Responsibility, it's Tree-mendous!

We like trees. Lots of them. It's hard to live and work in the Adirondack Mountains and not develop an affinity for the green giants. After all, we're surrounded by them. But our love of trees goes beyond the hikes we take with our families through the mountains in our backyard. Our love for trees has become our business.

By working with FSC-certified printers and paper companies, Trampoline is striving to eliminate habitat destruction, water pollution, the displacement of indigenous peoples, and the violence against people and wildlife often accompanying logging practices.

As a graphic design company, we are constantly dealing in paper. It not unusual for Derek or Sean to be found pacing the office, paper samples in hand debating the thickness, texture, and usability of a certain sheet for everything from business cards to the pages of an annual report. There are smooth papers, rough papers, thin papers, colored papers, and even papers made to look like the trees from which they originated- complete with grain and knots. We rely on the Forest Stewardship Council's rigorous standards to guarantee the conservation, responsible management, and community level benefits for people near the forests that provide our paper. Why? Because we want to keep these tree filled mountains for our grandchildren, because a clear cut hillside is an eyesore, and, well, it just feels good to help out mother earth every chance we get.

Sharp Shooters Take Aim

The Glens Falls Elks Lodge #81 will host their annual Hoop Shoot Competition this Friday, December 21st at 5:30 p.m. in the Queensbury High School Gymnasium. The local qualifier, which was rescheduled after Sunday's storm, will follow the original order, with the youngest contestants putting their feet to the foul line first.

Kids ages 8-13 are welcome to attend and test their sharp-shooter skills. Winners in each category (boys and girls) will advance to the district competition with the potential of sinking their way all the way to the finals in Springfield, MA. Top scorers for this local qualifier will receive an event t-shirt in recognition of their accomplishments.








Although a last-minute rescheduling of the event was necessary (due to a snowstorm), some 40 dedicated sharpshooters came to the Qby Middle School to test their skills.

Our role served as innovators of the new look for this year, as well as volunteer and participants.

Saucy Packaging

This holiday season, give the gift of sticky fingers. We've just finished the labels on a line of condiments from Ed Pagnotta at the Barnsider Smokehouse BBQ. The Feeling Saucy? Barbeque, Holy Smoked! Hot Sauce, Pagnotta Marinara and Gourmet Grub Rub will be available in 2008. We're haranguing Ed for some advanced samples to give out this December. We think they'd make for smokin' gifts.

Strategy for a Stalwart

The crew at Trampoline is primed to create a message and design support materials for the final phase of the Crandall Public Library's capital campaign. The library is located downtown, practically across the street from our offices at 196 Glen Street. We're over there all the time. And we're not alone: over 265,000 people made their way through the library doors last year. Where else can you have access to books and research materials, the internet, and historical archives? You can listen to CDs, rent DVDs or attend a film series screening. ALL FOR FREE. The place is great, and it's getting better.

Construction has begun on an enormous library expansion. The Crandall Public Library Trustees and Capital Project Leadership Team have headed the initiative to raise over $6 million in private support toward the capital renovation project. To date, close to 75% of the total goal has been raised by generous contributors throughout our region.

It's our job to help raise the rest.

A rendering from the city park side that showcases the original portion of the library.


The view from Glen Street


The library staff is excited about how bright and airy the new building will be.


A scale model from Ann Beha Architects in Boston.


Construction in November.

Why Trampolines are so dangerous:

Thanks to Dan Moynehan at Riverside Gas & Oil for the blogfodder.

Dude. Come on. Put it back.

George and Larry are furious.

The Online Ask

Internet marketing pros Donor Digital and Target Analysis teamed up to complete a new study that outlines some interesting benchmarks for internet giving.

The Study includes key findings on the rapid growth of online donations, the demographics of online givers (younger and richer, but less loyal), and the integration of online fundraising with traditional direct marketing efforts.

It also touches briefly on lapses (frequent) and opportunities for better cultivation and renewal of online donors.

The Reader's Digest version: Online donors average higher gifts, but traditional fundraising methods actually yield higher revenue per donor over several years.

Vocabulous

Think your vocabulary is as superlative as the Trampoline staff? Feeling a little guilty about all those masticated mashed potatos?

We have the perfect diversion for you.

This FreeRice Vocabulary Game gives us all the opportunity to get smart and do some good at the same time.

The premise is simple: for every word you correctly define, 10 grains of rice are donated (through the U.N.) to help end world hunger.

Get going, Wordsworth. Happy Thanksgiving.

The Intern Strikes Back.

From June to August the Trampoline offices were graced with the creative talents of one Dylan Lindstadt, a design student at the College of Saint Rose in Albany. Dylan was a trip, and we miss his curly mop and morose death metal around here. Our day was brightened when we received the following in an email—reproduced for your viewing pleasure with additional descriptions and explanations.

Here Dylan takes creative license with Derek's five o'clock shadow, aka the Adirondack Soul Patch.


Dylan was also astute enough to notice that Sean's sunglasses spent a considerable amount of time on his head this summer, in an attempt to mask the inevitable onslaught of male pattern baldness (nobody was fooled). How observant.


Derek and Sean cop to spending a frequent amount of time checking the stats of the designtramp website. It's responsible data harvesting. Not obsession.



Noob is derived from the word 'new' it implies that you are inexperienced sometimes it is used as slang for 'you suck'.

Example: I once knew this noob named Dylan.


Again, the artist makes good use of Derek's werewolf-like appearance and Sean's beady-little rat eyes. Quite an editorial.


Let's not forget the matching beaver teeth.



Dylan makes a Christ-like appearance in a dream sequence. Very holiday apropos.


And Trina and Raeanne appear in a judgmental cameo.

In-box: SaraBear Baskets

Raeanne capped the week off with a beautifully designed html email for SaraBear Baskets. The crew here at Trampoline was doubly pumped because the email blast was to alert boutique buyers that their Sarabear orders would now be shipping in new boxes, recently designed by Derek. Special thanks to Amanda for the writing (and the work).

If you want to find the message in your inbox, or learn the latest about Sarabear products click here to register. For more about the baskets, how they help new moms and what all the buzz is about, visit the SaraBear Baskets Web site.

Alta Your Tees

Leave a comment to let us know which ones you like.

Giving Online Sales a KABOOST™

Amir Levin, a Manhattan based entrepreneur/inventor developed KABOOST, a child's booster seat alternative, after spending some time with a group of kiddos at the dinner table.

KABOOST’s spring-loaded arms grip chair legs into place and elevate the chair so children can sit at the table just like adults.

The design was based on the premise that children want to be just like mom and dad and their older brothers and sisters. They reach a point where they no longer want to sit in a high chair or booster seat for babies anymore. We're told many children would rather sit on their knees and eat rather than use a booster seat.

Amir asked us to design an html email to send out to his loyal customers, scheduled to hit just before Thanksgiving. This year, scrap the kid's table concept and put a KABOOST under their chairs. Visit kaboost.com for specs, information and ordering. Now, will someone pass the mashed potatoes?

Poor, Pitiful Papyrus

CAUTION: Design Rant, dead ahead.

We do business in the Adirondacks of New York State. The region is full of log home builders, fishing guides, lumberjacks, beauticians, jewelers, orthodontists, and street performers—all using the same font to help position themselves as earthy and accessible: Papyrus.

This has to stop. Paging through local publications, we see the same tired approach time and time again. It's tough to watch.

Sometimes the same folks use a "Got Milk" knock-off for their ad campaign. Or try to duplicate the Mastercard "Priceless" approach—but that's another rant altogether.

Papyrus is a bit of a thing in the office. We all have our own design pet peeves. Sean doesn't like letterspaced lower case letters. Derek is offended by coated paper, Trina hates off-the-shelf patterns, Raeanne has a conspiracy theory involving Pantone colors, but we all pretty-much agree that Papyrus is overused, and bad to begin with.

And should be phased out immediately.

At which point Zapfino will assume the role of horribly-designed-yet-incredibly-asscessible, and overused, typeface.

Seriously, where else?

More Alta

Excited for ski season? We are.
How cool is this? Rent skis right on the mountain. Don't lug your gear across the country (or the parking lot, for that matter). Pick your skis, take some runs and then swap them out—for different terrain, or just to try something new. Thirty-five bucks. Snowboarders, eat your heart out.

Late Night for the Early Bird

The Early Bird plays a starring role on the new Ridge Street Coffee Co. signage, installed this week.



Singing the praises of fresh java and good eats out onto Centennial Circle.



Derek and Sean play ladder-jockey. Special thanks to Trina and Raeanne for keeping things steady on the ground.



Interior signage too!



Let's meet at Ridge Street.

giga WHAT?

So, it's been three months now since I was fortunate to join the Trampoline Design team as in-house Web Designer. While the principals here, Sean and Derek, have openly provided a crash-course in print design, explaining CMYK, letting me tag along at press checks, and giving me ample Illustrator training, today I have finally surmounted my duties as a Web designer: I've been granted access to the Bounce Blog.

And it seems befitting to hack into the BOUNCE to announce the launching of Trampoline's latest digital venture: GigaBounce.

What is GigaBounce? It's the missing piece of Trampoline's web presence, our online playground, web-experiment springboard, and hosting hub. It's the nucleus of our cyber-services.

In English, please?

Now, in addition to offering complete Web design services, Flash design and development, PHP MySQL database programming, and custom content management tools, we ALSO can offer competitive Web site hosting. Which means, for clients, a more streamlined, organized, and hassle-free service. In other words, if you choose, we can do ALL of the leg-work for you. Which means I get to have more fun creating your Web site, so everyone wins!

And if that's not enough, the acquisition of hosting space means we have a new space on the world-wide-web for publishing content, and that place deserves a name...and a brand...

... and a purpose. Keep checking GigaBounce for our latest distractions, web experiments, and other design oddities. Come here for news, visit our business site for the facts, and for fun... GigaBounce.

- Raeanne

That's Concrete?

You betcha.

Concrete. Like the sidewalk, except not.

Anthony Armstrong is an anomaly. His talent is a weathered mixture of carpentry-meets-masonry-meets-hard work AND design-meets-drafting-meets-ideas that fit in an art gallery as much as they do a home.

He is equal parts artist and entrepreneur. His medium of choice is concrete. His company is Armstrong Stone.

The process of casting and molding concrete is highly detailed and offers a kind of customization not possible with other materials. The conference table here at Trampoline is concrete (thanks Anthony) and gets nothing but compliments. Anthony listened to our thoughts on color and texture, and shared his own ideas.

We reversed the process when Trampoline designed the Armstrong Stone logo, business system and capabilities brochure.

Vroom with a View

Americade is the motorcycle rally that brings over 50,000 spenders-on-wheels to our neck of the woods. A typical attendee might not fit your everyday biker profile—many riders are retired couples enjoying the open road and looking for a little pampering after a hard day's ride. Less Orange County Choppers and more Bob Newhart. The above ad makes the case for staying at a resort that's timeless, elegant and always in fashion.

Ophthalmologists Online

It's live.

At long last, glaucoma consult.net is up for the world to see. The site is a patient-friendly resource that helps educate those suffering from glaucoma, their families, and even referring doctors.

It's several sites in one, as there are 4 different viewing options. Considering the site from the audience's perspective, Trampoline researched glaucoma and found that some patients have an easier time reading white letters on a dark background, others the reverse. The new site offers options for both, as well as answers to frequently asked questions and information on Glaucoma Consultants of the Capital Region, the office that asked Trampoline to create the site.

Depth Makes a Difference

We just put the finishing touches on The Fund for Lake George annual report for 2006. The lake-saving organization has been in the news this year for collaborating with other agencies and municipal organizations to rehabilitate the former Gaslight Village Property. The report focuses on the depth of the Fund, and the commitment of those involved in the organization. Here's hoping their positive impact on the watershed continues into 2008 and beyond.

Derek: Shake Your Moneymaker

Trina: You're a Diva. Raeanne: I'm a Fan.

Me & Trampoline Down By the Schoolyard

Improvised Jam Session? Jump in Feet First!

At the end of Friday's media night the Trampoline band shared the stage with Sara Messenger and Mik Bondy (aka the Human Jukebox) from Behan Communications, the incomperable Ray Agnew from the Glens Falls Hospital Foundation, along with two of our favorite newsmen: Maury Thompson from the Post Star newspaper (on piano) and Gordon Woodworth from the Chronicle. Together, we helped raise $750 for Feet First, a service organization dedicated to providing disadvantaged kids with the shoes they deserve.

It was great to see so many familiar faces in the crowd:

Jan and Jeannie, thanks for your kid-wrangling prowess.

Jen and Blake, Trina lit up when she saw the two of you.

Paula and Ben thanks for cheering on ol' Dad.

Julia, enjoy the tambourine—your old man can show you how to shake it.

Briar and Avery: the youngest (and cutest) groupies ever.

Manda, thanks for getting the whole shebang on tape.

John Yost, thanks for the bottle(s) of courage.

Gary Poland, you raised a rock star.

Todd Shimkus, the busiest man around. Hope you enjoyed the show.

Nick Caimano, good luck on the campaign, congrats on the PAC endorsement.

Bob Dillon, you're too cool for coming—stop in before you head up to Ad Workshop.

And last but not least, Gary & Shirley Nelson...it seems like every time Trampoline hits a milestone—whether it's the very first conversation 'round a Vermont campfire, or an awards dinner, or a public performance like last night—you're always there cheering us on.

Alta... noun or verb?

First snow at Alta: 9/24/07 First turns: 10/6/07

We're helping the famous Utah ski area with their ski/demo shop advertising and marketing collateral. This is the first sneak peak. One of the coolest features at the Alta Ski Shop is their Ski Exchange Program - an anytime exchange of ski rentals, depending on what your likes/dislikes are, or if you're into condition-specific skis. Sounds like a pain, but not when there's three on-mountain locations. It also sounds unnecessary, but with 3' dumps of snow commonplace at Alta, this capability takes on a whole new meaning. When you find yourself hip-deep in the white stuff, it's time to "Alta Your Skis".

Keep visiting us for more updates.

We're so badass it's not even funny.

Big show Friday. Big show.

Won't Quit Our Day Job.

Yikes.

Maury Thompson, a columnist at the Post Star Newspaper, is a nice guy. Convincing, too, as he talked us into performing in the first-of-its-kind Media Night. It's a cabaret of sorts, with newspaper men, graphic designers, account execs writers and creatives trading their various communication implements for instruments. The proceeds from the evening benefit Feet First, a program that puts disadvantaged kids in shoes.

Seemed like a good reason to dust off the guitar and warm up the ol' vocal chords. But that was back in July, when Maury asked.

Now the show is less than two weeks away. A recent conversation with our crosstown counterparts at Behan Communications revealed that half of their staff members are apparently full of musical talent—with the time and inclination to rehearse. And, Mark Behan is scheduled to be the master of ceremonies. Ray Agnew, #1 over at the Hospital Foundation, is also performing. He's, like, a folk rock icon around here.

No pressure.

Stop by the Media Night, contribute to a worthy cause, hear what promises to be spectacular live music, and find out what we come up with. Maury wants four numbers out of us. Four!

Sheesh.

Art Harvest: Four Friends Share Their Art

If you're in upstate New York next weekend, and you're looking for something to do, make your way out to Hebron in Washington County for a new event celebrating creativity and artistry: Art Harvest. Held at Gardenworks on Route 30, the gathering—which takes place over the weekend—focuses on the hidden talents of four individuals:

Jon Katz is known as a New York Times bestselling author. He also takes spectacular protographs that will be seen in the exhibit titled: Pictures From Bedlam.

Anthony Armstrong has been a handyman for as long as anyone can remember. It wasn't until just recently that he discovered and developed a talent for working with concrete. No longer Mr. Fix-It, Anthony spends his time designing, pouring and finishing functional works of art: countertops, conference tables and unique embellishments for the home. Anthony's exhibit: My Life in Concrete explores his journey to becoming an artisan.

Maria Heinrich refurbishes historic homes with her husband Bill. But quietly, Maria has been creating fiber art, building a body of work. Her exhibit: Thread By Thread will show her painstaking creativity for the first time ever.

Mary Kellogg is known for, well, for being a nice old lady. For years, Mary has been writing poems. For the most part, she's kept them to herself—but in her exhibit, Musings From the Berry Patch she shares her words with us all.