firm to service the diverse individual and business needs of the rapidly growing Korean community.
a verynice design studio created a complete identity package for the firm, as well as a website designed in English and Korean.
Creative Director: Bora Shin Client: Sung & Hwang LLP
Project Nicaragua is a 501-3(c) not-for-profit organization that is comprised of Physicians, Medical Students, and Undergraduates within the US and Nicaragua. Project Nicaragua improves the quality of life in Nicaragua by focusing efforts on El Hospital Lenin Fonseca, the only public hospital in the capital city of Managua, El Centro Nacional de Oftalmologia, the only public eye clinic in the country, and the rural municipality of Rancho Grande.
a verynice design studio partnered with Project Nicaragua to create a space for all various chapters and institutions associated with the organization's efforts to come together.
Creative Direction: Matthew Manos Art Direction: Cris Bernabe Sanchez Logo Design: Keith Ahn Web Design and Development: Maya Ben-Ari
WAFUNIF, the sole UN Alumni organization, brings together current and former UN Internes and Fellows in a way that enriches their lives and makes the world a better place. As a proactive alumni association, WAFUNIF enables members to connect and share with each other as well as learn about, initiate and contribute to WAFUNIF’s programs and activities.
The goal of the United Nations Alumni Support is to address the many humanitarian and developmental challenges facing various regions of the world. To this end, we energize our members to assist the UN and its affiliates with their peace initiatives and sustainable development programs as well as WAFUNIF’s own programming.
Creative Director: Matthew Manos Design Director: Zachary Scott Technical Lead: Drusilla Bramlett Client: The United Nations Agency Partner: Emotive Design
"Reality" is an experimental card game created in partnership with USC School of Cinematic Arts. The project is an alternate reality game in which players design and undertake creative media-making challenges. By completing challenges, players earn points, advance their positions on a multi-category leader-board and unlock customized story elements.
HRC seeks to improve the lives of LGBT Americans by advocating for equal rights and benefits in the workplace, ensuring families are treated equally under the law and increasing public support among all Americans through innovative advocacy, education and outreach programs. HRC works to secure equal rights for LGBT individuals and families at the federal and state levels by lobbying elected officials, mobilizing grassroots supporters, educating Americans, investing strategically to elect fair-minded officials and partnering with other LGBT organizations.
For the 2011 gala, themed "NO EXCUSES," we were responsible for leading the branding and design for all materials before and during the event.
Thanks to the open source nature of Processing, we were able to tweak a particle library to re-make the iconic "=" logo of HRC. The particles consist of randomized R, G, and B, creating a rainbow effect that is different every time the software is run.
Creative Director: Matthew Manos Printing: Irvine Printing Software: Aart Rost of Open Processing Thanks: Justin Williams
a verynice design studio was approached by VJ Culture to assist in the development of the live visuals / experiences at the 2011 f8 conference. f8 is Facebook's annual developer conference that always promises exciting unveilings and cutting edge technology.
Our role in this large collaboration was specifically the photo-booth software design and development. We built a system that allowed for visitors of the conference to have their photo taken in various hot-spots around the venue. Upon capture, the most recent photograph is displayed on the main projection wall while previous shots enter a randomized pool to enter and exit the visualization.
Project Lead: Grant Davis Project Manager: Xárene Eskander Account Coordinator / Product Manager: Matthew Manos Software Development: Richard Caceres Agency Partner: VJ Culture
BaristaLab approached verynice to get them off the ground by creating a brand identity for the lab as well as a full functioning ecommerce website. Throughout the process, we became very inspired by the steampunk aesthetic as well as the schematic illustrations of espresso machines. these are what informed the final outcome.
"BaristaLab offers professional instruments and expertise for a quality coffee experience in your home. Our mission is to raise the level of appreciation for awesome coffee and the people who have a hand in producing excellent coffees around the world."
Creative Direction / Design: Matthew Manos Web Development: Dru Bramlett
There's a reason the Hardell family lives so far out of town: they don't want company. When a mismatched group of high school kids trespasses on the Hardell ranch to drink beer and skinny dip, they learn this lesson the hard way.
After completing the designs for MTV New Media's identity and website, we won a big proposal and were hired by MTV Networks to create the visual identity and marketing campaign for their latest horror film, Savage County.
The iphone and ipad app for the Savage County campaign utilized the apple's built in camera and/or photo album to allow the users to put themselves into the poster by adding blood splatters and a weapon of choice to their portrait.
We built the website using wordpress to serve as a hub for the entire campaign, revealing video clips, film stills, giveaways, etc.
When asked to create a poster for the film, we sat back and thought: "What would be the most horrific poster we could ever make?" - and then it hit us: the poster had to be created out of human blood. We were responsible for art direction and the design of the composition for the following poster, painted by artist Vincent Castiglia, in his own blood.
Creative Direction / Design: Matthew Manos Web Development: Christopher Fung App Development: Brian Sadecki Blood Poster Illustration: Vincent Castiglia
Lasting Actions aims to provide access to technology for poor children, giving them the chance to have great futures. Currently assisting children in Ethiopia, Brazil, the Philippines and the Dominican Republic, the organization's team and projects extend five continents.
a verynice design studio worked with Lasting Actions to help them bring their brand and mission to life with an experience-driven website that allows for serendipitous exploration of the organization's global reach.
Creative Direction: Matthew Manos Web Design: Maya Ben-Ari Web Development: Maya Ben-Ari & Cris Bernabe-Sanchez
MyDigiStory is a non-profit organization which gives a voice to the most vulnerable, affected, and marginalized youth around the world. Through a series of unique hands-on workshops, students create their own digital stories through the filmmaking process stemming from personal narratives created through the writing process. These youth-produced digital stories are then shared with the word through the mydigistory social network and other media outlets.
a verynice design studio was approached by MyDigiStory with the task of creating a cohesive brand identity that could be used across several platforms including video, print, and web. We decided to play with the form of camcorders and filmstrips for the identity.
The team is comprised by Josh Wolff and Joanna Cyprys, two independent filmmakers making a difference by teaching these kids to tell their stories through film.
Creative Direction: Matthew Manos Design: Lara Oliveira Web Development: Chris Fung
GOOD is a collaboration of individuals, businesses, and nonprofits pushing the world forward. The following are a selection of editorial illustrations done for GOOD Magazine.
Why Don't We Have More Women Politicians
The artwork is a play on the famous "We Can Do It" poster, with a twist, placing the famous Rosie the Riveter in a suit, complete with red power-tie, in front of the White House. Check out the article here.
Would You Give Your Vote?
We created this illustration for an article about the UK's new initiative to open up voting to countries around the world who are also effected by the UK's policies. Check out the article here.
What Are Farmers' Markets For?
"What Are Farmers' Markets For" discusses the modern day farmers' market bringing up interesting points about these markets' validity in terms of freshness, localness, price, and nutritional value. Check out the article here.
The Back Garden Project
A GOOD community member works to transform a neglected corner of the city into a healthy garden. We created the brand identity for this popular column as well as the main graphic for the first article. Check out the column here.
Teens Turning Green
We created all of the graphics / illustrations for a GOOD article about Teens Turning Green, a non-profit organization dedicated to environmental and sustainable advocacy for high school students. Check out the article here.
Help Make a Salad Cost Less than a Big Mac
This article explores recent controversies behind the excess government funding going to large farms who specialize on processed foods as opposed to family owned farms. Check out the article here.
a verynice design studio was responsible for creating the design of the cover and interior gatefolds for Beautiful/Decay's infamous Book 1. White space was left on the cover for Graffiti Artist Kyle Thomas to customize each edition.
So, what comes after Issue Z? Beautiful/Decay completely revamped its design, eliminated all ads and bulked up content to create a magazine/book hybrid that is limited edition, hand numbered, and a timeless collector’s item. Cover artist Kyle Thomas hand drew a one of a kind drawing for each and every cover, taking nearly a hundred hours to complete! Book 1, “Supernaturalism,” heralds in the new era of B/D and gathers a collection of artists who explore otherworldly topics: Laura Brothers, Elizabeth Higgins O’Connor, Maja Vukoje, Mat Brown, Frank Magnotta, David Jien, and Yvonne Todd.
Creative Direction: Amir Fallah Art Direction: Fei Liu, Sasha Lee Design: Matthew Manos Illustration: Kyle Thomas
