KEEN – RESEARCH & THE ENTREPRENEURIAL MINDSET

We partnered with Willow Film Company and the Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering Network in Wisconsin to produce educational and entertaining videos for undergraduate students exploring various topics and opportunities in the vast world of higher education research. KEEN is a partnership of more than 55 colleges and universities across the United States. The schools in the Network focus on one mission: To reach all undergraduate engineering students with an entrepreneurial mindset (EM) so they can create personal, economic, and societal value through a lifetime of meaningful work.

Our goal with these videos was to target undergraduate-aged students and introduce them to the world of research in a fun, comedic, and engaging way.

Production Agency – Willow Film Company

Written and Directed by Mark Retzloff, Swell Lab

Produced by Hayley Wateska

Produced by Will Aker

Starring Dakota Harp, Charlie Buck

Oak Story

Swell Lab partnered with Oak Story to name and brand Oak Story Realty, Oak Story Design, and Oak Story Homes.

A Comprehensive Brand Guide

Crafting a cohesive brand is pointless if you don’t have a guide to keep you on track as you scale, pivot, and build new strategies. We developed a an 80+ page brand guide that explains the heart beat of the Oak Story brand. Rules. Fonts. Color Codes. Audience. Everything new staff and vendors would need to know to continue building the brand.

A Business System Distinct to Each Sub Brand but Cohesive with One Another

Grove Coffee

Swell Lab partnered with Grove Coffee, a brand new coffee start-up in the Chicago area, to create a brand around coffee and community. We designed a responsive identity system based on simplicity and accessibility. The lowercase ‘g’ is modeled after a coffee cup on it’s side or viewed from above.

Interior Concepts & Brand Messaging

Swell Lab also consulted on the interior design and brand messaging for Grove. Our goal was to create a comfortable and family-friendly space. Simple materials make consistency easy and affordable. Infographic-styled menus help educate customers about how each drink is made. A kid’s area we call “Acorns” holds a collection of unique themed toys that welcomes families. Renaming the staff “Hands” plays on the Grove theme equalizes the staff, and plays up the service aspect.

A statement wall with the message “Grove Close” promotes a connection theme and plays on the grove theme and will provide a social worthy backdrop for photos.

T-BOLT Football Foundation

Swell Lab partnered with the T-BOLT Football Foundation to brand an organization centered around football and community in the Chicago area. Our goal was to create something that was just as comfortable at an elegant fundraiser as it is cheering on the team from the sidelines. Deliverables included a responsive identity system, a business system optimized for short-run or in-house printing, social artwork templates, a brand style cheat sheet, and apparel.

Canadian Bible Society Rebrand

Swell Lab partnered with the Candian Bible Society to rebrand this over 200-year-old org. We worked on this project during the pandemic entirely remotely. We gathered 20+ team members from across Canada to walk through our Brand R&D process.

Use the slider to compare

BEHOLD Global Event

Swell Lab partnered with Living Water International to produce the BEHOLD Global Event. After producing Living Water’s live event for 10 years running, the pandemic threw us a curve ball. Over the last decade, we’ve hosted up to 1,500 people in Houston’s largest ballroom to produce one of the highest-grossing fundraisers in town. The pandemic meant we had to switch gears. We scrapped months of live event planning and created an event in a box model that the global Living Water audience could enjoy LIVE from the safety of their home.

Swell Lab was responsible for all branding, marketing collateral, video elements, and event production.

Transform Their Tomorrow – Peru

Swell Lab traveled with Living Water International to a remote village in Peru to capture the stories of Yamaru and Matika. This was the most remote content-gathering trip we have ever been on. We took a small 6-seater plane into the amazon jungle, and then boarded a smaller float plane (equipped with water skids to land on the river) before boarding a boat to take us another 6 hours up river to our destination. We traveled with tents and hammocks and camped in the village. We took our own live chickens with us for food. It was awesome and we can’t wait to do it again.

Immersive 360 Video Content

Swell Lab partnered with Living Water International to script and produce immersive VR stories for use at live events. The following stories all follow the same basic storyline but were each shot on location in Zambia, Sierre Leone, and Peru with a special 360 camera.

Use your mouse to move around in the video frame or for a full 360 experience, use a VR headset and headphones.

Breakaway

Swell Lab partnered with Breakaway on the campus of Texas A&M. Breakaway is one of the largest Christian on-campus gatherings in the country packing out sporting venues on a weekly basis.

The following is a small sample of the various apparel concepts we worked on this year.

Breakaway changes venues weekly so to keep everyone in the loop we designed this plastic luggage tag. The luggage tag comes inside of a small kit that promotes the app and special venue information.

Rooted Gala

Swell Lab partnered with Living Water International to produce the Rooted Gala. Swell Lab was responsible for the event design, collaborating on the script, branding, production, and all marketing collateral.

We created a custom die-cut design for the invitation that folded from a standard envelope size to a long-form invite that we believed our audience would hold on to.

25 Gala

Swell Lab partnered with Living Water International to produce the 25 Gala. This event was about celebrating the 25th anniversary of Living Water International. Swell Lab was responsible for the event design, collaborating on the script, branding, production, and all marketing collateral.

We were inspired by 1920s, art deco design. Our goal was to take inspiration from art deco but modernize it and incorporate illustrations that tied this look back to the work of Living Water.

We produced this event in Houston’s largest ballroom with a custom, circular stage in the middle of the room. Variations of the hype loop below played on floor to ceiling LED panels surrounding the space.

The Concept that Didn’t Make the Cut

We started the look for 25 with 3D rendered artwork. We liked the look but ultimately opted for the flat, illustrated concept seen above.

Teresita’s Story – El Salvador

Swell Lab traveled to El Salvador with Living Water International to capture the story of the matriarch of a community. After suffering tremendous loss to unsafe water we witnessed a clean water well installation in her community and saw the joy of one woman’s dream come true.

Pastor David’s Story – Sierre Leone

Swell Lab partnered with Living Water International to travel to Sierre Leone and capture the story of Pastor David. Often times when we take trips like this to collect content we never know what we’re going to find. It’s like a treasure hunt. Pastor David was our guide into a Muslim community. We were looking for stories about how clean water was bridging gaps between Christians and Muslims. As Pastor David introduced us to the community we learned that the real bridge was him.

The Ends of the Earth Gala

Swell Lab partnered with Living Water International to produce The Ends of the Earth Gala. Swell Lab was responsible for the event design, collaborating on the script, branding, production, and all marketing collateral.

The Concept that Didn’t Make the Cut

As we developed the aesthetic for an event we like to try out different ideas. Our original concept for this event was inspired by travel scrapbooks. Ultimately our team decided to go with a look that felt more elegant and glamm-y (is that a word?) but we liked this look so much we thought we’d share it here.

Lucy Gala

Swell Lab partnered with Living Water International to produce the Lucy Gala. This event was about celebrating women around the world. Swell Lab was responsible for the event design, collaborating on the script, branding, production, and all marketing collateral.