A new addition to the family

We recently held a baby shower to celebrate a new family member. Fred Briseno and his lovely wife Layla were expecting a baby girl and we were excited to throw a little shindig, C3-style. There were decorations and delicacies to make Martha Stewart retire in shame and gifts galore. That's what happens when creatives like Sondy Bojanic and Franny O'Gorman moonlight as party planners!

And, because a brand new baby is the perfect opportunity for a gorgeous gift, some of our talented folks worked together to create a beautiful, custom wall hanging for the baby's nursery. We're so proud of it, we wanted to share!

Custom artwork by Steve Duffendack, Mike Bridge, Ed Schlittenhardt, David Terrill, Ashley Tebbe and Tyler Coey 

C3 Pass-Along Thoughts™ 2013 Edition

Each year the Creative team at C3 does a project called Pass-Along Thoughts™ and for the last couple of years it has taken the form of an illustrated desktop calendar with perforated postcards for mailing as a way to pass along a sentiment to others.

This year's calendar features our artists' interpretations of the kid-inspired words of wisdom that are part of our C3 brand philosophy: Play Courageously.

"Color outside the lines" by David Terrill

"Give without being asked" by Ashley Tebbe 

"Use your outside voice inside" by Sondy Bojanic

"Make a mess" by Ed Schlittenhardt

"Dig to China" by Michelle Rader

"Paint a big picture" by Tyler Coey

"Be curious" by Bryan Sedey

"Tell a tall tale" by Doug Kubert

"Jump on the bed" by Fred Briseño

"Start a lemonade stand" by Brian Fyffe      

"Sing off key" by Bob Houston

"Get caught daydreaming" by Steve Duffendack

Halloween in February!

Is Halloween in February a thing? Pretty sure it's not, but I'm gonna post some Halloween-themed work from our talented creatives anyway.

This project is a yearly C3 tradition. Every Halloween, we send friends a big ol' bowl of candy accompanied by a unique messaging piece. It's just our way of saying "hi" and letting people know what's front-and-center on C3 minds that year.

For 2012–since C3 turned 25 this year–we designed and illustrated a retrospective book of popular Halloween costumes through the years since 1987. The book includes paper dolls to dress in head-to-toe pop culture, from Hammer pants to Agent Scully to the walking dead. Any of these looks bring back memories?

Monster Doodle Collabo

In our continuing effort to keep the creativity flowing, C3 Design recently did a quick and easy little collaborative doodling project.  Maybe you've tried this one: you use watercolor paints to produce colorful, abstract blobs and dribbles, then turn them into whatever your imagination creates.

Since monsters are a perennial favorite, we made a whole bunch of 'em out of these colorful blots. The results are sort of half Rorschach test and half whimsical doodle. Enjoy!

We're hoppy for you, Matt!

Never let it be said that our departing colleagues leave us empty-handed.

When art director and resident brewmaster Matt Loehrer recently left the C3 Design department for a new gig, we sent him on his way with custom-designed bon-voyage beer labels–wrapped around some real, live beer, of course! Each artist expressed his or her sentiments with style fit to be swigged.

Label by Steve Duffendack

Label by Brian Fyffe

C3 Design Volunteers

Artist Steve Duffendack's two kids attend Académie Lafayette, an award-winning French-language immersion charter school in KCMO. The school's academically-successful program has attracted a large number of students, and space has become a limited commodity. The school purchased a second building in the historic Hyde Park community in midtown KC to serve as the new campus for K through 2nd grade students.

With the new campus, the opportunity arose for Steve to decorate the library with murals, and he eagerly took on the job. The mural design features kids, animals and mystical creatures all engrossed in reading books–a subject matter that's a perfect fit for Steve's style of whimsical children's illustration.  After painstakingly tracing on the walls, Steve called in a group of volunteer painters, including some parents and other C3 artists. Good times–along with sore backs and arms–were had by all!

Volunteers pictured (from upper left): Alise Dodds-Duffendack, Spencer Duffendack,  Fred Briseno, Ed Schlittenhardt, Michelle Rader, Franny O'Gorman and Steve Duffendack (also pictured Anna Duffendack).

From the desk of...

Every artist up here has weird toys. In their opinion, these are their "weirdest" toys.  

From the desk of Ed. If I ever saw this thing move on it's own, I'd scream. It looks like it should be in a zombie monkey horror film.

Now this is Bob H.'s toy. Out of all the toys he has in his office, which is a lot, he choose this one. I didn't quite understand what it was at first, but then I decided it looked kind of like a fish from Ren and Stimpy or Spongebob. To my surprise, there's a 'one-eyed thingy' in its belly.

We're big Andrew Bell fans. This scared little guy resides in Hawkin's cubical. He's my favorite, even though the whole thing is a little morbid.

 Matt likes his action figures. He really likes this one because it has a strange "mini person" that rides in a little compartment in the back.

This is Zach's designer toy, made by Kaching Brands. It's called a Ripple, and it's huge. And by huge, I mean '16 inches tall'  huge. 

 And this is Tyler's creation- an action figure with a totally new head. Tyler drew its face. I think it looks slightly confused. I mean, I'm confused.

Originally posted by Hailey Osterhaus on Monday, March 19, 2012