Life Time Athletic: Diamond Fight Night from Adam Reynolds on Vimeo. Director/Editor: Juan Antonio del Rosario; Creative Director/Copywriter: Adam Reynolds; Designer: Mike Hagan

On a cold November night in downtown Minneapolis, 14 of Minneapolis’s greatest Golden Gloves boxers went round to round, fist to fist, blow to blow — competing for nothing more than great pride and respect.

Created exclusively for Life Time Athletic Diamond Members, Diamond Fight Night proved to be an exciting event filled with great fights, great food, and definitely great-looking people — well, besides the ones getting their teeth knocked in.

Prior to this night, and knowing the potential this event had, my creative partner, Mike Hagan, and I wanted to see how far we could push the branding before the client eventually shoved back. Fortunately, they were in our corner the whole time. We managed to turn their request of a single in-club poster into a full-on advertising attack — complete with banners, coasters, screen-printed posters, round cards, and even spit buckets. These tactics and new vision helped the client see that their one-night, one-city event had the potential to be a heavyweight. I’m excited to say that Diamond Fight Night will now be held at 5 locations throughout the US — including New York and Las Vegas. And I’d like to believe that it’s just the beginning.

Before the event, we also saw the opportunity to gather assets that would help us sell the event to members in other cities — and, most importantly, potential sponsors of the event. We hired Juan Antonio del Rosario to capture footage of the event, that we’d later turn into the above video, to not only entice future ticket sales, but subliminally highlight potential sponsorship opportunities. We also worked closely with Kelly Loverud to photograph the event to help us build an image library we could use in future marketing.

In all, we managed to double our earnings from last year while turning the event into a night to remember. Or in the case of some boxers, one they’d like to soon forget.

Creative team:
Adam Reynolds, Creative Director/Copywriter
Mike Hagan, Lead Designer
Kevin Freidberg, Copywriter
Juan Antonio del Rosario, Director/Editor
Kelly Loverud, Photographer

Kelly Loverud “Diamond Fight Night” photography

Way to Grow: A story of love from Adam Reynolds on Vimeo.

Way to Grow is quickly becoming the premier early learning advocate and provider in Minneapolis. This video was created to help tell the story of how it all started in a little yellow house in North Minneapolis. It was concepted and written to have a storybook feel — a device Way to Grow implements to teach families. It also gave me the honor of working with a longtime favorite musician, Chan Poling.

Concept: Adam Reynolds, Lindsay Fischer, Jennifer Levreault. Copy: Adam Reynolds. Animation: Make. Music: Chan Poling.

I think a lot of graphic designers’ work goes un-credited and they become anonymous and bitter. And that’s why they drink. And that’s also why they cry. — Chip Kidd

 
It’s nice to see that even great designers struggle with obtaining credit for their work. But in my observation, it’s the writer who gets left off of the credit list a large majority of the time.

I was recently fortunate enough to get my 20•33 wine packaging design not only in CMYK Magazine, but on the cover as well. Getting in CMYK was my dream as a student. And here it finally happened 10 years after graduating from college. (The design still qualified for CMYK because my designer was a student at the time.)

My happiness, however, turned to frustration when I noticed my name missing from the credits. My designer and her instructor received the full credit. While my designer definitely deserves recognition, I was once again reminded of the backseat most copywriters take when receiving credit for projects. It’s unfortunate and, in my opinion, unacceptable.

I’ve always hated claiming ownership of a project. It’s definitely a team effort to me. But to help you understand this copywriter’s frustration, the original concept, identity and creative direction was mine — not just the words. By pushing my designer, we were able to create great packaging that happened to find its way to the cover of a magazine. The instructor, in fact, got very easy credit on this one. Oh, and to throw salt in my wounds, there’s a typo in the credits list. “Designer E.”

This isn’t just an issue with my 20•33 project. No packaging designs in CMYK feature a copywriter’s name. This tells me their submission form probably never had a spot for “copywriter.” This is a huge miss for a student magazine that should be preaching the value of collaboration. Smart design takes a strong concept and vision — something great copywriters bring to the table. I can only imagine there are many copywriters upset after seeing their un-credited work in CMYK, or other publications — especially students looking to break into the business.

So designers, and the rest of the ad world, please remember your copywriters. They are, quite possibly, the ones who helped come up with the brilliant design in the first place. And while you’re at it, thank those who have helped you along the way. Like all the great copyeditors and project managers who save my ass time and time again. Stepping off my soapbox.

Somehow, I managed to almost get the featured headline right from the start. Maybe only 10 people were submitting captions at the time. I never did get another comment selected. (Though I know I wrote better ones than what were picked. If I do say so myself.)

Want to read them all? Buy the book. Want to read mine? Here you go.

With the talented creative and planning crew at Little & Co., and support of Way to Grow leadership, we provided Way to Grow with a new logo, website, photography, interior design and marketing materials. And I’m happy to say that after months of hard work, the new Way to Grow website officially launched today. Take a look and let me know what you think.

New:

Old:

Ladies and gents, I bring to you, Bike Boy:

I’m happy to report that Bike Boy, and the dedicated Free Bikes 4 Kidz family, collected more than 700 bikes this year — and gave away over 350 in two days to kids in need. Good wheel to all is right!