Scott Franko

Ideation is the creative process of generating, developing, and communicating ideas from formation to development and implementation. It is innovation at work that brings concepts to life whether it be abstractly, concretely, or visually. It characterizes Ideation Signs and Communications and how they build impressions.

Daren Bossenberger is the founder and owner of Ideation located in the Metro Detroit region of Michigan within the city of Royal Oak. He created his business to bring together brand savvy, top-notch design, and signage to help other entities make the most of their environments through signs, graphics and branding. This mix is not just attractive to business owners, but also other creative companies looking for a partner to help bring their designs into a client’s space. 

Though there is a lot of design talent available, Daren saw that talent being underutilized when it came to effectively branding spaces—whether an office building or retail establishment. According to Bossenberger, there were many designers designing logos, brochures and websites while sign companies were making signs, but nobody was effectively designing signage with environmental graphics and brand in mind.

"Many logos and graphics look great on letterhead or websites, but don’t translate well in a 3D environment," Bossenberger says. "So, I started Ideation to bridge this great divide. We’re a design company that brands businesses and their spaces with highly designed logos, signage and environmental graphics. Our mantra is design to move people. We believe our designs should change how people feel and move them toward a goal, or at times literally move them from here to there."

All of their projects follow the same process; discovery and strategy through listening before designing. They also ask the right questions. This generates trust between them and their clients. That trust then turns into honest dialog allowing the customer to open up and share their goals. With those goals at the center, the ideation process kicks in and Ideation goes to work at coming up with visual branding solutions to build impressions.

Here are three project case studies that showcase how Ideation has successfully and creatively branded environments with some tips for helping you build your impressions.

Project One

Holiday Market is a 60 year old specialty grocer in Metropolitan Detroit. With demand for their prepared foods and catering on the rise, they decided to bring a new authentic and premium barbecue offering to market called Smokehouse. They turned to Ideation to help craft a visual identity and in-market experience that would measure up to the high quality fare. 

The goal was to create the unique Smokehouse brand that could stand on its own while connecting to Holiday Market. The branding needed elasticity in order to work in applications ranging from in-market signage to packaging, bags and apparel. It was also going to require collaboration with the architect in order to end up with optimal solutions.

Tip: As a sign and branding company, if you wait until architecture is finished before you have a say, the potential impression your work could make will be diminished. The significant contribution a single sign can make in context of a broader environmental graphic solution should not be overlooked. The end result for Smokehouse would not have been the same without the vintage, open faced exposed bulb BBQ sign (by Vintage Marquee Lights).

Ideation listened to why the client was investing in barbecue, what they hoped it would accomplish, what their offerings would be, how it would be different from other barbecue restaurants, where it would go in the market, how the space would be used and what impression they wanted their customers to have.

From there they conducted research in the barbecue industry including old-school pits of the south and modern takes on barbecue. When finished, they were able to recommend names, brands, impressions and strategy. Once the concepts were developed they could specify materials, dimensions, colors and installation approaches. Collaborating with Krieger Klatt Architects, they were able to work together to design space layout and construction details.

In this phase, they also did some prototyping with a local woodworker. Budget constraints forced them to end up using an imitation wood product. Production of the visual brand components from start to finish, including installation, took place over a five-week timeframe. Other components consisted of stainless fabricated letters by Gemini and routed acrylic letters.

“After developing a logo, we developed mood boards that included type styles, slogans and claims, colors, in-store signage, packaging, bags and t-shirts to validate the overall look and feel.” 

- Jon Moses, Ideation Creative Director.

“Incorporating the weathered, open-faced channel letters with exposed bulbs was designed to capture shopper’s attention while also bringing some old school personality and grit that’s often found in the authentic BBQ joints of the southern states.”

- Michael Garavaglia, Ideation Designer.

Project Two

Purely Pets wanted a brand that would position them as the "Whole Foods" of the pet industry, and they wanted their spaces to reflect that brand. Ideation would help bring the brand to life through creative designs and concepts that were aimed at making people smile. Examples includes adding the verbiage intruders will be sniffed and lickedunder the standard signage identifying STAFF ONLY, and displaying fun pet photos in outdoor settings—like a dog on a skateboard.

Tip: An important deliverable for this project was a Master Sign Schedule and Placement Map that identified all 75 unique signs that would require detailed designs and elevation drawings to support efficient production and installation. A master plan is an important tool to make a project of this caliber be carried out successfully. It also becomes part of the standards that maintain consistency as your customer's business grows.

Ideation partnered with a number of vendors in this project including SignText for aisle topper signs and with Arbor Oakland Group for printing custom cut out photographic images of pets displayed throughout the store.

Materials, substrates and components included the use of PVC, laminates, dimensional acrylic, vinyl by Oracal, face-lit and halo-lit channel letters, Gemini letters with Chemetal laminates, Gatorfoam, Stand-Offs, and Mactac Iridescent vinyl in the creation of the scale-like patterns they used on the header over the walls in the fish and reptile sections of the store.

“The team at Ideation listened to me and brought my vision for the Purely Pets brand to life. My favorite questions from first time customers include, ‘where are your other stores?’ and ‘where is your headquarters?’  It’s great to have a brand that’s as poised for growth as I am.” 

- Andrew Jacob, Owner of Purely Pets. 

Project Three

With demand for electrical workers heating up, Ideation was asked to help redesign Detroit’s Electrical Industry Training Center (EITC). This was part of a big picture objective of attracting and recruiting top high school graduates into their high tech apprenticeship program.  

More specifically, the design challenge for Ideation was to use the space to “wow” visitors with the sophistication and depth of the program, and to tell the story of the organization in the space. Visitors would include prospective students as well as government officials. They also wanted design in the space to create a stronger visual brand identity for the organization that could also be extended to literature and their website.  

Tip: The interior of the building was nice, but void of any personality or story.  All the walls were painted “landlord beige.”  This sort of thing is a great example of where you can use space to tell a visual story, to create a perception, to present a brand and build impressions.

The total scope of this project included custom displays, environmental graphics, a historical photo gallery, interior paint color palette, new furniture, a video display, exterior signage, interior wayfinding signage with more than 120 unique signs and graphics to be produced. 

A custom display was designed and fabricated to feature the contractor partners that helped fund the program. A wall display was created in the lobby to showcase the 6 curriculum tracks in the Apprenticeship program. Custom typography was created from industry materials like mini solar panels and power control switches.

Years of awards, certificates and industry recognition articles that were hung throughout the space without any real organization or uniformity were reorganized, reframed and presented in a way that contributed to the overall space design. A custom cabinet was also designed and produced to house a digital display that was integrated into a wall graphic.

“The facility hosts thousands of guests each year including electrical professionals, legislators and other elected officials, K-12 educators, and prospective apprentice applicants.  The reaction to the newly refreshed space has been incredibly positive.”

- Jennifer Mefford, EITC Director of Business Development.