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Launch principal, creative director, David Wilgus, played host this past Saturday to scouts from his church. Boy Scout Troop 835 came to the Launch office for insight into the world of advertising. In addition to Wilgus’ words, the scouts were particularly impressed with the “fun” office, replete with all the toys and random decorations that make it comfortable and personable.
As thanks, the Troop sent Wilgus a Merit badge in Space Exploration. The rocket-themed patch matches the Launch decor and will be a great addition to our prized collection of memorabilia. The boys received more than Wilgus wisdom; each walked away with a brand new Launch ball cap.
Merit badge for Space Exploration
Boy Scout Troop 835 visits Launch
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We’re ready to impart more wisdom from Launch Art Director Reuben Miller’s experience at the 2010 HOW Conference.
An interesting session, “Building a Business: If I Knew Then What I Know Now,” featured Brian Dougherty and Marcia Hoeck. Dougherty is a founding partner of Celery Design Collaborative, which has studios in both California and Paris. Marcia Hoeck is president of Hoeck Associates, Inc. and acts as a business coach. Her mantra is, “Create a business that will run without you.” These two entrepreneurs described their tried-and-true methods for starting a successful business and growing it — specifically, how to keep from getting sidetracked so you can focus on why you started the business in the first place.
Next they explained Dougherty’s “design backwards” approach. By starting from a design project’s ultimate destination and working backwards, designers are able to make more informed choices, allowing them to creatively avoid many roadblocks that might prevent solutions. The best way to begin brainstorming is to imagine the “best possible destiny for a design. Next, imagine the user’s experience with the design and envision scenarios that would make the experience particularly memorable or valuable.”
Reuben said the last session he attended featured “the most inspirational speaker [he'd] ever seen.” The session, “Rediscovering Play: Bringing Fun and Passion to Your Work. . .and Life,” was given by Kevin Carroll.
Carroll’s childhood was less than idyllic; his parents struggled with substance abuse problems, so he moved in with his his grandparents. One day, he found a red rubber ball on the playground, and from that point on, focused his life on the pursuit of fun and the “red rubber ball mentality.” Now he collects different and interesting balls from all around the world as a source of inspiration.
After 10 years in the air force, Carroll spent time with the Philadelphia 76ers and Nike before starting his own business, Kevin Carroll Katalyst/LLC. We don’t do Carroll’s story justice, so check it out after finishing our post.
One of Reuben’s takeaways from HOW was that, “It’s an incredible asset to be a great presenter; it can be the tipping point between whether an idea sells or not.”
Find more information on 2010 Conference sessions visit the HOW website.
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First impressions can mean everything. And Jaguar Plano made a memorable one at their Grand Opening event. Guests were met by two women, dressed from head to toe in jaguar print, greeted those entering the newest Park Place dealership. The “Jaguar models” greeted over 200 guests who came for an evening of sleek cars, delectable food, and charitable support for a good cause.
Partial credit for the evening’s success is due to Launch creatives Alex Slotkin and Richard Wezensky, who created a stylish event invitation featuring a stunning profile of a chrome jaguar that “leapt” out of the envelope when opened. Megan Kelly and Alison Hamilton were the account executives on this piece, and Laura Carroll handled print production. 
Launch also worked with editor Travis Coan to create a music video which highlighted the evolution — and growth — of Jaguar as a brand and Park Place as the area’s premier auto dealerships. The video featured classic film of Jaguars dating back to the 1960s, shots of the very first Park Place dealership, and stunning footage of the new Jaguar XJ.
Above: Jason Giles, Megan Kelly, Michael Boone, and Alison Hamilton from Launch, along with Rob Sumner, Director of Marketing for Park Place Dealerships, show support for both the new Jaguar dealership and Children's Medical Center at Legacy, the beneficiary of the evening.
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In the ad industry, it’s not uncommon to email large PDF files to clients. These large files are bandwidth hogs, can take a long time to send, and are often never received. Job seekers may have similar problems when attempting to send digital copies of their book to prospective employers.
Saving a high-res PDF is pretty straightforward, but when you need to send a 1-gig, multi-page PDF file over email, it can be tricky to shrink it appreciably while maintaining legibility of the type and image clarity. To avoid these issues, here’s one tried and true method to use that’s Launch Agency recommended.
To demonstrate, we’ll use a 310MB Photoshop file entitled “Example.psd.” First, save your file as a PDF. Don’t save with layers, as they will make your file larger, and you probably don’t want anyone else editing your file anyway. Your “Save As” window should look something like this: 
Second, choose the correct PDF settings, because, as you know, “the settings you choose in the Save Adobe PDF dialog can override your current settings in the Save As dialog box.” See the dialog box pictured below. Make sure to select “Press Quality”—this settings produces a smaller final product than the “Smallest File Size” option. 
Third, convert your PDF to a PostScript. To do this, open your PDF in Adobe Acrobat. Then go to “File” > “Save As” and select “PostScript” from the drop-down menu. Use the default settings for saving your .ps file.
Now that you have a PostScript file, open Acrobat Distiller. A window will pop up with a blank box for dragging and dropping files. Before adding your PostScript, select the “smallest files size” option from the drop-down menu. Then you’re ready to go.
Your final file will be a PDF and will be smaller than Acrobat alone is capable of delivering, at least without getting into compression. 
As you can see, the final size for our 310MB file is 55KB. Not bad for a file that looks high-res.
Now that your file size is as small as possible, it’s time to change its settings. Acrobat makes it possible to customize the viewing experience of each recipient. With a few clicks of your mouse, you can ensure your file will look good even when you’re not in control.
To start, open your PDF file in Acrobat. Go to “File” > “Properties.” Select the Initial View tab. From this tab, you can customize the way your file will be viewed. We recommend setting the Navigation tab to “Page Only,” the Page layout tab to “Single Page Continuous,” and the Magnification to “Fit Page.” It’s also aesthetically pleasing to check the box next to “Center window on screen.” If you select “Open in Full Screen mode,” viewers will be warned of possible security risks upon opening the file. It’s not recommended to select “Resize window to initial page” unless all of your pages are the same size or smaller than the first page. 
And voila, you have a small, high-quality PDF file that’s ready to share. Now that you’ve read our guide for saving and adjusting PDF files, let us know if you find it useful or have similar tips to share.
For information on other commonly used file types, check out production manager Laura Carroll’s post from last year.
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The Comerica Bank Collin 60 showcases the strongest, growing companies in the Collin County/North Texas area. The program, sponsored by the Collin County Business Press, honors the top 60 businesses headquartered in Collin County. There are over 15,000 such eligible businesses and, for the third year in a row, Launch has made the list.
“Despite the gloom of the economy, Launch increased billings and revenue in 2009,” remarked Michael Boone, Launch Principal, Account Director. “The Collin 60 was great group therapy to be with other successful companies — who also navigated through tough times — and celebrate past accomplishments and discuss prospects for growth this year.”
Launch debuted on the 2007 Top 60 list at #41. In 2008, we moved up to #35. And, for the tough year that was 2009, Launch grew and made the top half of the list in the #29 position. For a list of all the winners, click here: Collin 60 2010 final ranking.
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Art Director Madison McDaniel rounds out the Launch summer intern team (Copywriter, Account Service, and AD) as her student portfolio and design skills landed her the art director internship. Madison joins us from UNT’s Communication Design program where she also earned this year’s Launch Outstanding Achievement Scholarship for Art Direction. See for yourself how good she is on her portfolio site.
We gave Madison a break from computer layouts just long enough to ask some telling questions:
![Madison 1[5]](http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4071/4700473992_2e6dbdceef.jpg)
Q: Are you an ocean
or lake person?
A: Ocean.
Q: Pen or pencil?
A: Pen.
Q: Favorite video game?
A: Mario Kart.
Q: Which platform?
A: N64.
Q: Favorite color?
A: Black.
When asked what her favorite flower was, Madison couldn’t think of one. (Perhaps this has something to do with her favorite color. After all, we’ve never seen a black flower.)
Q: Are you on Twitter?
A: Yes. @/_sealion.
Q: So you like sea lions?
A: It’s a Fiest song . . .
Q: So you like Fiest?
A: Yes.
Q: What do you want to accomplish at Launch?
A: I’d really like to go on a photo shoot, but I mostly want to immerse myself in the agency environment.
Well, good news for this small town (Brock, Texas), Johnny Cash-loving girl turned art director: she’ll become more immersed in agency life than she ever could have imagined. Welcome aboard, Madison!
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A new Mercedes-Benz dealership will open soon in Grapevine, Texas. To help Park Place Dealerships tout the groundbreaking, Launch Agency created invitations to the ceremonial event using some groundbreaking printing techniques.
Printed on Cromática lavender paper, the invites have the nostalgic look and feel of architectural blueprints. Art director Reuben Miller and print producer Laura Carroll worked closely with the printer, Colormark, to attain the right effect – first adding a layer of flood metallic blue ink to create the architectural “grid,” then double-bumping the white type to make copywriter Alex Slotkin’s copy pop off the page. The invites were sent in a white mailing tube to current Park Place customers and City of Grapevine VIPs.
Launch also created an online version of the invite using the same theme. To see it for yourself, check out the animated invite.
Despite impending thunderstorms, the May 20 event counted more than 100 guests, including the mayor of Grapevine, the head of the Grapevine Chamber of Commerce and a representative from Mercedes-Benz USA.
Park Place Motorcars Grapevine is expected to open in August of 2011 and will feature a 27,000-square-foot showroom, a service shop with 71 bays, and one of only two Park Place BodyWerks paint and body shops in DFW.
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Launch Agency welcomes a new digital specialist to the team. He answers to Jon, not Muse.
With the addition of Jon Fullrich, Launch is expanding its digital creative capabilities. David Wilgus, Launch Principal, Creative Director raves, “Jon is incredibly talented. He enhances our current offerings to our clients and can provide new innovations, which will allow us to lead our clients in the digital content arena.” Jon has a Masters Degree in Visualization Sciences from Texas A&M University, where he “learned everything I could about animation, video, and motionography.”
After a stint at interactive shop imc2, Jon freelanced for several top digital agencies, including Tribal DDB, and Click Here. In addition, he was part of some award-winning project work for Launch, which is how this beautiful relationship began.
We dove deeper and asked Jon some more revealing questions:
Q: Favorite sport?
A: Basketball and football . . . and some baseball. I played basketball in high school.
Q: Favorite spare time activity?
A: Watching sports and playing poker. I just played in my first real tournament and placed 106 out of 600.
(Not a bad debut.)
Q: Favorite animal?
A: I always liked penguins.
Q: Bow tie or Ascot?
A: I don’t know what an ascot is, so bow tie.
Q: Any pets?
A: A chihuahua named Bobinot and a black cat named Pepper.
Q: Most played song on iTunes?
A: “Home” by Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros.
Q: What’s one of your favorite artists?
A: M.C. Escher. His art is a blend of engineering, architecture, and optical illusion.
We’re happy to have Jon on the team.
Jon and his wife Leigh at a U2 concert
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In order to introduce the new 2011 Mercedes-Benz E-Class Cabriolet with a bang, Park Place Motorcars Dallas teamed up with Modern Luxury Dallas and designer Stanley Korshak to host an unforgettable social event. This event, dubbed the Fresh Focus Reveal Party, took place at Park Place Motorcars Dallas. 
Launch creatives Reuben Miller and Alex Slotkin created the print ad (shown to the right) that ran in Modern Luxury promoting the event. The ad was shot by the award-winning and Dallas-based photographer Stewart Cohen.
On the evening of the event, 700-plus guests, including some of us from Launch, filled the dealership to support the Suicide and Crisis Center of North Texas and experience the new E-Class Cabriolet up-close and personal. Those in attendance enjoyed a variety of drinks and freshly prepared hors d’oeuvres as the evening progressed. 
The first big reveal of the night was the fall clothing line of fashion designer Brian Reyes. Guests sat back and watched as models strutted Reyes’ stylings down the catwalk. Next, anticipation boiled as the winners of both the Fresh Focus Raffle Challenge and the 2011 Mercedes-Benz C300 Sport Raffle Vehicle were announced. The evening culminated as the women chosen to be Modern Luxury’s Fresh Faces of Fashion unveiled the redesigned 2011 E-Class Cabriolet.
Right: Launch account executives Megan Kelly and Alison Hamilton show their support.
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Looking for an innovative way to quickly capture thoughts, sketch visual ideas, take notes during client meetings, and gain a little extra tech cred? Launch Agency art director Reuben Miller relies on his iPad and the Adobe Ideas app to do all that and more.
Adobe Ideas is a revolutionary app that allows users to capture thoughts and draw vector images on the fly. It also makes it far easier to create your own “handwriting” font, but whether or not you should make (or even use) a handwriting font is another matter entirely.
After creating an image in the app, like the robot to the left that Miller sketched, you can throw it into Illustrator to adjust your Bézier Curves, add some copy, or combine your new design with other work on your computer. You can even add a background image in Ideas and and create separate layers for drawings and photos.
Miller uses Adobe Ideas to aid him in keeping his notes organized, sketching out ideas, and making notes directly on designs during client meetings. Before a meeting, Reuben sends himself a PDF of his work. He opens the PDF on his iPad, takes a screen capture to quickly save it as a jpg (hit the “Home” and “On/off” buttons simultaneously), and then opens it in Adobe Ideas to mark-up as he pleases. This is not only faster than making edits on paper, it also saves trees.
Adobe Ideas is a free app that can be “purchased” from the iTunes store. Let’s just hope that Apple and Adobe make up soon so we can see more apps like this one.
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