Jurkowitz & Co. is a marketing and communications agency run by Amy Jurkowitz. Our goal was to create a simple site that established the business, showcased J&C’s work and services, and breathed life into the brand.

We started with strategy and naming, producing over 30 names before settling on Jurkowitz & Co. In content strategy, we decided how to describe Amy’s services and display and categorize her work.

We worked with logo designer Adam Bognar to produce a modern, minimalist logo with a vintage flair. Then we extended our art direction into a simple but bold and modern visual design.

We finished the whole thing off with WordPress CMS Development.

Harvest is a popular web app that helps businesses log expenses, track time, and invoice clients. We use Harvest for our own operations and can attest to how sleek, intuitive, and fast it is.

Iridesco (the company that created Harvest) asked us to rethink the site’s front page, with the sole purpose of increasing conversion.

We created an effective, clutter and distraction-free design that shuttles users directly to the big, green “buy” button.

Subvert is a leading UI design firm based out of Whitehorse, Canada. They’ve helped dozens of clients across the country design solid user experiences that meet customer and business needs.

Founder Geof Harries contacted thingsthatarebrown to re-design the visual identity of subvert.ca. Things got off to a great start — we discussed the design and visual mood of the site like old friends trading music for a mixtape. Within just a few days, we both had a great initial design. Geof handled the ExpressionEngine buildout himself, using my handcrafted HTML templates.

Nick Finck is an information architect, user experience professional, speaker, and community cultivator from Seattle. He runs Blue Flavor, a small design agency.

Everyone who knows Nick (which is pretty much everyone) loves him—so we built the site around his identity as an approachable web veteran. A big, friendly picture of Nick on the front page sets the tone. Juicy calls to action and a soft color palette give the site a friendly, no-nonsense appeal.

We also integrated features like Twitter and Flickr and prioritized Nick’s speaking gigs and blog posts, to make the site more social and fresh.

Isadora’s is a family-owned boutique in downtown Seattle that sells antique jewelry, vintage evening wear, and custom wedding gowns. They came to thingsthatarebrown looking for a full redesign of their site.

Right off the bat, we realized that Isadora’s rare, antique jewelry was their main profit-generator and attraction. We customized Wordpress and used Isadora’s own photography on a design that boldly showcases the jewelry, whose beauty speaks for itself.

We also created a robust system for tagging and categorizing products. This made site far easier to search and browse, which in turn generated far higher online sales.

Vittana is a nonprofit startup that connects donors to students in developing countries, through person-to-person microfinance. They are based in Seattle, in Pioneer Square.

Our goal was to create a new look and feel that would entice people to donate. To do this, we oriented our information architecture and UI around a central theme: capturing each student’s story.

We prioritized individuals’ histories, aspirations, and goals to invite lenders to learn and care about their students. And we worked closely with local illustrator Chelsea Conboy on an earthy, modern logo that syncs beautifully with the site’s tone and design.

Half Pint is a small, homemade ice cream company in Seattle run by our good friend Cle Franklin. Her ice creams are made fresh weekly with organic, local ingredients.

Cle sells at farmer’s markets in the area, so we gave her site a neighborhood-y, communal vibe with hand drawn illustrations and a logo designed by Chelsea Conboy. Pulling from Flickr, the site features pictures of Cle and her friends enjoying ice cream around town.

We also made it extremely easy to find Half Pint at the markets using intelligent information design and google maps integration.

Onehub is an online collaboration tool for sharing information and files. It’s great for managing large projects with many stakeholders, vendors, and deadlines.

Onehub came to us with an established brand identity (courtesy Turnstyle Studios) that they wanted us to translate to the web. We worked very iteratively with both teams to map out a design strategy that maintained brand cohesiveness.

We also strategized with Onehub’s marketing team to tailor our design to the most important product features and marketing messages.