Form + Ideas Principals

I guess that we’re all looking for approximately the same things – A perfect mate; well-behaved, attractive children; important friends in high places; a nice, open Hawaiian-style home with a view; interesting work; clients who value our work; a best friend with four paws; a Harley Davidson and a little red sloop; some sense of spiritual progress; consistent sub-4:00 marathons and the occasional invitation to dine out on someone else’s expense account.

With minor variations, it’s a representation of the good life.

The way that the Gods seem to have chosen for me to achieve these goals is to be a designer.

Not the revolutionary kind of designer. Not the sort of guy who wears his shirt backwards or gets appearances on Oprah, but rather a “rye toast in the world of Wonder Bread,” meat and potatoes kind of designer.

Over the last forty years, my friends and I have done some beautiful work.

We sold a lot of beer and dog food in St. Louis.

We literally changed the face of Canada and a number of its provinces through corporate identity programs. And we’ve had the largest studio in Western Canada... The largest studio in Hawai‘i a couple of times. In the little ponds where we’ve been swimming, we have been big fish.

Somehow, we’ve always found it more comfortable to return to private practice, to the basic business of idea generation that attracted us so many years ago.

Form + Ideas is a very simple business. We create ideas. We operate as a specialized consulting group that balances design creativity with marketing research to develop strategies that work for our clients.

And we try to have a good time while we’re doing it.

We’re experts in visual communication, both two and three-dimensional, and design is our basic product.

What we have to offer you is: quality, on time, on budget.

We believe that good design is simply the visual extension of some logical argument: “First with the head, then with the heart.”

It makes for a simple, memorable corporate philosophy.

Should you have need of a design team, we hope that you’ll think of us.