Earlier in the summer, the Velocity team was discussing Minneapolis art director Nicole Meyer’s Branding 10,000 Lakes project.

Meyer felt that lake logos were, for the most part, poorly done. So each day, she gives a new lake in Minnesota a miniature makeover — a quick little rebrand to get people thinking.

We love the concept, and decided to take a similar approach as we wrapped-up our Wallpaper of the Week project. After considerable discussion, we realized how many great neighbourhoods in Winnipeg lack any distinct visual identity. So we’re devoting the next year to branding and rebranding the neighbourhoods of the city we love.

Rebranding One Great City

VELOCITYWG is our new, weekly design project: simple exercises in unfettered creativity with a common theme that’s near and dear to our hearts: celebrating the streets, suburbs, and cityscape of Manitoba’s capital.

Our first entry, by Velocity Creative Director Karla Burr, premieres Monday.

Have a great weekend!  -J

White Noise, directed by Randy Frykas and produced by Jeff Newman of Nüman Films, follows the loss and the triumphant return of The Winnipeg Jets.

From the film’s official site:

“The film focuses on Winnipeg’s intricate relationship with professional hockey, how it influences, defines and continues to impact its citizens on an emotional, economic and, often, a very personal level. Using a variety of interviews from fans, writers, critics, players and a tapestry of pro hockey enthusiasts White Noise explores Winnipeg’s fifteen year fascination with the ghost of a professional hockey team, and the team’s unbelievable, inspiring return.”

White Noise premieres with a free public screening at 8 p.m. October 1 on the 35 ft. Creswin Screen at 201 Portage (Portage and Main), and is also available on MTS Winnipeg On Demand, starting Oct. 2.

Jeff Newman is a longstanding client of ours (Velocity designed the Nüman Films site), and we wish him the very best of luck with what’s sure to be a HUGE hit!

Velocity recently had the pleasure of working on a new radio spot for Safeway Boo at the Zoo!

We also had the dubious pleasure of working with some smelly, horrible trolls in the studio. Have a listen.

Who would have thought trolls would be so difficult to work with?

The spot hits the airwaves today.

Safeway Boo at the Zoo runs October 20 to October 30.

-J

In Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhikers’ Guide to the Galaxy, the supercomputer Deep Thought determines that the Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything, is 42.

And so with Wallpaper of the Week #42, we’ve decided* to end our year-long experiment in off-the-cuff and on-the-fly design. However…

DON’T PANIC

We will continue to provide you with outstanding quality digital content at the same great price (free) that we always have. Starting next week, Velocity is plunging full-speed into a new and interesting project, directly connected to the city we love.

No, not Lethbridge (although it is a very fine city). We mean Winnipeg.

Tune in to this very website at the same time next week, and join us as we venture into, and perhaps brand, some exciting territory… inspired by Minneapolis art director Nicole Meyer.

Don’t forget to bring a towel.

Share and Enjoy

-J

*This was a conscious decision, and in no way related to the fact that we have been unbelievably busy these past few weeks.

Commodore Dan Ritchie, who died Saturday, Sept. 10, was one of Winnipeg’s most prolific entrepreneurs, and perhaps best known as the man behind the River Rouge.

During his career, Dan founded dozens of restaurants and cafeterias, significantly bolstered tourism in Winnipeg through his cruise ships and double-decker bus tours, and always found time to extoll the virtues of our city. Dan befriended artists like Leo Mol, and held one of the largest private art collections in Western Canada at one point, as well as a collection of antique tractors and a 1,000 acres of Manitoba farmland.

Although extraordinarily successful in business, Dan never lost touch with the average man, and held a special place in his heart for animals of every shape and size. He took in dozens of stray dogs and cats over the years, and in his retirement, founded the Pine Ridge Wildlife & Environment Foundation, and devoted most of his time and energy to the care of animals — from abused and neglected dogs and cats to wounded deer and birds. The Sanctuary provides shelter and food to thousands of animals from across Southern Manitoba.

Velocity was fortunate enough to develop the Pine Ridge website, and experience Dan’s caring nature firsthand. Our community has lost one of its most vocal and energetic proponents, but the Foundation which he began will live on.

We extend our deepest sympathies to the Ritchie family.