Capabilities
Artists at heart, we love to work with our hands to create unique and approachable designs that inspire engagement between your brand and your consumers. We achieve this through our core capabilities of Brand Identity Design, Art Direction & Strategy, Graphic & Package Design, Environmental Design, and Events & Workshops.
Client Experience
We’ve been very fortunate to work with clients who have a whole lot of heart and big desires to serve their communities and the planet. We’re here to help bring their visions to life by articulating their unique stories through strategic and artistic design.
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FEATURES & PRESS
Episode 141
Amplify Your Message & Build a Brand
Raise Your Vibration Podcast with Shelby Rose
In this episode, Samantha and Shelby dive into why creating a brand should be step #1 when it comes to building your business. They also dive into: What is branding and why it’s an essential first step for entrepreneurs; How to build a brand that supports your authentic vision and amplifies your mission and message; How to know if hiring a designer or DIY-ing is the best option for you and your business.
LISTEN ON APPLE PODCASTS, SPOTIFY, OR CASTBOX
ABOUT SAMANTHA
Samantha Suhr is a Creative Director, Artist, Humanitarian, World Traveler, Dog Mama, and Human.
Samantha is the hand and heart behind Crystal Bones. As the owner and Creative Director of our fiercely local brand, Sam brings over 6 years of creative and business development experience to the table, as well as a lifetime of artistic studies. Born and raised in Fort Collins, Colorado, Sam was absorbed into and influenced by an environment with deep-rooted values in community-building, authentic leadership, and creativity. Also with a passion for cultural discovery and international studies, Sam has explored some of the world’s most fascinating places like Morrocco, Myanmar, India, Japan, China, and Peru.
In 2018, Sam moved to Denver with her fiancé where she began working as the Creative Director for a non-profit organization.
It was here, managing a brand that serves vulnerable communities across the globe, that she discovered two things: Her passion to serve honest organizations with missions to do good by the planet and its people, and also the vital role branding plays in internal culture, outside perception, and the overall success of an organization. Wanting to get her hands on more brands and engage with the local and global communities, Sam launched Crystal Bones in 2020 (yes, our business is our COVID baby!)
Easily influenced by the historic city she grew up in, the many international cultures she’s experienced, and her fanaticism for cross-media artists like Banksy, Jordan Peele, and Walt Whitman, Sam has become the perfect hybrid creative to articulate meaningful, yet complex, ideas through visual design.
Currently, Sam lives in Denver with her fiancé where she does the normal Colorado things like go hiking, walk her dog, hit the slopes, wear flannel, drink out of a Nalgene, dream about driving a Subaru again, and eat burritos smothered in green chili.
CAPABILITIES
Creative Direction & Strategy
Brand Strategy & Positioning, Naming, Archetypes, Personality & Voice, Mission Statement, Value Pillars, Emotional Benefits
Our team works in collaboration with you to develop a brand strategy that directs the visual direction for your organization. Through a series of questionnaires and workshops, we can work towards assessing who you are as a business, what you do, how you “speak” to your audience, the values you embody, and the unique and marketable ways you differ from others in your industry.
Visual & Brand Identity
Logo Design, Brand Identity, Collateral Design, Iconography, Color Palette, Typography, Photography Styling, Brand Guidelines
We love to work with our hands and bring artistry back into the digital and, often repetitive, world of identity design. Crafting many brands by hand, we aim to create a unique, functional, and comprehensive brand kit for your team that isn’t “just a logo.” We create a system of elements and graphics that enable your brand to be distinct, memorable, and easily identifiable. This process results in a primary, secondary, and tertiary set of assets that add layers of goodness to your branding that are just as unique as you. Our branding process is often inclusive of, but not limited to: your logotype, mark, color palettes, typography, taglines, icons, illustrations, patterns, textures, and any additional supporting marks.
Graphic & Package Design
Collateral, Packaging, Layout, Signage, Apparel, Web & Digital, Illustration, GIF, Poster, Product, Labels
Our unique design approach is rooted in traditional design strategy and is expressed through artistic implementation. We don’t think design should sacrifice originality. Our goal is to articulate your brand’s message to your audience in a way that is interesting, memorable, and beautiful.
Murals & Environmental Design
Murals & Environmental Design, Way-Finding, Signage
We work with brands to design and implement large-scale artworks that speak to their ethos, message and aesthetic. Big or small, outside or inside, type-based or illustration-based, we carefully select color, form, and elements, to create something provocative and memorable. We are sure to consider your brand, your audience, and your space to install a beautiful and permanent design solution that amplifies your brand experience. Need future mobility? We can also design on wood or canvas!
Events & Workshops
Brand Strategy Workshops, Local & Global Collaborations, Speaking, Partnerships
Partnering with both small and big organizations, coworking spaces, and events, we come prepared to equip your employees/members/attendees with the tools, resources, and methodology our studio uses to create strategic and beautiful brands. We provide hands-on workshops and speaking, in addition to other creative services to make your offering a smash hit! We bring inspiring and thought-provoking tools in our back pocket that we use to support your people. Further, our team has created a library of workshops, templates, brand kits and semi-custom brands to meet business owners in their brand-building process with tools and resources to get them going.