Friday, April 27, 2007
Internal Target Site ROCKS
Catalyst and Target just launched a new site. I wish I could show you more or link you to it, but it's a "for Target internal eyes only" project. I can tell you this. It saves certain employees lots and lots and lots of time, making their lives so much easier and more productive. We created the cute little characters (above) for a tutorial outlining how this site and how certain internal processes work. They go up and down elevators, to meetings, make coffee, jump, tell jokes, do flips and more.
Below you'll see some screen shots of the site and that tutorial.
tags: catalyst studios, minneapolis, minnesota, design, graphic design, interactive, catalyst,
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Quite a while back we created this Hello Kitty Adventure game. While bouncing around online, I found someone had taken it, mocked it a bit (by calling it "the end of World of Warcraft," etc.) and then did their own spin on the design (on ytmnd - you're the man now dog!) I love finding stuff like this. So take a peek at the links below...and play the game too...it's intense.
Happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Ellen....happy birthday to you.
Ellen is our beloved office manager. And her willingness to increase age publicly gave hungry people an opportuninty to try two different cakes. It was confirmed by 100% of the staff, including some first timers to the cool treat, that Dairy Queen makes the world's best cake. Yummy. The fruit thing went over well too. Mmmmmmmmmmmmm.
See more pics of the event and the cake at 
Catalyst created these Back to College Flash Cards for both parents and students, helping them both prep for the big send-off. Oh, and we did all the illustration in-house too. Oh, and we won awards at the MN AIGA design show and The Show.
There are 20 cards in the set, half for parents, half for co-eds. Here's content from a parent card:
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Catalyst worked with Bent Air, a new scuba tshirt company to help with identity, branding, tshirt design, website and more. The shirts are on press now and the materials have all been printed. Check out some of the stuff above (business cards include shirt designs). Here's how Bent Air describes their stuff:
A new line of the kick-assingest shirts for the scuba-inclined worldwide. We couldn't find cool diving shirts, so we made them ourselves. Because, hey, divers need kick-ass shirts too. So suit up!
As of this post, this is still a 
Look what happens when Catalyst Studios partners with Target to create and bring to life a strategy that takes a huge leap forward in linking the bullseye to the world of art. The newly launched campaign marries seemingly disparate forms of art — old and new — in unique and unexpected ways to create a new story, a new way for all of us to look at and be inspired by art.
After extensive ideation around how to tell this new story of art, Catalyst landed for the two-and-a half-minute debut execution on the blending of traditional graffiti art with the cutting edge world of digital art. The idea was to feature two very different graffiti artists, from very different parts of the world and with vastly different styles, and play them off of each other, eventually melding their art together and bringing this new 3D masterpiece to life digitally. And Art for All was born.
In addition to the graffiti art spot, titled “Revolutions”, three additional digitally animated spots were created, built around the super fun, super simple idea of red and white marbles as a branding vehicle for Target. Each of the spots is a unique take on marbles interacting ever-so-playfully with the bullseye.
The finished spots are now showing at film festivals across the country and at Victory Park Plaza, a new concept entertainment and art district in Dallas, Texas. Victory Park is unique in that digital artists from around the world compete in a juried selection process to have their art work featured. This art, as well as Target’s Revolutions and Marbles spots, is showcased on eight larger-than-life 15' x 26' HD screens that can be pre-programmed to glide, each independent of the next, back and forth along horizontal tracks, creating a massive choreographed canvas like no other.
Up next: Catalyst is in production on a fifth spot and hard at work concepting the next installment in the “Art for All” effort.
Here are the 4 spots:
The 
Catalyst Studios worked with Urban Junket on creating packaging for their Gabs Studio Kit. Here's a bit about the product: Each Gabs Studio kit contains all the panels, pockets, thread, needle, strap, closures and instructions required to create your personal bag. Also included are ideas for adding personal touches with beads, sequins or rivets. Each kit features one panel of leather and one of felted wool, two leather pocket panels, an inside drawstring pouch and tie closure. One size 11”w x 12”h.
Today, a fine group of students stopped by Catalyst for a quick tour and Q&A session with Jenn and I. Totally bummed I forgot to take their picture. Anyway, I told them to check out this news blog if they wanted to find out more information about what we're working on and what's happening around the office. Let's just see how many of them come and actually read this. If you were here today, leave us a comment below. I'd prefer you leave suggestions on how to make a tour even better. Like more candy or more jokes or more dancing. Or just say "I was there today." Or, better yet, if it was the best thing you've ever experienced in your life, put that.
Thanks AIGA and thanks portfolio one-on-one people...we always enjoy it.
If you like blogs, here's our other one of stuff we think is 
Look what we did. It's a Hello Kitty freestanding display unit. Yes, I've named it a display unit. You can call it an end cap, but it's not really an end cap. You could call it a kiosk, but you'd be wrong. it's a 
It's a boy! Mary was pregnant and now she is not (as of 4/10.07). Congratulations to you Mary, we hope you're even happier than the above photo.
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A couple years ago, 
Catalyst (we) partnered with Target (them) to come up with some sweet grand opening ideas. The project involved extensive strategy/ideation, followed by communications customized to each key market and speaking to Super Target audiences too. Included: a service mailer (promoting pharmacy, optical, financial services, etc.), an opening day mailer with fun little “hello” and “goodbuy” diecut window reveals, and some pretty breakthrough newspaper ads, site signage, outdoor advertising and guerilla tactics.
We're currently working on 2008 Grand Opening with Target. We LOVE working with and shopping at TARGET!
News is still news whenever it happens right? Good. We hadn't posted this, so I'm posting it now. HOW's international design annual featured two of our pieces. The Catalyst Website and the Safe City CD-ROM that we worked on. Both are fabulous. Both are featured above.
You can see more of our work 
Catalyst Studios worked with the Boys and Girls Club of the Twin Cities to revamp their website. The new site has its own content managment system (built by the wild and infamous team of Jared Lukes and Andrew Norell), giving the Boys and Girls Club the opportunity to update their site without any know-how or technical wisdom. It's fantastically easy and sort of genius-like.
The four stories featured on the home page are real kids/members of the Boys and Girls Club and those are their drawings. Pretty darn cool if you ask me. It's fun to do stuff for organizations that are making a difference in the world. Kudos Boys and Girls Club!
Visit 
We're not talking about the car company. We're talking about Phil...Phil Ford (shown above in the early 70s).
After an important and overdue discussion of the size of tabloid paper, and following a number of props, examples and theories, Phil Ford, design executor of Catalyst Studios, became fed up and uninvited Jason Rysavy to future meetings with the staff.
Stay tuned for future updates on the matter.
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Catalyst Studios has two things in the most recent version of Print's Regional Design Annual. I know you all have the magazine, so flip to page 161 and 164 to gaze at the wonderment of our Identity System and Paper Salon 12"x12" patterns. While you're enjoying, you may have to squint because of how small our work is featured. Especially Paper Salon...so click on the link below to get a bit more up close and personal. As with most things, good stuff probably shouldn't be so little.
View a 
Here's an amazing project Catalyst recently did for one of our clients. For the second year running, we were tapped to concept and help produce event strategies and creative for Target’s Times Square New Year’s Eve presence. The event was a huge success, garnering news coverage globally and winning coveted space on the cover of the New York Times. And it was incredibly fun to work on! Please, take a look.
View 
Our identity system (letterhead, envelope, stickers, notecards, notepads) was recently (sort of) featured in Dynamic Graphics (a magazine). Seems like they liked our assortment of paper used in our system.
Here's the blurb (edited by me) next to the image in pink: 
A recent baby shower at Catalyst Studios was filled with fun, surprises and other things.
For Mary, she totally knew she was pregnant and the shower was for her. But try to imagine the shock and confusion for Dori when she was told to sit in the other gift-receiving chair. "Holy Crap I'm Pregnant?" and "Oh my, are you serious?" were some of her initial reactions. Once she came to the realization that she was indeed pregnant, and that she was having the baby soon, she embraced the idea.
Big ups to Mary and Dori. And c'mon, Dori totally knew she was pregnant.
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The NEW news site for