It all began when photographer Susan Buzzi met with helium’s art director Ryan, to show him her landscape photography in hopes of exhibiting her work in the helium creative studio as a part of Project Fine Art and the FATVillage ARTWALK. Ryan flipped through Susan’s portfolio and came upon her portraits of breast cancer survivors. “This is it,” he said, “you have to show these.” Susan had already shown her portraits of breast cancer survivors six times, but agreed to a seventh installation at helium creative to honor the women’s struggle, to raise consciousness about this terrible disease and then celebrate and share remarkable victories.

Buzzi presented more than 40 large format, black and white portraits shot on film and developed in the laundry room at her home in Tamarac. The images are presented in white matting and simple black, rectangular frames accompanied by a written account of each survivor’s story.



To commemorate Breast Cancer Awareness month we partnered with Ms. Buzzi to host a fundraiser for The Florida Breast Cancer Foundation on Friday, October 10^th, so the survivors could enjoy their portraits in a festive, celebratory atmosphere. We solicited donations from local businesses to ensure the event’s success and were overwhelmed by the community’s generosity. Many wonderful sponsors made the event possible including food donations from Whole Foods Market, Grady’s Bar & Grill, Quarterdeck on Cordova, La Bella’s Delights, beverages from Blue Martini & Tuscany Wines, printing of all promotional materials by Fast Printz on Oakland Park Blvd, flowers from Victoria Park Flower Studio, Gold Coast Publications, pop up boutiques and auction donations from LaLa Couture & Tiger Blossom, Acacia and PR by Blue Daisy Media. The event would not have been possible without their generosity; we truly thank them from the bottom of our hearts.

The evening consisted of the beautiful photographic documentary, a live chalk wall on which attendees wrote messages, pink tribute stones to commemorate loved ones, speakers including Susan Buzzi, Coconut Creek Vice Mayor Becky Tooley and Russell Silverman, the Executive Director of The Florida Breast Cancer Foundation, followed by a raffle and live auction to raise funds for the Foundation.

















We were so grateful to have been able to raise funds for The Florida Breast Cancer Foundation; a cause that is of particular importance to the helium creative family.



Source: http://www.heliumcreative.com/susan-buzzi-event-recap/

In order to pinpoint exactly what I love about my role as an artist + creative, I have to shut my mind up and actually think about it. A feat in itself. But for the sake of this shout out, I sat at my desk and closed my eyes. Almost immediately the word ‘experience’ drifted to shore. Since I was a kid, I’ve always loved creating an environment rich in atmosphere. With perfect lighting, the right music playing, textures and tones, a scented candle that compliments the surroundings almost as if ripped from a movie screen. And that’s where art + design began to shape everything I did. Creating the perfect moment, an ideal experience, is something that sets a brand apart from another. It’s what makes us innately gravitate toward one restaurant over the other. Why we trust one company over their competition.

An experience is something that can’t be imposed, it has to be suggested. It has to exist then be discovered. I have found that, first and foremost, clearly defining what I want to feel – what I want another person to feel – is the most important step to creating an experience. When developing a brand, I focus on the emotion – the essence of who the company is and what their consumer needs to feel. Then it’s all about grabbing inspiration to paint that picture. Mood images, objects, textures, words that when put together embody the emotion, the brand, the experience.

It becomes the same process as making ‘little atmospheres’ for myself as a kid. Pulling together elements to make something that just feels right. That tells a story.

The foundation of any company, of any individual even, is brand. Once we have found that tap root, it is seamless process to bleed into all other materials. A website, stationery, language, interior space, style. A well established brand subtly communicates that experience in every extension of its being. It is in the details. The thought. The story behind the curtain.

And I get to be the storyteller.

Original Source: http://www.heliumcreative.com/in-the-details-little-atmospheres-3/

helium creative can be found in the September issue of HOW Magazine, where a special logo design can be spotted.



We made the cut and were part of the 78 award-winning dynamic designs from around the world. This logo is particularly special to our team of designers because it has now been recognized for a total of four awards.

Make sure to pick up your copy of How Magazine to see the Lion’s Compass logo up close!

Original Source: http://www.heliumcreative.com/were-in-how/

I have always believed a creative leader must treat their team differently. Our industry is ever changing and one of the biggest challenges for any creative team is to try and find a rhythm of success in a changing environment – it’s not easy.
Contrary to some other jobs where the team members know 99% of the time what to expect, how their day will go and how they need to perform to succeed – the creative industry is the exact opposite. Every project, task, client and path to a successful outcome is completely different. The most successful business people in the creative industry are able to be flexible and adapt, a chameleon of creativity if you will.
I was recently asked if I had any pointers to motivate others in the workplace to produce better work. That question has a cornucopia of correct answers, however I have learned that in the creative industry sometimes the most helpful thing is to remove the leash from the people you are trying to motivate the most.
That’s correct. All my managers, directors and CEO’s reading this blog – breathe, it will be OK.
I am going to break down my theory of loosening your creative system in 4 steps that will conclude by building a stronger, more motivated and loyal group of creative professionals.



Step 1: Giving your team members free reign.

What I mean by this is almost the exact opposite of building a highly structured, detailed system of work. The only parts you keep are progress reports and deadlines. Think about it, you hired the best candidates possible to fill positions in your company [or at least I hope you did], what good are their skills if you don’t put them to work? Not only are these employees here to improve parts of your business you have pointed out, but they can also be motivated to take your business to another level through creativity, innovation and responsibility. Let them go and figure out the answers you want from a project. As their manager or leader the only concern you should have is when progress stops or a deadline for a client is not met. Obviously the work must be up to your company standards and correct, but that’s a given.
What you are really doing is not only freeing up stress and work off your plate, but you are using the full potential of the people who you hired. Oversee the success of a project by discussing and analyzing milestones along the way. You should have the attitude of, no matter what happens today my team members are going to find a solution and keep the project running smoothly because I trust they will. Only when that does not occur is when you step in and figure out what needs to be done to get back on track.
Step 2: Knowing when more responsibility is a passion.

It’s a good thing to give your team members more responsibility. It’s a great thing when you can recognize a passion they have and gear their newfound responsibilities to that passion. Not only are you growing a portion of your business with someone who already knows your system and wont require the pay of another employee [if they get paid at all] but you are also fueling someone’s passion – which means the work will always be great because it is important to them. Here are a few examples:
+ Does your company want to start a non-profit? Find the person in your group who has a passion for giving back to the community and let them lead they way in registering your new group with the state, collaborating events, fundraising and press.
+ Want to get your company more exposure on social media, but frankly you don’t have time or know the best way? Find your social savvy team member and see if they would want to lead the social media initiatives and get your company name out there to grow the business. Now ‘social media Sam’ walks around the office with a little perk in his step because through his new social media efforts you have gained 600 new followers and 2 new clients. [By the way, that’s when you give Sam a little bonus! – he’ll only work harder.]
+ Have you been thinking about a group retreat or field trip? I bet someone in your company enjoys event planning and setting up team building exercises. Convey your goals and initial ideas and let that person run with it to make it bigger, better and actually happen!
Step 3: Accepting failure.

Just except it. If you think I’m going to sit here and say that by loosening your business system and giving your employees more room to problem solve and create solutions is always going to be a success, then stop reading.
It won’t.
What it will do however is present a formula that doesn’t work and teach creative leaders a lesson. Failure may be the most important element in this whole equation. I will guarantee the creative companies who fail often but stick it out and come back with a more focused mindset, will in the end be the companies who push their boundaries of fear further. Failure builds community. Failure builds strength. Failure builds mental fortitude. Nobody likes to fail, but we all like to succeed after we fail – why is that? Because the fruits of our labor become that much sweeter knowing we had to go down to go up.
Try this theory with your team. Remember, when your employees fail, they already feel bad. They know to a degree they have let you down. Now, you as their leader have a choice to make. You can hammer home this point of failure, or you can recognize the fact that they failed, but also recognize their effort to succeed and now you want to guide them to success by offering pointers and most importantly continued support as they try and complete the task correctly again. They will bounce back more motivated and the chances of them completing the task correctly, even better than what they planned, is much greater. So maybe you didn’t fail at all.
Step 4: Nature only when needed.

We all complain and have bad days. I am 100% guilty of sitting at my desk sometimes and letting out a long hard sigh, really wanting to scream, “This project is ridiculous!” But what am I looking for? Someone to come over and say “Aw, Chuck its going to be a OK you’re a big boy…” Possibly, but in the end it is much better if someone doesn’t. In the same token as a project manager, I give out assignments all the time to my design team and I can easily tell when they are disinterested in doing it at the moment. But that is the same time I will take step back, put my trust in them to complete it on time and go about my business.
I know some tasks are challenging, but your team members must push themselves through the mud – if you hold their hand every time they will never grow as a creative professional and you will build a team that is dependent on you, that will get old really quick. Again, you are making the most out of the person you hired because they will come out of the project stronger, with a new mental fortitude. Every time we finish something difficult, or a project we never have done before, it feels better. You feel proud and ready to accept another challenge. Let your members feel this and in the end they will grow tremendously.
Loosening your creative structure may seem like a stretch at first. I would say, if you believe in the points I brought to the surface in this blog then also think about how you can loosen up your own personal creative agenda – could the first step be letting your members follow a process similar to this? I’m a believer that the only thing above a creative founding father is the creative industry itself. The creative industry is a higher power we cannot control – and rightfully so or it wouldn’t be creative. Our industry is a gust of wind or a current from the sea – who knows where it will go next. If you want a team of creative professionals who are proud to work for you, feel like they are important to the success of your company, get to flex multiple creative muscles and can keep up with their passions – you will have the hardest working, trustworthy business around – now get to it.

Thinkfully,
Chuck Forbes

Original Source: http://www.heliumcreative.com/how-loosening-up-your-creative-system-can-strengthen-your-team/

We began preparation for our Guatemala mission trip months ago. Fundraising. Planning. Promoting. You’ve probably seen the graphics, heard our pitch, maybe even donated to the cause. But the actual five-day adventure seemed like more of a distant concept than a reality. Until it was. Like all amazing life moments, I blinked an eye and departure day had come. I blinked the other eye and here I am writing this entry about the journey. Attempting to sew words together, stitch by stitch, that could offer a just picture into the experience.



But it is one of those instances where mere words serve to paint a vague picture of a masterpiece that can only be understood first hand.

My initial fears of Guatemala City, of the warnings I received, the dangers advised by family and friends, dissipated the moment we walked into the first orphanage where a small sea of deep brown eyes stared back at us. They were timid, nervous, some excited and eager. Children from infant age to about ten years old, each from a broken past, each with a story that deserves to be told.



I had heard of mission work and known several people who went on these trips. Our friends at C&I Studios have done this adventure many times before, so we wanted to join forces and partake in the experience. Admittedly, I have never been a cheerleader for world healing. For kumbaya, let’s hold hands, selfless missionary service. I lend a hand of convenience to my fellow man. You know, like holding open a door or donating a couple dollars at Walgreens or Publix when I’m prompted in the checkout line. But the buck stopped there.

As we prepped for this Guatemalan adventure, C&I told us something that, in hindsight, was spot on. This trip is not about what you bring, it’s about how you make them feel. It’s about interacting with these kids and families who have very little monetarily. For a group of Americans to gather in their home, to take time and be with them. Share with them. Pray with them. To hug a child who has been abandoned. Hold a four-year-old girl who has no mother or father, and tell her she is loved.
That is what this trip was about.

And that is where true inspiration is born.



On the third day, our group of fourteen went to Hope of Life. This incredibly developed organization located in the mountains of Zacapa, Guatemala rescues and houses families and children who would otherwise be dying, starving, homeless or abused. We toured their facility, which included an orphanage for young children who had been abandoned or rescued.

I walked into the first unit. A white room lined with cribs for the infants, lit by an afternoon sun that filtered in from beyond the mountains. Several windows led out to the vast landscape of green forest that spanned for miles around us. It was a breathtaking view that wrapped these children in constant beauty.



Immediately as we entered I saw a boy no more than three years old sitting quietly on a chest by himself. He looked alone and withdrawn, dark brown eyes that stared pensively beyond us. I sat on the chest next to him and spoke quietly, “Hola”.

No response.

The other kids were playing around with our group, but this boy sat quietly next to me. I picked him up and dropped his little body in my lap. He stared off, leaned his head against my chest. His eyes were the most telling and heartbreaking. There was a weight resting on him that no kid should have to bear.

I grabbed a pack of four crayons from my bag and placed them in his palm. His grip tightened as he looked up at me for the first time. There was a shift in his demeanor, like that small exchange resonated with him. He waved the crayons around as I tossed him in the air. A smile formed on his face and he began to giggle. From that point forward, that little guy was glued to me. I had found a friend and made an amazing connection.



I realized then that our interaction was a universal language. The laughter, the shared experience. It transcended verbal dialogue into something greater. We didn’t need to speak the same language to feel the connection and positive energy that was created. That little guy kicked ass and touched my heart in a way that I did not expect from this trip.

When we came back to The States, I quickly realized that this country of freedom has limited me in many ways. I’ve grown up in a world of expectations. Of high-class problems. In turn, I lost appreciation for the little things, for the luxury of clean water, of a floor in my home. Of a meal on the table and appliances to make it with. A home with four solid walls that offers warmth and security. The convenience of medicine when I am sick so I don’t die from a cold. The comfort of knowing that my family is safe and healthy. Instead I focused on the dent in my iPhone or when I was going to go blow a few hundred bucks at H&M.



Our trip to Guatemala is one that I could not have understood prior to experiencing it. I had never before seen extreme poverty, let alone been to an orphanage. Never held a child who was abandoned or neglected. Never been inside a home that had no structural walls, that was held together by sticks and old clothes.

I write this entry from my desk at helium creative. On my 27” iMac. Checking my cellphone periodically for social media updates. My little unnamed beta fish next to me. I am surrounded by awesome people with whom I get to work with on a daily basis, at a job that makes me pretty darn happy. A job that allows me the opportunity to not only do what I love, but also experience these moments of personal and spiritual growth.

I am grateful for new perspective.













Original Source: http://www.heliumcreative.com/perspective-helium-inspires-guatemala/

Inspiring the community with its progressive concepts and designs, Christopher Heller discusses what makes helium creative the anti-agency agency.

The insides of helium creative are filled with ideas. It’s brimming with concepts for branding, websites, apps, print materials and logos. Inside the two-room office with charcoal-gray walls and a winding staircase that leads to nowhere are ideas that have inspired the likes of American Airlines, Levinson Jewelers, W South Beach, Blue Martini and more. Also inside this office is Christopher Heller.

Soft-spoken, contemplative and with a smile warm enough to melt a frozen river, Heller is the embodiment of the decade-old helium creative he founded. Sitting behind his weathered wooden desk, Heller has helped companies define their brands through stunning marketing campaigns and innovative digital applications. In short, he personifies the company’s slogan of finding “a higher creative standard.”

Heller is a dreamer. He’s been dreaming since he was a kid in Lancaster, Pa., doodling replica Frank Lloyd Wright buildings on his sketch pad. If a blank sheet was lying around, chances are the paper would be covered with sketches for Heller’s next great idea within 10 minutes. He did just that on his recent Caribbean cruise and a flight across the country to Los Angeles, in fact.

Born in the heart of Pennsylvania Amish Country to a Mennonite father and a maternal side full of government employees, Heller remembers immersing himself in art and culture during his weekend excursions to nearby Baltimore, Philadelphia and Washington D.C. He graduated with a graphic design degree in Philadelphia and started working at an ad agency in the city. At 22, he was asked to move to Fort Lauderdale during the dot-com boom to become creative director of a communications portal firm. Later when the dot-com business began its fall, Heller then found himself working in the creative department at a new agency. “This company was the closest thing to a cubicle setting that I was ever in,” Heller admits. “It just wasn’t me.”

Heller began the shift to work for himself soon after, founding helium creative 10 years ago from his Fort Lauderdale home. So named as a play off of Heller’s surname as well as the noble gas’s buoyant nature, helium creative was born out of love. As Heller is quick to note, helium is the anti-agency agency, perhaps best demonstrated by its rebellious lowercase name. “I want to formulate a relationship with our clients,” he says. “We don’t just want to do one project and that’s it. We’re investing ourselves in the client to make you successful. We’re in it for the long haul.”

He was helium’s sole employee for the next six years, working nonstop and dedicating himself to his projects, which included the creative campaigns and branding visions for luxury villas Cotton Bay in the Bahamas and the high-end condominium Icon Brickell. As Heller progressed into the digital frontier, mastering website design, app creation and more, so did his company. Four years ago, he hired his first art director, Ryan Sirois, and the company took off with double the manpower. Since then, he and helium have guided eye-catching branding campaigns for landscaping firm EDSA, FATVillage, Trump Hollywood and Latitude on the River, among dozens of other recognizable South Florida names.



Heller’s office at FATVillage has no signs of those cubicles that he felt confined him. A smorgasbord of found objects lovingly has been put to use by Heller and his team. Next to Heller’s desk is an antique buffet from his late grandmother, Margaret Cleveland, a distance relative of President Grover Cleveland. The winding metal staircase that houses helium’s various awards was found in an alley in FATVillage. Leafy green plants and succulents fill the space. An office wall is canvassed with 50 reasons to love helium creative, such as “They believed in me” and “We have fun.”

Cerulean green stickers and buttons with the words “inspire, create, design, motivate” pepper the helium office. They are simple reminders that the team of eight staff members and a handful of interns aren’t just here for a job. No, they are here for something much greater.

Being a creative vehicle for clients is only part of Heller’s equation. “We’re artists, so we want to inspire and open up an environment for people to have a creative destination and have an outlet,” he says. Since moving to FATVillage in 2012, helium creative has invited the public to join its monthly Inspirational Fridays talks, where local artists and business owners discuss what inspires them. In addition, helium started Project Fine Art, which allows new artists a platform to display their works during monthly Art Walks.

As Heller puts it, “I hate networking.” So opportunities like Inspirational Fridays and Project Fine Art have given Heller and others a chance to draw creative minds together from South Florida to sit, watch and get inspired.

The company is growing and earning some well-deserved praise. Earlier this year, helium won big time at the Fort Lauderdale ADDY Awards, which recognizes creative excellence in the advertising industry, taking home seven golds (including three Best of Show) and two silvers.



Also in the works is helium inspires, its nonprofit arm that will raise money for art organizations. The helium team also is planning a visit to rural schools in Guatemala to deliver art supplies to students and give art lessons.

Today at 37 years old, Heller looks back on his ups and downs, and compares them to a game of Tetris. “It’s about fitting the right pieces at the right time,” he says. And one of those right pieces will fall into place later this year when Heller will marry his life partner, Ryan. And, yes, that’s the same Ryan he works with. For Heller, it’s fair to say he’s winning so far in his lifelong game of Tetris.

Article by Nila Do Simon, Photography by Edward Linsmier, Venice Magazine.

View the article in Venice Magazine, page 62. http://www.veniceftldigital.com/t/109108

Original Source: http://www.heliumcreative.com/article-in-venice-mag/

This one is pretty huge and something we are so thrilled to share­­ - helium creative has made its way into Fort Lauderdale’s Venice Magazine.



Grab your copy to learn more about how it all started, and see the whole helium gang. We’d love to give a big thanks to our friends who put it all together at Venice Magazine—you captured the true essence of helium. : )



[click here to see the digital version]

Original Source: http://www.heliumcreative.com/helium-creative-in-venice-mag/

Original Source: http://www.heliumcreative.com/brand-centric-and-lovin-it/

Original Source: http://www.heliumcreative.com/hforhelium/