Instrument

We’ve hosted an array of events at Instrument as of late,...

Thu, 24 May 2012 14:10:23 -0700

We’ve hosted an array of events at Instrument as of late, such as a graphic design portfolio show, sweetly disguised as a Cinco de Mayo festival with bright balloons and piñatas.

At the most recent event, we played host for a different kind of festivity. Michelle (Instrument partner Justin’s fiancé) celebrated her birthday by making dreamcatchers with friends at the Instrument Outpost.

Dreamcatcher extraordinaire, Rachael Rice came to teach and supply party guests with all the essentials and accessories to create a “Cosmic American” masterpiece.

For the full scoop, check out a party guest’s post on Burton Girls’ blog.

Photos by June Bhongjan.

-CD

This week we launched a showcase site for SketchUp, a free,...

Tue, 22 May 2012 11:07:00 -0700

This week we launched a showcase site for SketchUp, a free, downloadable app from Google that lets you 3-D model virtually any environment. The site features some of the best examples of SketchUp models from around the world.

A Studio Update

Mon, 21 May 2012 12:55:00 -0700

It’s been a year since our merger that combined Gridplane’s design thinking and craft with Instrument’s technical wizardry and client services. It turns out, this was a good idea.

Existing client relationships with partners like Google, Nike and Obey are thriving, while new relationships with LIVESTRONG, Change.org and Flipboard, among others, are blossoming.

Studio talent has grown by leaps and bounds and our capabilities are expanding. While we continue to hone our skills in interactive design and development, our strengths have broadened in the areas of content strategy, brand identity and film and animation production. Additionally, we’re exploring deeper intersections between interactive installation, design-driven motion and live-action content.

In support of our expanding capabilities, today we are proud to announce three new key team members:

Nando Costa

With a background in art and traditional print design, Nando has enjoyed the last 10 years of his career, creating a wide array of animated and live-action content for brands such as Nike, Google, Nintendo, Coca-Cola, Microsoft, Apple, Adobe, Cartoon Network and many more. Before joining Instrument, he lead teams at various top industry studios and agencies, while occasionally finding time to craft short films, direct title sequences and curate design books.

Tina Glengary

As a strategist, Tina asks a lot of questions, then calculates ways to transform clients’ visions into engaging experiences. Prior to Instrument, she worked at Big Spaceship and Odopod developing award-winning digital campaigns. Additionally, she has a unique perspective on creating memorable environments, due to a background in museum exhibit design.

Davis Priestley

Davis’ career started at 14 as a volunteer production assistant in the craft service department for the car commercial shooting at the farm next door. Since then, he has worked more than a decade in television, feature film, and commercial production. He has produced award-winning content for brands such as Nike, Electronic Arts, MTV, Audi and Interscope. After moving from Los Angeles to Portland in 2006 to work on Gus Van Sant’s “Paranoid Park”, and subsequently falling in love with the Pacific Northwest, Davis ran his own production company and served as an Executive Producer at Sandymontana.

-JDH

Last Thursday, we were happy to host “Be Honest 2012”, an event...

Mon, 07 May 2012 08:41:00 -0700

Last Thursday, we were happy to host “Be Honest 2012”, an event by PSU’s Friends of Graphic Design. “Be Honest” is a chance for students to show off their skills to design professionals and hear a guest lecture from a visiting artist. This year the special guest was The Little Friends of Printmaking.

Photos by Paul Searle

-ZB

Happy Earth Day, everyone. We made this page for Google to help...

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 09:18:00 -0700

Happy Earth Day, everyone.

We made this page for Google to help celebrate it.

Illustrations are by our own Matt Sundstrom.

-ZB

NEW WORK: NIKE BETTER WORLD THE JOURNEY We recently launched...

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 10:49:00 -0700

NEW WORK: NIKE BETTER WORLD THE JOURNEY

We recently launched The Journey, a full website experience for Nike Better World packed with travel data, photography and the latest stats on endurance athlete Jason Lester’s 4800 mile journey across 16 states. We kicked off the project with this video and continue to partner with Nike in curating Jason’s journey over 102 days until the Olympic trials in Eugene, OR.

Our primary focus is the biggest moment in Jason’s daily travels. With a simple scroll, you are chronologically transported through these moments, all the way back to the start of his journey. You can also see instant shots of Jason via Instagram (@betterworldjourney) as well as his location, elevation, miles traveled and NikeFuel points earned. Check out the site now to see where Jason is today and explore how Nike is creating a better world through sport.

-ZB

A recent lunchtime gathering. Images: Toby GrubbGrub: Nichole...

Wed, 28 Mar 2012 09:17:00 -0700

A recent lunchtime gathering.

Images: Toby Grubb
Grub: Nichole Barrett
Picnic Tables: Phloem Studio

-ZB

For the next 100 days, endurance athlete Jason Lester will be...

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 12:29:01 -0700

For the next 100 days, endurance athlete Jason Lester will be running and cycling 4800 miles across the US. We created this announcement video for his Journey, a partnership with Nike Better World.

We’re doing some construction here at Instrument Outpost. Here’s a little scene from...

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 15:01:00 -0700

We’re doing some construction here at Instrument Outpost. Here’s a little scene from yesterday’s demolition ride… JD in action!

-AG

Today, we’re proud to announce that our site and HTML5...

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 15:39:00 -0700

Today, we’re proud to announce that our site and HTML5 experiment for Google I/O 2012 is live. Our team of our designers and developers have been on a wild ride conceiving and building this, and we hope you enjoy playing it.

For this year’s site (we also did last year’s) our goal was to help Google connect even deeper with the community of developers around the world and to empower developers to collaborate and build with each other. By encouraging this global community to work with each other, we knew the result would be something great.

Our solution was Input/Output, a Chrome Experiment HTML5 game, in which players drag and drop machine parts onto a machine board in order to transport a particle from an input to an output terminal. The experiment has already inspired developers and non-developers alike to create their own Rube-Goldberg-esque machine and show it off on Google+.

The I/O website also includes information about the 2012 conference, including travel and registration details. Keep refreshing https://developers.google.com/events/io/ to reserve your spot when registration opens, as last year’s conference sold out in under 59 minutes.

File under “Kickstarter Projects We’re Backing”: Our...

Tue, 06 Mar 2012 14:38:00 -0800

File under “Kickstarter Projects We’re Backing”:

Our friend Scotty draws women caught-in-the-the-act of doing something different everyday. He plans on making a tear-off calendar, in the style of The Far Side for each day of the year, but he needs your help. Watch his short video (filmed here at Instrument) and if you like what he’s doing, through some support his way.

We added the Holiday Gift Package to our WORK page, so...

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 15:54:00 -0800

We added the Holiday Gift Package to our WORK page, so it’s all official like.

-ZB

Is it a case of people bringing clients together or clients...

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 16:16:00 -0800

Is it a case of people bringing clients together or clients bringing people together? We don’t know. All we know is, the fashionable Monica Tran from Google is sporting some Nike Snowboarding gear in our office today. We back your decision, Monica. Now go join Toby on the slopes.

matthewbrush: NO SLEDDING ALLOWED A stylish Toby Grubb...

Tue, 28 Feb 2012 14:23:24 -0800

matthewbrush:

NO SLEDDING ALLOWED

A stylish Toby Grubb signature Method at the end of our powder day during our Manuary Mt. Baker Trip. Shot this on Tri-x 400 pushed to 800.

TEEPEE SESSION - THE ECOLOGY In July 2011, we started asking...

Tue, 28 Feb 2012 09:46:00 -0800

TEEPEE SESSION - THE ECOLOGY

In July 2011, we started asking bands to come play in our office. The first band set up in front of one of our teepees, so eventually we started calling these performances “Teepee Sessions”. Today, we are releasing our first session, which comes from Portland folk act The Ecology. Watch a short clip above, and then download their set from Soundcloud if you like.

-ZB

We created this new identity, as part of a system for Google...

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 15:06:00 -0800

We created this new identity, as part of a system for Google Developers. We’ll post more about the process on our work page, but for now, here is Google’s official blog post announcing it today.

-ZB

Today, we’re thinking about you, Presidents. Pictured:...

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 11:40:00 -0800

Today, we’re thinking about you, Presidents.

Pictured: Phong Ho (President of Technical Direction)

Our ECD, JD Hooge, presented one week ago at CreativeMornings....

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 14:05:00 -0800

Our ECD, JD Hooge, presented one week ago at CreativeMornings. This is a video of his entire talk shot by Paul Searle. Thanks Paul and CreativeMornings for getting this up so fast!

-ZB

What started as a simple holiday gift, ended up pulling together...

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 10:31:00 -0800

What started as a simple holiday gift, ended up pulling together all aspects of our creative process. The result was a box full of goodies that we proudly, and literally, applied our stamp of approval to. The box contains:

T-shirt printed in partnership with OBEY Clothing
Coasters illustrated by our friends Jolby, Nando Costa, Will Bryant and Adam Garcia and printed at Studio Olivine by Julie Everhart
Northerly-edition Field Notes by proxy from our buddy Aaron Draplin
A personalized card

This video serves as a snapshot of the gift’s creation. It was filmed by Instrument with music by The License Lab. We hope you enjoy it.

We’ll be posting another short video up tomorrow. This...

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 14:15:00 -0800

We’ll be posting another short video up tomorrow. This time it’s about our holiday gift package and the three secret words we utter whenever we’re about to post some new work. You will want to know these words!

The video also features the wonderfully talented (not to mention extremely good looking) Adam, Will, Jolby, Nando, Julie and some of our own crew. (Insert magic words here.)

-ZB