Once in an eclipsed sun, brands go crazy coming up with clever campaigns to celebrate the special day. This August 21st, here are the brands that caught our attention -

 Denny’s

This restaurant famous nowadays for their snarky tweets and embarrassingly delicious food rebranded their pancakes without actually changing them at all -

   Chiquita Banana

Their billboards on the side of the road always give us a chuckle, and now they’ve claimed the eclipse as the biggest Chiquita Banana sighting ever seen.

     Airbnb and National Geographic

This campaign came in the form of an Airbnb listing for a National Geographic contest that let one lucky eclipse-fanatic stay in a star-studded home for the 21st.

“You’ll prepare for the phenomenon with a night of stargazing in a geodesic dome in the Oregon wilderness, joined by a noted astrophysicist and a master night-sky photographer. The next day, as millions gather for the event, you’ll ascend in a private jet to a spectacular view of the eclipse in all its glory. By the time you land, you might have a new appreciation for nature’s awesome ability to bring us all together.“

We love how these brands have worked together to create something special -

https://www.airbnb.com/night-at/solareclipse

        Krispy Kreme

Instead of their original glazed doughnut, Krispy Kreme rolled out a special double-sided chocolate glaze that’s more eclipse-y than any doughnut you’ve ever eaten

       Warby Parker

This brand gave away their own kind of eclipse glasses alongside an electric, moving musical spot. On their website they made templates for other ways of viewing the eclipse, and they now even have a countdown till the next one -

https://www.warbyparker.com/solar-eclipse

    The City of Nashville

Nashville, along with other cities like St. Louis, Kansas City, and Salem, was in the direct line of sight for the eclipse, so of course the Tennessee-ans had to take advantage of it, giving everyone the chance to “howl at the moon” at their three-day Moon Music Festival. Tennessee citizens and starstruck tourists alike gathered together to eat good food, listen to good music, and watch a good eclipse.

https://www.nashville.com/event/howl-moon-music-festival-eclipse-watch-party/

        US Postal Service

USPS sold stamps that, with the heat of a finger, turn a black circle into an image of the moon -

http://about.usps.com/news/national-releases/2017/pr17_020.htm

In the summer of 2017 Tastemade + Starbucks joined forces to delight their at-home coffee brewing fans with something special. They needed a print piece that was compelling, modern and refreshing to drive engagement with consumers from the digital space into the real world.

Finished and Fun Clever produced a hardbound coffee book capturing the art of brewing, dawn to dusk.  From art direction to photography to copy, and illustration, Clever captured the artisanal vibe of both brands and brought their digital content into the hands (and kitchens) of their foodie audience.

“Clever Creative has the ability to think big picture while using a keen creative eye for the details. We loved working with the team for their creative solutions and true partnership throughout the process.”

- June Kim Content & Partnerships Director, Tastemade

Sensory Storytelling

The Tastemade influencers’ personal narratives were a jumping off point, allowing us to create a series of visual stories based around sense memory, belonging and the sensory indulgence of coffee.   

“We’re all about stealing hearts and turning heads, that’s why we loved bringing this story into the kitchens of these partners’ foodie fans in an indulgently tactile way. 

Plus, as hard-working creatives, we have an ongoing love affair with coffee, so it felt like this work was our own little love-letter.”

- Shannon Gabor Founder & CEO, Clever Creative

We recently had the pleasure of collaborating with Starbucks and Tastemade on their coffee book Dawn to Dusk. 

It was a delight to get to work with such a talented group of food influencers from the Tastemade network, photographers, stylists and designers to capture the art of brewing and bring this hardbound recipe book to life in vivid color. 

*btw: you can still get a copy for yourself at starbucks.com/summeroffer

During this project we got the chance to work with Vijaya Selvaraju a food vlogger with an impressive 15k followers and over 3.7M views on her YouTube channel. As lovers of all things gorgeous food, we were impressed with her skills in the kitchen as well as her entrepreneurial spirit.

So we asked her to indulge our foodie fantasies and share what it’s actually like to live out one of our dream jobs (aside from the one we already have) as a food vlogger. She had more than a few great pieces of advice for getting a creative passion project off the ground.

Here’s what she had to say about coffee, creativity, and growing a YouTube following...

Q: How did you initially start your food vlog?

VS: My Food VLOG started as a very private endeavour several years ago. It was a means for me to document my travel adventures, a travel diary of sorts. I am a very visual person and I felt a video would help transport me back to each moment in time so that I could experience it over and over again.

These videos were private for a very long time, and then through the encouragement of friends I started to make them public. To my surprise there were real people out there who wanted to watch them, and so began my affair with making videos for Youtube.

Q: What makes your approach to cooking and food unique?

VS: The mantra that I carry through all my videos is to keep food simple and accessible. I want viewers to aspire to cook the dishes I present because they think they're easy enough to make at home. I know food videos are a source of entertainment for many, but my ultimate goal is to get as many viewers in their kitchens as possible.

Q: What are some of the most important lessons you can share for newbies?

VS: Lighting. Natural light is your friend! I still use natural lighting to this day.

Be yourself. The best way to be successful in anything you do in life is to be as authentic as possible. Don't worry about what other people want/like. Stay true to who you are and you will build a following of friends around the world in no time.

Q: What makes a great recipe video? Any styling tricks you want to share?

VS: A great recipe video is concise, has beautiful shots of the food, and a good storyline woven into it. When I'm filming, I just picture myself hanging out with my friends around the kitchen table, which sets the tone.

In terms of styling, I like to keep things natural, rustic, and not too fussy. If it looks to perfect, viewers may be too intimidated to make it.

Q: What do you love to cook/eat off camera?

VS: Food is my ultimate love and I like eating a variety of things! In terms of cultural cuisine, anything is fair across the board. From Vietnamese to Mexican to West African, I am game!

I try to keep things nice and balanced with lots of fruits, veggies and whole grains when I'm not filming. But I do have a soft spot for sweets and Bubble Tea!

Q: How do you keep cooking fun/fresh when you're doing it for a living?

VS: It's always fun and fresh, because food is my passion! I am always looking for sources of inspiration, heading to markets, and trying out new restaurants to get different ideas of what to cook at home/for work.

For the Starbucks + Tastemade coffee book, Dawn to Dusk, Vijaya brought these amazing Coffee Kulfi pops to the party. A must-try for that summer caffeine fix.

Q: How did you come up with your recipes? For the Starbucks coffee book?

VS: Being Indian, I wanted to bring a taste of my culture to the book. Lassi is a really popular yogurt based smoothie that's traditionally made with Mangos, but I thought it would be epic paired with coffee.

And Kulfi was one of my most favourite treats growing up. The match between Cardamom, Coffee, and Almonds is undeniable in that recipe! They go together so well, and it's such a super refreshing treat.

Q: What's another dish that people might not think to use coffee in... but should?

VS: Pulled Pork! Add a little bit of Coffee in the rub, and it adds a smokey roasted flavour that is to die for!

Check out some of Vijaya’s most popular videos on her channel including:

How to Peel an Egg in under 10 Seconds- 3 Methods

The Best Tandoori Chicken

Friendsgiving Masala Roast Potatoes

How to Make Mexican Grilled Corn

For more creative inspiration follow us on Instagram.

We’ve loved working with The Garland on so many cool projects - their hotel located “just past Hollywood, first house on the left” has so many great events and facets we’ve had the joy of designing content for. This project for their Food and Flick nights was one cool one we worked on, so here’s a sneak peek!

The whole Clever team took a trip downstairs for an exclusive sneak peek into the Chipotle that was opening up downstairs. Free entrees, drinks, chips, great company, a table outside, and guac that wasn’t extra! What could be better? Welcome to the neighborhood, Chipotle, we’re looking forward to spending many more lunch breaks with you the future!

May 2017: From the Desk of Ryan Henry

When I first met Shannon Gabor, founder and CEO of Clever, we instantly bonded over music. She talked about her love for Justin Timberlake and I talked to her about my love for the Beatles.

She asked me if there were any bands or musicians I might be able to recommend to play office-wide in the bullpen. The first band that came to mind was Beach House because they are pretty much the right vibe no matter what is happening.

I also mentioned Mitski, as she’s a truly empowering force in the world of songwriting, and right off the bat, I came to realize the culture here at Clever really embodied the spirit of strong women. It directly made me think of Mitski’s clear, cool way of telling her own story.

What I’m listening to throughout the day has always had a profound impact on the experience of my day. Here are some of the songs we play here at Clever:

     i.      Beach House, “Silver Soul”

            Somehow this tune really embodies the energy of the office – simultaneously balancing the light-heartedness of Clever’s gnome balcony as well as the elegant Scandinavian design of our office.

                ii.      The Beatles, “Norwegian Wood”

             I always imagine this song being sung in a log cabin with a fire roaring and hot tea steaming on the countertop. It has a warmth to it that most other songs can’t capture. We’re not quite in a warm log cabin here at Clever, but there is the feeling of warmth, hominess, and poetry at every turn.

              iii.     Feist, “Get Not High, Get Not Low”

             This song just came out last month and we’ve been spinning it often on our playlist. Feist is just one of most life-affirming voices we have out there, finding moments of redemption, clarity, and joy through honest storytelling and groovy sounds. She’s such a beautiful singer! We immediately knew this new song was a new favorite.

                          iv.     The Beach Boys, “Heroes & Villains”

             These guys are, of course, a classic. Brian Wilson was at his peak creative during the making of this song in particular, coming right off of Pet Sounds and working with a true understanding of the intricacies of writing and technology. This song has lyrics by Van Dyke Park, an artist I first discovered at McCabe’s Guitar Shop nearby Clever in Santa Monica, also frequented by Harold Mauer, one of our amazing designers here.

                   v.     The Radio Dept., “This Time Around”

            This is a band I’ve only just discovered since working here at Clever in March. It restored my faith in Pandora as a place to discover art. Through the maze of Radiohead and shoegaze and indie rock, the algorithm found its way to this beautiful band and the one-of-a-kind atmosphere they create. It’s hard to pick just a single song off their great record Clinging to a Scheme, as the entire thing spins here often.

                        vi.     Simon & Garfunkel, “For Emily Wherever I May Find Her”

             This is a short song, but really has such a special quality to it. Simon & Garfunkel never really fade into the background, and this song really “wakes up the ear” and gets your listening to the ebb and flow of the lyric, the contour of the words and lines.  

                      vii.     Tame Impala, “New Person, Same Old Mistakes”

              This album came out two years ago, and it’s still one of my favorites. Friends are relentlessly playing it at parties, in their cars, and Rihanna’s cover of this song is awesome, too. It’s impossible to ignore the groove of this truly funky record; it’s always a fun listen.

                        viii.     Portishead, “Numb”

               Dummy is one of those albums like the Radio Dept. album; the whole thing is good, and it melts time away. It absorbs into the space around it, as if the music are paintings on the walls. And, as you can see immediately upon seeing the Clever offices, we are all about paintings on our walls!

An unlikely collaboration between these two brands has fostered the creation of something beautiful - a guitar made out of agave. We love it when brands can step outside of their zone of expertise to challenge the norms of product design. Check it out -

Panamericana is a unique cafe that cooks up some great concoctions - all of which are bread-inspired! Considering bread is objectively one of the absolute best foods out there, we immediately had an inclination to love this place, and moreover we were overjoyed to give baker-extraordinaire Jessie a killer logo!

This is one of those times when design envy turns into a total #girlcrush! This New York city social club is just as classy and coveted as it sounds - its interior design, logo, and brand identity have us absolutely head over heels!

It’s called The Wing, and it’s an exclusive all-female club, a network of creative and intelligent women! We are loving the retro design approach and its pretty-but-powerful air. 

This April Fools brands went all out to prank consumers. Here are some of the best ones that caught our attention:

Amazon Echo

Now even your pets can talk to Alexa!

BMW

A car for dogs - and only dogs!

Hot Topic

A dating app to find your edgy, angsty true love -

https://twitter.com/HotTopic/status/848183202728599552

Google

Google Play feature for pets -

AirBnb

Hostels with a humanless host

Burger King

A burger-flavored toothpaste. Did anyone really believe this one?

Doritos

New Doritos Water

https://www.instagram.com/p/BSWOXWiDnW3/

Everyone knows of and excitedly anticipates Starbucks’s release of their red cups during the holidays, but now they’ve surprised us all with new cups we can enjoy in this season now! 

Check out these new spring cups that are bright and customizable! What do you think about them? 

The Oklahoma City Zoo is holding a great event to showcase all their blooming flowers - over 105,000 of them - and we had the pleasure of creating the logo for it!

Check it out at their website here - okczoo.org

March 2017: From the Desk of Luke Hartman

Lynda, oh Lynda, tell me where you have been.

Your instruction is so essential, like man to his kin.

Dearly, I so love you, you teach with such fine grace,

If my professors in college knew, they’d shoot my face with mace.

I’ve heard lore of your wonders as I traveled near and far,

My monitor is my best friend, because that’s where you are.

Enough of that mystical jargon, I am eating up Lynda.com these days.

When you want to learn something related to business, technology or creative skills, Lynda is the way to go. If you’re committed to it, and you have the willpower to find the time (early in the morning for me) you can progress yourself in your workplace exponentially.

No, I don’t work for them, and this is not a sales pitch. I love Lynda. Don’t tell my GF.

For me, as a web designer, the world revolves at a quickening pace, and you can’t be happy just knowing “what you know.” You have to continue to learn. And learn. And learn. And learn some more.

What the client needs, and what the client wants, is your top priority. And if you are unable to deliver that, you have to find a resource that can or you teach yourself how to do it.

That’s where Lynda.com meekly, and oh so tenderly, steps in from behind the curtain.

Let’s put it in numbers. . .

$34.99/month x 12/months = $419.88/yr total

Four hundred and twenty dollars is less than half of a semester in college, and that’s a whole year! Not to mention, you can do it as you please, at home (or on the train to work ;), and as much as you want.

Learning on Lynda.com has been super exciting for me. It has greatly helped me fill the gaps and gain new skills without wandering around on the internet looking for YouTube tutorials. It depends on your preferred learning methods (classroom, tutorial, hands on), but when you list them out Lynda is all three!

Let me step off this soap box, take a bow and let Lynda.com work her magic. Best it is said by yoda. .

“Train yourself, and let go of everything you have to fear to lose.”

Latest and greatest music playlist: https://open.spotify.com/user/1225893774/playlist/37zi21R2NbymYjIsxDRZz2

Some of these issues are probably so frequent you didn’t even realize there was a possible solution! Thankfully, with the power of design and creativity some great people we’d like to someday thank came up with some simple innovations to make life so, so much easier.

Like this helpful fruit sticker -

Or this cafe that will render watered-down iced coffee a thing of the past -

Because we’re definitely center brownie people, but don’t want to seem too picky in admitting it -

Or are you an independent shopper somehow unable shrug off those too-helpful store employees? Or you could even be a lost shopper who really needs a hand - there’s a basket for both!

Recently American Girl announced they would be introducing a new doll named Logan! This is the first male doll the brand has ever created, and we’re excited about Mattel’s efforts to further diversify their toys.

Stephanie Spanos, spokesperson for the company said - “A boy character has been a top request from our fans for decades... We're hopeful Logan will appeal to both girls and boys... For boys, we know Logan can speak directly to them and give them something unique and special to call their own.”