Ramp Creative was featured in the 2008 Design 100 by Step Inside Design (Online) under the Self Promotions category. 

Take a historic neighborhood of Los Angeles and an ex-aerospace engineer with a love for mathematics and compelling images. Add to the equation a gifted interactive designer with a flair for writing and a fascination for the satisfying experience of eating Sprinkles cupcakes. What you get is a design team that tells unique stories contextually and shows dynamic ideas visually. Known as Ramp Creative, the five-year-old boutique firm is fully embodied in the simplicity, organization and imagery of its identity and stationery system.

The dual disciplines of the two partners, print-based Michael Stinson and media-oriented Rachel Elnar, are represented in this two-tone, uncoated, engineered stationery system. The system contains original photography of Ramp Creative’s eclectic Los Angeles neighborhood. “My brain puts stories to visuals,” Stinson explains. “Ideas come to mind when I see the environment around me.” The softened, unsaturated photographs proclaim their distinctiveness from contemporary advertising photography.

Ramp Creative’s system implies a mode of craftsmanship informed by function, an oddity in the design world of today, where craft seems so often absent. By letting solid concepts lead the design, Stinson strives to “elevate communications through ideas.” The Ramp Creative approach is to answer clients’ questions with reason. “Passionate clients want to understand,” says Stinson, so more than just simply providing guidance, these problem- solvers try to fully educate clients over the course of the project. By building a client-designer synthesis, Ramp’s seemingly traditional clientele of medical, real-estate and technology companies are transformed via design innovation. by Mary Louise Killen

For the full article, view this link: http://www.stepinsidedesign.com/STEP/Article/28860/0/page/9

Rachel was quoted in the February 2008 issue of IR Magazine for an article about who is actually reading your annual report – and what they want from it.

"We use the main idea to inspire the story, and then the sections – operations, letter, case studies and products/services – are written in slightly different tones, to create chapter-like areas," explains Rachel Elnar, partner at Ramp Creative. "We call it ‘pace-placing’. The result is a dramatic yet cohesive report that appeals to multiple audiences."

"Color, scale, paper selection and certain production methods can also be used to tailor messages and communicate select messages," adds Elnar.

For the full article: http://www.thecrossbordergroup.com/pages/1599/February+2008.stm?article_id=12393 

Yay! We were featured as two of 48 "People To Watch" in 2008 by GDUSA Magazine.

Michael Stinson is a founding partner and creative director of Ramp. Stinson uses his studious attention to detail and intense x-ray vision for the overall good of design, with only a few sleepless nights here and there. Early an aerospace engineering student, his keen visual sense embodies a balance of elegance and precision. He helps Ramp maintain a high standard of creative aesthetic with a rigorous design process and critical eye.

Rachel Elnar is also a founding partner of Ramp, as well as the firm's interactive director. Elnar uses her love for technology to fuel creative initiatives for website, broadcast, business development and marketing programs. She helps Ramp collaborate with innovative client partners that understand the ability to shape information and perception with design. She has lectured on the topics of design, digital art and branding and taught motion and interactive design at Art Center College of Design and Cal Poly Pomona University.

Is graphic design a growth industry? As technology continues to permeate our day-to-day lives, there is a growing need for storytelling and differentiation to make communications successful. Creative professionals do a great job of simplifying information, making it digestible and, at times, entertaining.

Do graphic designers have a special responsibility to promote a green society? As the industry that designs most of the trash that goes into the landfill, we do feel that graphic designers have a huge responsibility to promote green thinking for their projects. In our studio, we try to educate our clients about the importance of strategizing green ways of communicating and reducing waste. A couple of our corporate clients are aware of the short lifespans of annual reports and have asked us to guide them toward designing with post-consumer recycled materials. We wouldn't say that we're green experts, but we do feel confident about designing with the planet in mind.

ONE THING I CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT IS
H2O -MS
my computer -RE

FAVORITE MOVIES

Michael
Tony Takitani
Master and Commander
2001: A Space Odyssey

Rachel
The Yes Men
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
City of God

FAVORITE BOOKS

Michael
The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury
Angels and Demons by Dan Brown
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson

Rachel
Karlssonwilker Inc.'s Tellmewhy: The First 24 Months of New York Design Company by Clare Jacobson
Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
Tibor Kalman: Perverse Optimist by Peter Hall and Michael Bierut, eds.

FAVORITE SONGS

Michael
"Daytripper" by The Beatles
"Solo Cello No. 1 in G Major" by Bach
"Lopez" by Honk

Rachel
"California Dreamin'" by Rae & Christian
"Vato" by Snoop Dogg,
"Postales" by Federico Aubele

FAVORITE FINE ARTISTS

Michael
Wassily Kandinsky
Robert Rauschenberg
Richard Diebenkorn

Rachel
Bruce Nauman
Roberto Matta
Ann Hamilton

FAVORITE TV SHOWS

Michael
The Twilight Zone
Seinfeld
Planet Earth

Rachel
Weeds
The Simpsons
American Made

BOOKMARKED WEBSITES

Michael
dictionary.com
netflix.com
lego.com
amazon.com

Rachel
la.curbed.com
etsy.com

For the full article read here: http://www.gdusa.com/issue_2008/01_jan/feature/p17.php

Ramp Creative was recently chosen for an exclusive interview with Graphis Publications—an International visual communications journal—for the design of the CWS Capital Partners 2006 annual report.

What was the client’s directive?  In the past 3 years that we’ve worked with CWS Capital Partners, the president of the company has been writing insightful articles on his observations of the real estate market. This year, the CWS wanted to incorporate the term ‘circulate’ to sum up their strategy on how they intend to create long-term value for their investors.  

How did you define the problem?  In a volatile real estate market, it is often difficult to instill confidence in an investor community. To help investors understand how CWS creates long-term value, the word ‘circulate’ was used to describe how the company sells unprofitable properties to purchase profitable properties that generate additional growth and essentially telling the story about how they circulate value for long-term growth.

What was the approach?  We used the annual report to demonstrate the meticulous decision-making process that CWS Capital Partners executes to produce greater long-term returns for all its investors. Our goal was to show how a dedicated company like CWS can find value in a changing real estate market through their resources—dedicated employees, the capital provided by institutions and the discretionary dollars provided by investors.

Which disciplines or people helped you with the project?  This was an entirely collaborative effort between the Ramp and CWS. We wanted the annual report to reflect the attention to detail and craftsmanship visually as CWS does
in their business.

Were you happy with the result?  We were very pleased with the outcome. It showcases the client’s ability to prove to their investors how they create value. It makes their business transparent through this report.

What could have been better?  Adding an interactive version of this report online would have added a heightened experience for the investors.

What was the client’s response?  The client was very excited about the concept. It was a difficult task to get the mock-up back from them to use for production planning with the printer. We heard it was brought home to show their wives, husbands and families.

How involved was the CEO in your meetings and presentations?  The President, the VP of Investor Relations and the Marketing Manager were the key people involved in every step of the annual report process. This small group of people gives the report such inexplicable life from year to year because of their direct honesty, excellent communication skills and trust in us to bring a creative and memorable report to their investors every year.

How important are awards to your clients?  Awards are always a bonus. Our main concern is the satisfaction of our client’s investor community in how well the report captures and communicates the year in review for the company.

What are companies looking for when it comes to designing an Annual Report? Annual reports we receive at our studio have become increasingly smaller in scale and shorter in content—a reflection of companies producing the bare minimum. This shows us that more and more companies are looking for vehicles such as summary annual reports as well as 10-K wraps.

About CWS Capital Partners
Since 1969, CWS Capital Partners has been a fully integrated real estate investment management company. A company that searches throughout America for real estate investment opportunities and negotiates the purchase and sale of the properties. CWS then accesses both debt and equity capital to finance both the purchase and development of those properties and manage them. Through their key principals and advisors, Steve Sherwood, Bill Williams, and President Gary Carmell, CWS offers a combined 75 years of experience.

We're listed as one of a few great online annual report designers on IRWebReport.com.