Warrior Fitness Concepts

Can I get a “Boo Yah” for all of the men and women who serve and protect us? Go ahead and tweet it if you’d like. Maybe we should start the #BooYahWarriors hashtag. Cool? I think so, this will be fun.

Today’s logo is the inspiration behind the request, but more on that in just a bit.

I’ll admit. I’m guilty of quickly forgetting how lucky we are to have the protection that we’re afforded in the United States. It seems the only time we’re reminded of their dedication, is on a few select holiday’s and during catastrophic events. It’s unfortunate.

I’m brought back to the events of 9/11, seeing footage of firefighters making their way up the staircases of the Twin Towers, when everyone else was scrambling to get down. That was the definition of courage, and an exemplary display of dedication these folks have to protecting others.

It really puts every other profession into perspective. Yes, including logo design. What we’re doing on a daily basis means absolutely nothing if it wasn’t for these men and women.

I don’t say it enough, so I’m going to say it out loud. THANK YOU to all of you who protect us.

Alright, I’ll tone down the prideful speech a bit and introduce you to the reason why you’re getting such a serious Dana today. Jason Barber and his company, Warrior Fitness Concepts have asked us to design their first logo and of course we were honored.

Warrior Fitness Concepts is a company that provides fitness consultation to Military units, Law Enforcement, Firefighters, SWAT and aging rock stars. (Sometimes I can’t stay serious for even a minute.) They’re a group of military members that are highly motivated to help our nation’s greatest warriors in fitness, rehab and nutrition.

Basically, they stumbled onto a kick-ass concept that everyone else wishes they had come up with. But, seriously, this is one of greatest niche ideas for a business that I’ve come across in a long time.

Plus, I love that they refer to them as Warriors. It makes me wish that I wasn’t such a wuss and had chosen to pursue law enforcement or something equally as brave. No, I had to go to school for marketing, because I wanted to work at an agency with a ping-pong table. What a sissy I am.

Well, the least we can do is give Warrior Fitness Concepts a kick-ass logo that makes them proud to display. They’re training warriors, we couldn’t go pastel on them.

Do a couple things for me today — please. First, go visit Warrior Fitness Concepts’ site. I’m sure they love to have you. Lastly, let’s get some tweets going today with the hashtag #BooYahWarriors. If not for me, do it for the warriors.

Panzy man – out.

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Prodality

Sometimes I tend to forget what I’ve said before, so if I’m repeating myself, I apologize.

Did I tell you that Tony and I started a company called Idea Heroes before there was ever IDesignYourLogo.com? If I already told you that, don’t tell me, I like to believe that I’m only telling you things once.

Anyway, the concept behind Idea Heroes is really simple. We come up with big ideas for people/companies so they don’t have to, period. No big strategy, no expensive retainers. It’s just simple idea-creation. Why? Because that’s what we do best.

But, the execution stuff — not so much. We’re what some might call, executionally-challenged. Well, it isn’t that bad, we did manage to get IDesignYourLogo.com off the ground.

We believe that ideas/innovation are the life-blood behind any successful business. A company can’t survive without new products (except for SPAM). Sometimes, businesses that are staled or have flat-lined in sales, need a little pick-me-up. A new idea for a stale business can take it from zero to hero in no time.

That’s what Idea Heroes does. We come up with business-saving concepts that make even the dorkiest kid in school, cool enough to hook up with the prom queen. But, who does the execution you might ask?

Glad you asked. Prodality, that’s who.

Prodality works with businesses and people who have ideas, but are not sure how to bring it to life. They understand the strategic component that’s necessary to pull of cockamamie ideas. They make sure that the people behind the ideas, can actually seem them come to a reality, without forcing the right-brained person to think with their left-brain.

Makes sense to me.

They’re not out to win any awards. They’re simply in business to successfully bring an idea to market — period.

So, let’s recap. You have a fantastic idea. You’re so excited that you pee’d your pants (just a little) and you can’t get a wink of sleep. You have no idea how to get started. You start to feel like you’re letting yourself down. You read today’s post. You’re once again really excited, but this time you make it to the bathroom. You call Prodality. They do their magic. You become a gazillionaire.

It’s as simple as that.

Now it’s time to check out their fancy new logo, hit the new “like” button below and head off to their site to get them started on your idea. What are you waiting for? Go.

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Zach & Ally

Did I ever mention that my wife and I have twins? Yep, two boys (Kai and Nicholi) who are about to turn 4. For those of you that also have multiples, you’ll know that they can be the worst of enemies and the best of friends. In a way, it’s nice that they become instant playmates at such and early age, but it’s also not a nice thing that they become instant playmates at such an early age. Confusing, I know, but trust me, it’s true.

We’ll never know what it’s like to have a single child, however I can imagine the first year, being just a tad bit easier with just one. That was the tough part of having multiples for us. It was basically around the clock feeding for the first several weeks. After that, it was all about getting them to sleep at the same time.

Now that they’re a bit older, life has gotten both easier in some ways and harder in others.

On a separate but similar note, do you want to hear something really crazy? I have no idea what your answer is, but I’ll just assume you said, yes.

So, Kai and Nicholi were a product of In-vitro fertilization. At the time they become embryos, we ended up having extra embryos that we decided to freeze. Three years later, we decided that we were ready to try to have another baby. We used the frozen embryos to get pregnant with our third child, Tait. The crazy thing is, scientifically speaking, Tait is the same age as his brothers, who are three years older than him. Confused yet? Tait was conceived at the same time as Nicholi and Kai, but frozen for three years. Crazy, right? He’s kind of like Hans Solo on Empire Strikes Back.

Alright, back to twins. It seems that parents with twins always have some sort of dynamic connection. It’s kind of like, without having to say a word, we all get what each other has been through. And, trust me, just like people with one wonder how people with twins, do it … parents with twins, wonder how parents with triplets do it. Bottom line, it gets done.

So, why are we talking twins today? Well, because today’s logo is for twin siblings, Zach and Ally. Actually, they’re only two, so they’re not the ones requesting the design, their dad is. Dad is, Simon-Pierre Rioux, and as you can tell, he’s one cool daddy. Could you imagine growing up with a personal brand? How cool is that?

He’s not just thinking about today either. Simon-Pierre has asked us for an identity that can work as well for each one individually as it does for both of them combined. He’s thinking ahead. Maybe it will adorn a bike license plate, maybe a future lemonade stand, or maybe, someday, they’ll start the Zach & Ally TV show. You never know.

Here are each of their individual logos:

We’d love to hear you comments today. Let us know what you think about today’s logo, and tell us all about your kids (if you have them).

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Big South Fork Cabins

Southwest Airlines said it best, Wanna Getaway? Yes, don’t mind if I do.

Everyone likes to get away every now and again. Some like to get away and stay away, but we won’t talk about those people today, that will ruin the mood.

We like to get away from our daily grind, the rat race, computer, cable, noise, kids, mean co-workers, Tony, 5ft of snow, city transportation or um … logo design. Sorry to say it, but it’s a lot of work.

Where do we normally go? Well, if you’re from the North, you go South. And, if you’re from the South, you go … I don’t know. Where do people who live in the places that us northerners’ vacation, vacation? Do they go North? Or, maybe they go to the next town over. I dunno.

If you want to get away, you could go to Disney World to visit Mickey and the crew, or New York to see … New York. Then there is always Colorado for Coors and St. Louis for Budweiser. If you live in Minnesota, and it’s the summer, most people who get away, escape to their home in the woods. Small town, lake homes that we like to call — cabins.

Living in this small little midwestern world, it never occurred to me that folks to the south had cabin retreats of their own. I thought that was just a northern US thing. Well, thanks to Big South Fork Cabins, I found out that I was dead wrong.

Chere Hoffman was kind enough to introduce us to her sisters’ business of renting modern luxury cabins in the deep south. Well, Oneida, Tennessee, so not too deep south. But, south enough for me to be surprised.

And, just like the cabins that we’ve grown to love up here, Big South Fork Cabins has all the same to offer. Fishing, hiking, water skiing, jet skiing and the occasional sun burn. And trees, they have plenty of trees (probably minus the mosquitos).

Just check out a few of these jems:

What’s not to love, right? We feel the exact same way.

If there’s one thing we know, it’s cabins. I mean, c’mon, we’re from the north (at least me and Tony are). It was easy enough for us to get into the mindset of designing a logo for Big South Fork Cabins. It’s in our DNA.

Whether you’re planning your own get away or not, it’s worth checking these cabins out and day dream for awhile. Who knows, you might be inspired to book your weekend away.

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Dropzone Media

Did you hear about this nut-bag, Felix something, who’s going to attempt to break the world record for the highest free fall/skydive ever? It’s stupid nuts. Basically, he’s going to float up to the edge of space (120,000 feet up by the way) in a souped-up ballon and … JUMP. Apparently, he’ll break the sound barrier and travel at a speed of 690 MPH! Seriously, I can think of better ways to die. I would guess, with his pressurized suit he’ll be wearing, a tiny fart could probably knock him out cold. And, who’s not going to fart at that altitude? Probably will be more of a shart if we’re being honest.

I’m not trying to make fun of the guy. It’s brave. He’s brave. I wish that I had half the courage of this guy. I hate heights, they scare the crap out of me. I mean, I get freaked out putting Christmas lights up on my house. How ridiculous is that?

There is a scene in the movie Point Break, where Special Agent, Johnny Utah jumps out of a plane with no parachute to catch the bad guy, Bohdi (who incidentally, was wearing a chute). Utah eventually catches up to Bohdi in mid-air, and clinches on to his body like a blood-sucking leech.

Just typing out that scene, my fingers are slipping off the keyboard because of the sweat. I can’t even think about it without feeling physically ill. Ish. Never. Skydiving is not for me.

But, it is for many others. There are some people that cannot get enough of it. Skydiving is their life and their life is skydiving. And there are the others, who have tried it once and say that it has transformed them. They were instantly attracted to thrill of watching death approach them (literally).

Once of those death-dyfing daredevils is none other than Mike Petrucci. Just a few short weeks ago, Mr. Petrucci went on his very first skydive and fell in love.

Rather than deny his apparent passion (and probably calling), he entrenched himself in the culture. He took his knowledge of social media and marketing and blended it with his new love for skydying (or, I mean skydiving) and formed a brand-spanking new company called Dropzone Media. For those of you that are not up-to-date on your skydiving lingo, Dropzone refers to skydiving locations.

While anxiously researching his next free fall destination, he came to the realization that many of the skydiving companies could value from his deep knowledge of social media, video production, web design and all-around coolness. I added that last part. Rather than cater to everyone, Mr. Mike is narrowing in on this very specialized niche, because that’s what he loves.

We love that he loves to love something enough to share his marketing love to the lovely skydiving companies. That was annoying, wasn’t it?

Having worked on a logo for another skydiving marketeer recently, Peter Shankman, we’re starting to get the hang of how this folks think. We definitely didn’t get into character for this design, but we did watch Wesley Snipe’s feature film, Dropzone, from start to finish for some inspiration. That, along with Mike’s passion was all it took to come up with today’s design.

Whether or not you’re a skydiver or the owner of a dropzone, we suggest that you get connected to Mike, simply because he’s one of the good guys. And, bravo to him for following a passion.

As Shankman frequently says, blue skies everyone … blue skies.

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