This project was created during Whitespace Creative’s 2007 Create-A-Thon, a 24-hour pro bono design effort. Projects are designed from start to finish for nonprofit organizations in the Akron area.

This piece encourages recipients to take part in an online auction from home, with nearly all proceeds benefiting the charity—as opposed to black-tie events, which require much preparation and cost, where the majority of the proceeds commonly go toward funding the event itself. Thematic imagery contrasted such images as a martini and seafood with macaroni and cheese and orange juice, and a bow tie with boxer shorts.

Event Invitation, Print, Packaging

Our wedding was held at Boldt Castle on Heart Island in Alexandria Bay, NY. Since this was 400 miles from our home, we needed an eye-catching, captivating and extremely informative invitation that would also serve as a weekend visitor guide and program for 40 guests, especially if they were separated from the group (which we encouraged, to enable individual exploration and mini-vacationing). Self-mailing reply cards were included, to be detached and returned to us with dinner selections. We wanted to draw attention away from us, and to each of our friends, and allow them to experience what we felt during our first trip to the area. Also included was a souvenir CD set of my wife’s and my favorite music, that was played during the wedding and could be listened to on the way home or thereafter. Photo albums with three starter pictures encouraged guests to fill them up with personal experiences while on the trip. Literature was gathered, packaged and presented in guests’ hotel rooms before their arrival. Akron Addy Gold winner.

Client: Mike Mahan and Courtney Molek

Web/Identity

Spif Monkey is a Microsoft Outlook plugin designed for use by sales professionals in order to track and claim incentives on parts. Prior to the advent of Spif Monkey, millions of dollars worth of incentives each year went unclaimed. The software scours emails for part numbers, alerting the salesperson of potential incentive rewards.
The logo mimics this “seek-and-find prize” action in a fun and colorful way, which speaks to the ease of use and speed of the program, while giving a personality to the once tedious task.

Client: Spif Monkey

Print collateral, brochure, branding

Series of brochures used as sales collateral showcasing the aluminum manufacturer’s capabilities, successes and qualifications as part of its complete rebranding strategy. Printed 4-color.

Client: Alcoa Howmet

Credit: Work created in part by Mike Mahan while employed as Senior Graphic Designer at Whitespace Creative. All rights belong to Whitespace Creative.

Identity (web)

Specializing in internet marketing, Big Tuna Interactive is a full service online marketing agency, specifically focused on search engine optimization, search engine marketing and social media optimization. Its founder sought a mark that utilized a “deep sea” color palette of blue hues, and that conveyed a sense of fun. We were aiming for a visual reference to the idea that it looms quietly over the competition, and alludes to the original tag line “Become the big fish online.”

Client: Big Tuna Interactive

Identity

This logo and tag line were integral parts of a proposed brand for a line of child safety seats featuring revolutionary air bags on each side of the child’s head, designed to minimize trauma in the event of a side-impact collision.

Client: Dorel Juvenile Group

Credit: Work created in part by Mike Mahan while employed as Senior Graphic Designer at Whitespace Creative. All rights belong to Whitespace Creative.

Identity (web)

Logo for leading forex (foreign exchange) trading company in the UK. The client wanted a logo that was fun: colorful, youthful and conveyed a sense of movement. In the selected logo (top), I chose to play off the word “Integrity” (used literally to stress the importance of honesty to the client and host of the service in its tag line, and figuratively to show integrated gears/currency symbols to represent their interchangeability within the website).

Client: Donna Forex

Self-promotion, direct mail, print

Clients of WhiteSpace Creative received this gift of customized wrapping paper featuring designs of employee signature snowflakes, employee identity gingerbread men and holiday song titles and phrases containing employee names. Three-color in-house silk screened boxes, hand-assembled and hand-delivered.
Akron Addy Gold Award winner, advanced to regionals.

Client: WhiteSpace Creative

Credit: Work created in part by Mike Mahan while employed as Senior Graphic Designer at Whitespace Creative. All rights belong to Whitespace Creative.

Identity (print)

San Francisco Oven, an Ohio restaurant chain, realized a need for a proprietary coffee blend to boost sales and strengthen its brand. This coffee bag label has a historic feel, and reflects the culture of San Francisco. Black and white and color versions.

Client: San Francisco Oven

Credit: Work created in part by Mike Mahan while employed as Graphic Designer at Louis + Partners. All rights belong to Louis + Partners.

Self-promotion, packaging

Grills & Thrills BBQ and Event Catering is a subsidiary of Red Letter Events Group that hosts custom corporate picnics and outdoor events. In order for the client to thank his top customers for their business and to continue self-promotion, this piece was custom-designed for hand-delivery, complete with a tag and personal handwritten note.
The “Summer Barbecue Kit” included two flavors of barbecue sauce with custom printed labels featuring the recipient’s name, an embroidered apron and a recipe book in which each recipe contained one or both of the sauces. 200 units were hand-assembled, including custom-designed rubber-stamped tissue paper and belly band, and were a great success among recipients, agency clients and Akron, Ohio Addy Judges, as the piece took a Gold at the 2008 Awards and advanced to District Finals.

Client: Red Letter Events

Credit: Work created in part by Mike Mahan while employed as Senior Graphic Designer at Whitespace Creative. All rights belong to Whitespace Creative.

Typographic investigations into the words "creativity," "imagination," and "innovation," while at the same time attempting to establish connotation and cohesion.