Just released some new work for the Lowcountry Open Land Trust. This is a group that strives to protect the traditional use of lands here in the Lowcountry by providing assistance to both public and private landowners to take that land and conserve it forever.

After the recent donation of land nearby Charles Towne Landing to the people of Charleston through Charleston County Parks, the Lowcountry Open Land Trust is taking a step back and looking to engage residents about the bigger picture of where they see the future of our landscape in the next 10 years through public meetings and ongoing dialog on their website.

Learn more about this great organization and the lands they helped protect, just what exactly an easement is, and how you can be a part of process at www.lolt.org.

Good new report from Nellymoser on the growing use of QR codes/action tags in the magazine industry world. Nice to see codes being used more thoughtfully, like this one:

For those looking to skip to the conclusions…

1. Mobile action codes, including QR codes and Microsoft Tags, continue to grow. From January to December 2011, the number of codes grew 617%.

2. QR codes are becoming much more common in magazine advertising. In December, more than 8% of magazine ad pages contained any type of code. This is up significantly from 3.6% in January.

3. Almost all action code experiences have been mobile-optimized.

4. Four types of campaigns dominate the use of action codes:
• Video demonstrations and branding (e.g., a look behind the scenes)
• Data capture and list building, with sweepstakes being an important use.
• Links to e-commerce sites and store locators for brick-and-mortar locations.
• Social media sharing with links to Facebook and Twitter.

5. The brands that most commonly use codes are in the fashion, beauty and home industries. In Q4, electronics vendors are retailers entered the Top 10 list for the first time.

6. Two-thirds of action codes follow the best practice of describing what happens after the code is scanned. Other embellishments, such as the use of icons, are less common.

We not only were lucky enough to create liquor labels for Maverick’s house spirit line but we also got to design posters promoting said liquors. We printed them on stretched canvas to make them last longer as ‘art’ in Maverick’s restaurants. These were muy fun to make and are so appreciative of our client who let us use huge type, big color, & great copy. Here’s a shot of a couple of them (there are 7 in total) hanging up at Old Village Post House.

For those out there who missed this year’s “Happy Holidays from Blue Ion” message due to over-zealous spam filtering or first-day-back-from-vacation email deleting, here’s a link from us to you. Many thanks to Brennan for capturing the magic that morn.

Rubies! Diamonds! Emeralds! We got the opportunity to work with all those and more when we did the site for Kiawah Fine Jewelry. KFJ is a great store at Freshfields selling top name brands of gems and watches and they’ve got their own private collection of jewelry designs as well. This is a project that included the gamut of our capabilities – strategy, branding, logo design, site design, facebook, twitter, seo optimization, adwords, and print design (posters and print ads).

Tired of the same ole Christmas Ornament? Ready to brighten your RV with something fresh and familiar? Well, look no further! We have created another print, cut and hang ornament for all our friends. This year is one of our favorite characters from Christmas Vacation, Cousin Eddie!

If you feel like doing a little arts & crafts, and you’re in the holiday spirit, here is the newest ornament! Click the image to download. Enjoy and have a Happy Holiday!

We got to refresh the CRDA site a little last week.  The navigation got updated with bigger / bolder type and we opened up space on the homepage with color blocks and larger type.  We’re also focusing attention on their four core targets – Advanced Security & IT, Aerospace, Biomedical and Wind Energy… allowing those interested in those sectors to access that information right from the homepage.

Really pleased with the result… an overall sharper and more modern feel.  Say tuned for more from CRDA soon…

To help mark Veterans Day, I thought we’d share a fun new ad we put together with Patriots Point for an upcoming edition of the Charleston Visitors Guide. What better way to spend the afternoon than getting up close and personal with the people and machines that protected this great country?

A few months back the crew at Lunch & Recess suggested that we create a film about the goings on at Blue Ion. Given Ethan, Ryan and Dorian’s talents we thought that sounded like gold, and the production began.

The project required several days of shooting over the course of the summer, surviving their Barbara Walters-sytle interrogations, a seemingly endless editing process, the creation of a custom soundtrack courtesy of Sunday Entertainment, and intense arguments over who deserved top billing and screen time. It all came together and we owe a million thank yous to L&R and Sunday E.

Blue Ion congratulates the following clients who are 2011 AIGA InShow Winners:

	Moody International
	Pearlstine Distributors
	Moody International – Special Judges Award