A number of years ago we designed everything for legendary classic rock station 94.1 KRNA. Founded by a couple of University of Iowa students, Rob Norton and Eliot Keller. KRNA grew from grassroots to powerhouse. Hell, they played a lot of Grass Roots.

Rob and Eliot sold off their lifelong project in 1998. Prior to doing so, we kicked off a new look for KRNA, with a new logo and positioning line. In a sea of tired rock station taglines, we wanted to create something fresh, maybe even a bit odd, but definitely regional.

The result? KRNA. 94.1 IOWANAROCK.

94.1 IOWANAROCK

Our involvement with quarterly magazine, The Brass Bell, caught the attention of a Boca Raton, Florida-based client interested in establishing an upscale lifestyle magazine for the Lake Geneva, Wisconsin area. This was a great opportunity—the chance to establish a vertical, niche publication for a legendary tourist destination.

For those not familiar with Lake Geneva, this small community on a lake is nestled just north of Chicago, and just west of Milwaukee in southeastern Wisconsin. The area has more interesting history than any small Wisconsin town should have—the playground of the Schwinn’s, the Maytag’s, the Wrigley’s, and yes, Guns ‘N Roses lead singer Axl Rose. Hugh Heffner even established one of his legendary Playboy Clubs in Lake Geneva.

The first issue of G is the result of many hours of interviews, sweat, and mental gymnastics. It’s not the easiest task assembling a magazine from vapor, but given G’s overwhelming debut, I think we hit the mark.

Click the above image to browse an issue of G

How do you promote a radio station, targeted primarily to females, ages 24 to 45? You borrow interest from the most iconic female of all time.

This wrapped “Barbie Bus” traveled the streets of Cedar Rapids for well over three years. When the bright pink bus wrap was first introduced, young girls everywhere were begging their moms to chase it down. No joke. When the Barbie Bus was handling school routes, children squirmed with excitement. Barbie was also the chosen mode of transportation for at least one birthday party celebration. Copywriter Chris Lien was challenged with the writing the definitive Barbie euphemism—on his first day on the job no less. We think he nailed it.

A long, long time ago, the word implant conjured up a much different mental picture (especially to a commercial feedlot owner) than it does today. Basler Design Group was hired by BIggs Gilmore, and Upjohn Animal Health to create product launch and sales support materials for Implus. Implus materials sported a look that walked a fine line between traditional and contemporary.

Hand tooled leather patterns were a key component in the new look. Patterns were made by doing tracing paper and pastel rubbings of actual tooled leather saddles. The rubbings were then scanned on a flatbed, and driven home through liberal dose of Photoshop processes. The typography is Garamond. Headlines were typeset and laser printed at 25% size. Printouts were crumpled, kicked, scraped, sanded, and taunted. The haggard printouts were then scanned back in and used as final artwork for the distressed type. The photo of the “bunk rider” is one of thousands of images we shot during a 4-day-long photo shoot at a large commercial feedlot in Yuma, Arizona.

The Implus product introduction materials went on to sweep the National Agri-Marketers Association, Best of NAMA, National Awards. Virtually every piece in the series won its respective category, with the entire campaign winning National Best of Show.