EDSA is one of the leading global landscape architecture firms and we are proud to design their yearly magazine, Design Matters, along with some of their other marketing collateral. The 2015 issue of Design Matters won a Gold ADDY for our work designing the magazine from cover to cover.






See more of the magazine here.

We’re more than happy to receive another award for our work on the brand development and packaging, menu, and interior signage design for our client, DIRT.







Our Gold ADDY win for this farm-to-counter eatery and wellness bar is as sweet and savory as their food! View the rest of the project here.

For commercial real estate firm, Terranova, our work revamping their website to match their successful brand got us a Silver ADDY. The fully responsive website has been a complete hit!



There’s nothing better than winning in Las Vegas. Real estate development project Veer Towers, located right on The Las Vegas Strip, asked us to design a new marketing campaign for Fall 2015 and it won us a Silver ADDY in the Cross Platform Integrated Campaign category.




See more of our work for Veer here.

A huge thanks to The American Advertising Awards for recognizing our designs as some of the best in the industry!

Be sure to connect with us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for the latest @heliumcreative inspiration, marketing info, and design love!

As creatives we’re constantly saving visual references we find online, taking pictures or creating our own art. We wrote about feeding our creative monster a few weeks ago, so if you’d like to hear more about our inspiration process, check out that post.

This month our mood board has a water theme going on.



From watercolor walls to hot springs to the ocean, we have water on the brain. We are working with a couple clients whose branding involves water so maybe we’re subconsciously brainstorming for their campaigns.




Hand lettering always inspires us. Whether it’s loopy calligraphy or more rudimentary writing, hand lettering lends a human element that draws us into the design.




Of course we had to include music in our inspiration – we listen to music all day in the studio. Astor Piazzolla is a famous Argentinean tango composer and musician and his live album The Central Park Concert is one of Enid’s favorites. She loves to listen to it while strategizing.

We are always saving inspirational quotes and self-help author Brene Brown’s statement about creativity is one of our favorites [the graphic is pretty awesome too]. “Creativity is straddling the tension, leaning into the discomfort, and finding your way through the dark.” It’s about making your own way, even though it may be uncomfortable and you’re unsure what others may think. If everyone colored inside the lines, the world would be pretty boring. We’re here to make it interesting!

Spending time in nature always invigorates us. Whether it’s on the water, in the woods or a park, nature’s beauty never ceases to amaze. Not only can natural elements inspire design, novel experiences also stimulate the brain creating new neural connections.




Spirals are a trending design element in architecture at the moment. We love the modern/rustic feel of the interior staircase on our mood board. Even better is one of Coconut Grove’s latest buildings – it’s amazing!



The spiral staircase at the new Barney’s Chelsea flagship store is swoon worthy.



Love this shot of it by Nicole Cohen of Sketch 42.




It’s amazing how the staircase perfectly mimics a nautilus shell.






The sculpture below looks like a wave and a nautilus shell had a baby.




It’ll be interesting to see if spiral elements start to appear in graphic design. Thanks for checking out our inspiration this month. Tag us on Instagram or Facebook, @heliumcreative, and let us know what’s inspiring you!

Let’s face it, this bunch of extremely creative + artistic people we call helium creative can be easily distracted. From song lyrics heard on our office radio, to people walking on the sidewalk outside our office windows or falling into the rabbit hole of the latest installment of “the most perfect Instagram account ever,” our attention is constantly diverted from one sparkly object to the next. To the outside world we might seem crazy, but lying underneath all the crazy distractions is inspiration and that’s what we feed off.

We’re sure you’ve heard the phrase “inspiration is everywhere.” It’s not a cliché, it’s very, very true. Snoop on the Photos app of any creative person’s iPhone [yes, we all have iPhones] and you’ll find a jackpot of pics from our daily life that inspire us one way or another.



Inspiration comes in a variety of ways, shapes, and forms and almost always comes when least expected. When you work in the creative field, you’re constantly using your trunk full of accumulated artistic knowledge. Mixing that typography you saw on a poster in a coffee shop with the geometric lines you saw on a building lit up at night, and giving it all a twist to make it unique and something you can call your creation. Before you know it, that trunk needs to be filled again and out into the world you go seeking new inspiration-filled distractions.





There is a rare neurological condition called synesthesia in which two or more of the five senses cross paths in your brain and people can actually hear colors or taste letters. Many synesthetes who have been interviewed say they wouldn’t trade their medical condition for the world. The manner in which they experience their surroundings and daily interactions is beautifully heightened and, as creatives, we understand where they’re coming from. Being able to take in what you can capture through your 5 senses – to see beyond what simply meets the eye and hear the hidden meanings of a favorite song – and to turn that into a brand experience is exhilarating.

Our creativity is like a hungry little monster deep inside of us that needs to be fed constantly. And we’re happy to feed it. Social media platforms like Pinterest, Instagram, Behance, and Dribbble are our friends – endless sources of inspiration that leave us in awe of what can be done in the design and branding industry. However, it is important to remember to look in the most unexpected places for those treasures that turn into instant sparks of genius. You might call us hoarders, but we save baskets full of random magazine clippings, uniquely shaped leaves, and even empty candle jars in the hopes of sparking an idea for the next amazing design.



Go explore, be distracted. Feed the monster. And tell us all about what you find @heliumcreative on Instagram or Facebook!

Ever wonder how the helium team works their magic to bring you branding and design goodness? Here’s a quick glimpse into our project management process.

It all starts with…you, actually. We’re very lucky to have a group of clients we love working with and there’s always an excitement that ensues when we receive an email that starts with “Hey guys, we need your help”. helium to the rescue! All it takes is a few project details to get our wheels turning on how we can bring your idea to life.

Whether big or small, from an existing or new client, all our projects go through our resident Project Manager, Enid. She might have an uncommon name, but our clients get to know it pretty well as she serves as point-of-contact for most communications. She’s also the human half of our trustworthy project management app, Asana.

Staying organized is by far one of the most important factors of successfully meeting deadlines with an end product you are proud to share. Asana lets us divide every project into easy-to-handle subtasks, it keeps track of everyone’s progress, and gives us a place to have all communications regarding a certain topic in one easy-to-access place.



Other factors that affect the success of meeting deadlines: timely and productive feedback from clients along with knowing when to stop over-complicating things to death! And, of course, there’s every possible form of keeping track of time. From shared iCal accounts to physical desktop calendars, being able to visualize the timeline is an important step to staying on track.

Planning our work backwards from the deadline, we lay out a timeline with internal goals for each step of the process. Time must be left for brainstorming, sketching, sitting back and staring at your work, digitizing your sketches onto the computer, sitting back again and staring at it, working a little bit more on it, and eventually letting it settle in overnight and coming back to it with fresh eyes.


A lead designer, either Ryan or Kelly, is assigned to each project, but collaboration is a huge part of how the magic happens. Bouncing off ideas and cross-examining one another’s work plays a big role in the design process and the whole team pitches in with their fair share of opinions.


At this stage of the process, Dropbox plays a crucial roll in staying organized and on time. We all share a business Dropbox account that gives us access to edit the same working file from inside or outside the office. We honestly can’t remember life B.D. [Before Dropbox].

Once we have product we are absolutely in LOVE with, we prepare the first proof for the client. The power of constructive and well-thought-out feedback is at most times underestimated. We welcome our clients to be part of the process and listen to their thoughts attentively – then again, no one knows your business as well as you. Best-case scenario, which is most of the time for us, we get approval on the first proof. Not-so-best-case scenario, we go through a few rounds of tweaking the final details before handing off the baby, a.k.a the final files, to its proud adoptive parents.

From beginning to end, there you have it – the helium project management process all rolled up into a pretty little blog post for your enjoyment.

Let us know if you have a project you want us to work on @heliumcreative on Instagram or Facebook.

What is a very helium holiday, you ask? It’s nonstop Christmas music, homemade peppermint sweet treats, a silver + blue-themed tree topped with Pee-wee Herman, and, of course, handcrafted greetings. We absolutely love the holiday cards Kelly designed for helium this year and thought you would enjoy a little behind the scenes peek at their creation.

Naturally, the process started with a some notebook doodling, which led to a sweet winter scene accompanied by a simple hand-written message. Kelly originally thought about hand-painting the scene on each card and then realized that was a whole lot of crazy. Luckily, Lumi.com makes great custom rubber stamps. With the whir of a scanner and a few quick clicks we had our very own holiday winter wonderland stamp AND an accompanying logo stamp.












Like a little elf, Kelly got to work assembling the components of each greeting card – a silver card base, topped with kraft card stock, and the final navy layer with the stamped design and messaging. To wrap it all up, each card was mailed out in a silver envelope with an appropriately themed snowflake postage stamp!








We just love creating thoughtful, handcrafted greetings!

The helium team wishes you and yours a very special Holiday.

Let us know if you love our cards as much as we do @heliumcreative on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook!