WEETU CELEBRATING 7 YEARS

weetu7anniversary from weeTV on Vimeo.

Let's celebrate 7 years of creating! If we had to compare ourselves to one of the seven deadly sins, we'd be pride. We're proud of our work, and proud that we've helped our clients tell their story in ways they like to brag about. This admission will probably doom us to the least desirable of the seven levels of purgatory, but it's worth the risk. We’re looking forward to many more years of taking chances. 

7 years at a glance: Interiors, architecture, landscapes, deskscapes, truck shows, competitions, world exploration, logos, websites, photos, videos, branded environments, terror and culture (not at the same time), fashion, plant lamps, teachers, learners, explorers, Fulton Market Chicago to Garment District NYC. Blue hair, green hair, pink hair, purple hair……….no hair. Brazil, West Coast, East Coast, Middle Coast. Bangkok, Berlin, Toronto. What’s ahead for weetu? Still getting our hands dirty, more neon (hey- we started it), translucent synthetic materials and very soon the launch of a brand new website! 

Thanks to our clients, collaborators, friends and family for seven great years. Here’s to 7+ more!

Our cupcakes are on fire! 

Get your taste buds watering with weetupcakes, an inedible treat that's easy to make, and even easier to destroy. Here's a list of ingredients to a culinary sensation that will definitely not sweep the nation. 

Birthday cupcake recipe:

Black poster board

Black construction paper 

White colored pencil

Double sided transparent tape

Scissors

WD-40 or any reliable accelerant

Cigarette lighter or matches [who said to not play with matches?]

A bucket of water can be substituted for a fire extinguisher

Special thanks to Tyllie Barbosa for an afternoon of talent and patience- a photographer who makes her living taking gorgeous pictures of actual food. See for yourself at tylliebarbosa.com 

Also many thanks to weetuzooer, Amy Turilli for playing with fire and putting our little video together.

[Director of Architecture, Kevin Estrada + weetu Founder, Carly Cannell]
Celebrating in style in NYC. Cheers to another 7+ more years!

CAN WEE GET A BIG GULP?

Cornelius Atrium, looking towards Entry

As you roll into the 7-11 for your daily caffeine fix, have you every noticed anything but the refreshing carbonated beverage or juicy frozen deliciousness coming out of the nozzle? Chances are, you haven’t. Somewhere out there, that nozzle, and everything else it’s attached to, is highly engineered by a creative and technical team. Turns out, a significant part of that team resides just outside Chicago. 

Cornelius is the world's leading supplier of beverage dispense and cooling equipment. They manufacture and market an extensive range of beverage dispense systems for soft drinks, juices, teas, frozen drinks and more, as well as ice makers and a complete line of accessories. Their products are the choice of the world’s leading beverage brand owners, restaurants, convenience stores and hospitality chains. 

View towards Conference Room with translucent graphics. It's like meeting in a giant glass of water. 

Cornelius is the world leader of drinks machines, to the world’s leading drinks machine users. Why should the people who work so hard to make Cornelius the world’s leading supplier of beverage dispense and cooling equipment have to be subjected to a sterile working environment? They deserved better and that’s why weetu was awarded with the challenge of enlivening their corporate interiors. 

Other than the established blue and gray color palette, weetu started from scratch in creating a visual design for the client, and with only a month from creation to installation, time was not a luxury. 

Inspired by machine-era industrial design posters (Yes, movie buffs, the visual of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis that just flashed across your brain is spot-on),  weetu paid homage to the technical complexities of getting all the moving parts to work in sync, by casting the humble line in the starring role. There wasn’t a better design muse for this project and Tiffany Tiano, a Marketing Specialist at Cornelius thinks so, too: “Our graphics look great, they really added just the right pop of color and inspiration to the space!"

Views looking down from the mezzanine

Reception Lounge

Entry Wall with Mission Statement

Special thanks to N'dio for the translucent graphics at all glass locations and Speedpro Imaging for all drywall applied graphics. Both companies are good people, extremely talented and professional.

Photography by Tyler Mallory . Thanks T!

HONOR THY FARMERS

As the good book of Guinnessis says [Chapter 12 FL OZ, Verse 40% Alcohol], "honor thy farmers". Because without farmers, there is no such thing as beer (and that's just un-American!).

Without Farmers, one in particular, there would also be no such thing as weetu Carly! Born and raised a farmers daughter in Northern California, Carly knows a thing or two about getting her hands dirty and working a long day outside in the summer heat. Though she did not follow in her fathers footsteps, many of her childhood buddies did, including, Bill Weller. 

Successful farmer and founder of Farmers Brewing Company (FBC), Bill invited weetu to create their very first label design and logo. With craft brewing on the rise, Farmers takes the unique approach of mastering a delicious and refreshing light beer. FBC started, like make great ideas, as a passionate side project. Brewed with 100% American farm grown grains and hops, this refreshing light beer is hand crafted to satiate a hard days work in the hot Californian sun. Put your lips on a Farmers today!

Prototype body label: The back would feature FBC fan submitted farm photos.

Well, not exactly today, as the brand and brewing company are still in the developing stages. Wee thought wee'd share the prototype in honor of Chicago's favorite beer drinking holiday. The brand will continue to develop with each new brew and one day will be on the shelves for lucky Americans to enjoy. Until then, Happy St. Patricks Day from the Chirish half of weetu. What better way to celebrate than to pass the beer! 

WEE BIG FAN'S

 Hey Sports Fans! Don’t be too depressed now that the Superbowl body paint is washed off and you’re back at the gym running off those spicy chicken wings. The 2014 Sochi Olympics are firing up at this very moment! That's 24 hours a day of sports viewing!

Do you want to fly your freaky sports fan flag 365 days of the year? Now you can with BigFanMail.com, where the worlds biggest fans can license their own personalized vanity email addresses! 

BigFanMail.com was founded by Chief Executive Officer, Bob Gillespie (NRG), along with partner Andrew Guschwan. Bob, a serial entrepreneur and sports fan, has over 20 years experience in consulting, technology, leadership and operations. Having met Carly Cannell in Chicago at 1871, he enlisted weetu to create and define the look and feel for this new passion project. 

weetu invented a fun, customizable logo system and design concepts for the BigFanMail.com website. Still in the final programming stages over at BigFanMail, the test site has launched, but will soon cover all super fans of football, basketball, baseball, world soccer and hockey. Stay tuned and keep a lookout for your favorite team! Until then, go #teamusa #sochi2014

WEETURVIVAL 2014: GET PREPARED

Drones will deliver our impulsive online purchases and our cars will be driving themselves to work. Yep- 2014 is going to be the year of awesome, and off to a great start. Deemed the "Year of the Robot" by our very own inside secret sources, wee can only expect the year will end in Robotalyspe! So we've taken precautions in designing WEETURVIVAL KIT 2014 so our beloved friends, family and clients can be ready, in style.

Available in weetu glowing yellow (so it's easy to find in the dark), WEETURVIVAL KIT 2014 comes with everything you need to fend off the robots without having to sacrifice the quality of life you're used to. For only three easy online payments of $9.99, weetu will even throw in a free consultation to customize additional solutions to meet your needs... okay, and a free Slanket.

Preserve yourself, preserve your business: Prepare with weetu! We think of everything so you don't have to.

STAUB to STAUB

weetu's Berlin partner, Irakli Kiziria of DesignProvocation, is not only an amazing architect, designer and DJ, he's creating an enticing scene for underground music events in Berlin.

Since 2013, Kiziria has created a series of artwork to promote STAUB events for :// about blank. "Staub" is German for dust. His concept is to show music beyond surface and presenting hidden treasures. 

His visuals layer different moods, textures and colors resulting in a seductive and identifiable invitation to STAUB. Irakli shares, "Each design has a different visual output with similar elements: the human body as a receptor of musical impulses, catching the momentum and an energy of the dance-floor in different moods and movements."

We look forward to seeing this movement, and art series, continue through 2014. 

DesignProvocation is a German-based interdisciplinary studio founded by Irakli Kiziria; a network of international professionals working in the fields of art, design, architecture, and research.  DesignProvocation pseudo-objects, products and concepts have circulated on the viral global front, tinged with under-stated humor, and inspiring new perspectives of our cultural and consumer landscapes. 

Not a White Paper on The Future of Work

Wayward Arts Issue No 9 hit the streets in November and weetucarly was one of 40 collaborating contributors invited to provide thinking around the future of work. Check out the issue here and continue the conversation.

It's estimated that by 2020 the number of independent professionals will exceed 70,000,000. With the launch of a new year, it's time to think differently about your business and weetu is here to help. When launched in 2007 by fearless leader Carly Cannell, her mission was to create a vibrant collective of experienced multi-disciplinary professionals to bring new vision to problem solving and design innovation.

Collaboration has been a major weetu ingredient from day 1. So it was a no brainer for Cannell to join up with the Baubub as they were incubating back in 2008. The Bauhub, in their own words, is a "tour de workforce. " With 305 active members and growing, it's a maxi-weetu collective of experienced marketing and design professionals to tackle projects, big and small, anywhere in the world.

"I was excited to be one of the founding members of The Bauhub," says weetucarly, "Scott's vision of the Bauhub was in line with why I started weetu. To have additional partners and collaborators in North America (and beyond) only makes us stronger. It's about putting the strongest team together for our clients to provide superior solutions. The plus side is that as experienced as we all are in various fields, we continue to evolve together and be inspired by one another. It's not a competition, it's a collaboration."

Check out Wayward Arts Issue No 9 here or contact The Bauhub for a printed issue.

WEEDUCATING PARSONS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
WEETU’S KEVIN ESTRADA, SHAPING NEW-TO-DESIGN MINDS AT PARSONS


New York, NY –  This Fall, weetu’s most professorial member, Kevin Estrada, will be taking his talents over to a classroom in the School of Constructed Environments at Parsons the New School for Design.  Kevin will be teaching an Interior Design (ID) Studio, a course introducing students who are new to design to the fields of ID and space-making.

Like these students, many of whom will hold undergraduate degrees in other disciplines, Kevin’s background in architecture and design will make his classroom a uniquely diverse creative environment.  And, by incorporating his own interests in NYC culture, materiality and new technologies, Kevin’s students will be exposed to more than just the basics of an introductory studio course. “Nobody does translucent like Kevin”, says super fan and supportive partner, weetu’s founder Carly Cannell, “Not only will his expertise prove to be extremely valuable to these students, but his imaginative perspective is unmatched. Personally, I can’t wait to participate in his studio reviews.”

Leaving the weetu office and heading to buy fresh felt tips, Kevin told weetu, “The spheres of academia and professional practice can and should influence each other.  One should not be isolated from the other.”


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About weetu
weetu is a design firm specializing in architecture and branding with offices in Chicago and New York.  Since its founding in 2007, weetu has worked across disciplinary boundaries – bringing together experienced creative professionals from distinct backgrounds – to generate new methods, ideas and products as real solutions for real problems.

Inventive solutions are developed through a design process revolving around the concept of “collaborative play.”  It is through this hands-on approach that weetu's skilled teams are able to envision and explore ideas free of construct or limitation, while still grounding their work in the expertise derived from years spent within their respective fields.   

For additional information on weetu please visit www.goweetu.com, e-mail at info@goweetu.com, call (312) 624-9592. Follow us on Twitter @weetu.


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PURPOSEFUL VACATIONING: STRALSUND

weetuzoo's International Correspondant Amanda Carlson lands in Germany and learns that there is more to the Baltic Coast than boats, fish, and beer.

Next blog stop: Stralsund, Germany - Accessing Architecture

By Amanda Carlson

The city of Stralsund, on Germany’s Baltic Coast, is one of nearly thirty cities on the European Route of Brick Gothic buildings, a historic trail that stretches across seven countries – Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia. 

As a successful Hanseatic port city between the 13^th and 15^th Centuries, Stralsund’s residents constructed numerous buildings – homes, churches, and a town hall, among others – that are now appreciated as shining examples of the brick Gothic style that characterized the architecture of this period.  

Walking around the city, it was at the end of a visit with my mom and sister that we came across a series of waist-level reliefs of the city’s most famous buildings.  What we first saw as a nice side-by-side rendering of important structures revealed itself to serve a greater purpose.  My sister, the German-speaker among us, reported that the reliefs were for intended for use by the blind and visually impaired. 

As far as I can remember, I’ve never been on an architecture tour that provided a tactile guide.  Stralsund forced me to reflect on opportunities for disabled tourists and visitors.  I knew that touch tours existed in some museums, but I couldn’t think of other street-level opportunities for blind and visually impaired tourists (and a quick web search yielded few results). 

Not only did the Stralsund relief serve the purpose of increasing access to the city’s architectural gems, but, hopefully, it might also act as an example to other cities of ways to make their architecture tours more inclusive through multi-sensory experiences. 

PURPOSEFUL VACATIONING: ROME

weetuzoo's International Correspondant Amanda Carlson tuvo la suerte de visitar una de nuestras ciudades favoritas: La Roma! Not just the antique beauty, gelato eating, wine drinking, pasta eating kind of Rome. This visit was leather around the edges - just the way we like it.

Next blog stop: Rome -  Harley and the Holy See

By Amanda Carlson

While on a recent visit to Rome, our tour guide at the Forum made the following observation (paraphrased), "Rome in the 4th Century was a colorful and gaudy place...All around the city, temples and monuments would pop up...It inspired awe and excitement around every turn."  The remnants of the Forum made it possible to imagine some of the city’s prior form.  But, every so often, such visions would be interrupted by the same noise that made our guide nearly impossible to hear.  Rome was rumbling.  

On the ramp out of the Forum and up to street level, the source appeared – hundreds of Harley-Davidsons taking the streets of Rome.  As one of the sites for Harley-Davidson's 110^th Anniversary celebration, the city attracted thousands of riders from around the world, and the event culminated in a Sunday papal blessing of the bikes. 

The visual dissonance of ancient Rome and modern Harley worked together to emphasize both the city and the brand’s most basic qualities.  The city appeared more sun-bleached and pock-marked.  The bikes turned corners sleeker and more irreverent.  Like in the Forum, the noise of the street and the curiosity of the situation’s incongruousness made me experience Rome in a way that seemed to mimic the gaudy excitement of the 4^th Century: the colors were bright; the cobblestones were packed; and Rome felt like the center of the world (at least for Harley lovers).  

More importantly though, what Rome left me considering: How do cities achieve such awe and excitement without millennia of history and the glimmer of motorcycles?