posted by Jessica on March 27th, 2012  |  We went to TEDxWaterloo – Part 2

If you weren’t able to attend or watch the TEDxWaterloo event on Wednesday, March 21, 2012, we have written a blog about the highlights that we took away from this inspiring event. This is Part 2 of the blog; Part 1, is available on the blogs page of our website.

We were introduced to Jean Beliveau, who is known as the walker. This Montreal Native walked around the world for peace, a journey that took eleven years, 64 countries, 75 500 km and 65 pairs of shoes. He met people from all walks of life and was especially touched by a man of little means in South America who said, “I met people so poor that all they have is money.”

Next, we learned of a new development in technology. Aeryon Labs demonstrated The Scout, a remote controlled helicopter with an overhead camera.

Everyone enjoyed the Musical interlude with Roberta Hunt, performing her own melodies reminiscent of New Orleans.

Taylor Jones’ presentation touched all of us. His creation Dear Photograph has become an international success, all in the past nine months. The concept of the website, book and now television show is that people place an old photograph that has meaning to them in the modern setting where the photograph was originally taken. He explained that Dear Photograph has ‘become a platform for people t breath new life into older memories.’ Sharing what he believes to be the reason for the explosion of his concept, Taylor concluded: “I think that emotion is what brings us all together.”

Sarah Williams, an urban planner, shared how people use social media to express emotional connections that they feel with their local places and destinations. Through analysis of results from FourSquare and Facebook, you can build an emotional map pf your urban environment.

Co-host Matt Gorbet shared the concept of TEDx in a Box, a portable way to allow developing communities to hold their own local presentations. TEDxWaterloo is the first TEDx event to get behind the project and donate a box.

Eli Pariser unveiled how internet-algorithms are acting like gatekeepers. There is no standard Google anymore; everyone gets their own tailored results, depending on what they have searched in the past and dozens of factors. “This moves us very quickly to a world where the Internet shows us what it thinks we need to see but not what we need to see.” He advocates a more open Internet.

Peter Katz closed the second part of the event with his remarkable music performance. He shared the story of an inspiration of his, Oliver Schroer, one of the world’s best violin players, Oliver died of leukemia in 2008, but he by the news of his untreatable cancer; Peter revealed, when the doctor told Oliver the news, he was overwhelmed with a feeling of peace. “He was already doing what he wanted to do with his life. All he had to do was keep doing it.”

Category: Communication Design, Community Design | Comments Off on We went to TEDxWaterloo – Part 2

posted by Jessica on March 20th, 2012  |  The Story of Machteld Faas Xander

Once upon a time (1983), we established a Kitchener based communications agency. There have been a lot of changes since then so, last year, in conjunction with our move to the Tannery in Kitchener, we decided to re-brand our business and call ourselves Machteld Faas and Xander.

Since you¹ve read this far, you are probably wondering who are these people with the strange names?

First of all, you need to know that it’s made up—we wanted to maintain the equity we had in the name MFX and then got a bit creative. Second, the name was created to embody the values of our owners and founders, John and Rebecca Short. As the company grows, we wanted a way to communicate to staff and customers the core values that drive our success as a creativity firm.

Why Machteld, Faas and Xander?
These aren’t names you usually hear on the street in North America. Often in naming a company, an invented name is easier to trademark and create meaning around since it has no other connotations. Picking typical English names borrows feelings and emotions that others might have about them. Machteld, Faas and Xander are distinct and rare, which allow us to embody the values and stories that are important to us.

Machteld
Based on the Creator archetype, Machteld encourages our creative expression, not just among our typical ‘creative’ team, but also throughout the organization. As a core, driving organizational value, Creator encourages us to remember that everyone is creative and that it is our job to help enable creativity through design. Machteld Faas Xander values imagination, beauty and designs that are both aesthetic and functional. As a core driving value, staff is encouraged to remember Machteld’s guidance and look for ways to embody creativity in every facet of the company.

Faas
Based on the Explorer archetype, Faas encourages our self-guided learning culture. Fiercely independent, Faas inspires a flexible, self-starter working environment. As a core, driving organizational value, Explorer encourages us to experience a better, more authentic work life. Machteld Faas Xander values self-guided learning and provide tools to support individual employees’ journey through their careers. Faas guides the learning and professional development side of our company.

Xander
Based on the Magician archetype, Xander inspires the way we get things done. Design is a visual-language based discipline and so it’s appropriate that Xander helps us remember that the best way to inspire people is by showing them. MFXers value the social aspect our work and are good at driving consensus through participation, ultimately achieving goals for clients. We believe that when we come together in a fun, positive, open environment‹people can accomplish anything.

Category: About Us, Communication Design, Community Design | Comments Off on The Story of Machteld Faas Xander

posted by Jessica on March 13th, 2012  |  Local Agency’s Space Gets National Recognition.

Greetings. Here at Machteld Faas Xander we were thrilled to learn that Colliers International has nominated our workspace in a Canada wide search for the ‘Great Companies Need Great Spaces’ contest.

The contest aims to recognize companies investing in spaces that aspire to be more than just places to work but places to innovate, collaborate, give back and have fun.

For those of you that have not heard of our new home, we moved last year into the Tannery, an 800,000 sq. ft. re-purposed manufacturing facility that is also home to, among others, Google, Desire2Learn and Digital Media Hub.

“We were completely surprised and thrilled to be nominated,” exclaimed MFX President John Short. “The goal of our 5,000 sq. ft. build-out was to create an inviting, flexible work space that celebrated the Tannery’s history with a complementary, modern office design. The layout and flow works to facilitate the innovative way our staff and clients collaborate together. The budget wasn’t huge, we had no award aspirations.”

Finalists from across Canada, including MFX, were announced at the annual Colliers National Office Leasing Conference attended by office leasing specialists and managers from across the country. The 2-day conference was held in late November at the One King West Hotel in downtown Toronto. Top prize in the contest went to the Vancouver Law firm Fraser Millner Casgrain.

Category: Communication Design, Community Design | Comments Off on Local Agency’s Space Gets National Recognition.

posted by Jessica on March 13th, 2012  |  IST Gala

The fifth annual ‘Plant of the Year’ award ceremony and Gala was a fantástico success.

Due to the sensation of last year’s gala, the pressure was high to design an engaging and memorable night. The event has become a highlight celebration, with all the major players of the industry and more attendees with every year.

The occasion is the continent’s premiere conference and show for the industry. The Innovative Steam Technologies (IST) held the award and reception at PowerGen in Las Vegas.

Machteld Faas Xander had the privilege of designing and assembling the direct mail gala invites. Wanting to raise anticipation for the night, we integrated the traditional Spanish theme through use of bold colours and rich textures. Photographs and images of traditional symbols of Spain completed the mood of the invitations.

With Spanish flare, the 2011 Plant of the Year Award achieved the best-ever response and participation rate at the gala.

OLÉ!

Category: Communication Design, Community Design | Comments Off on IST Gala

posted by Jessica on March 12th, 2012  |  Gobbler’s Revenge

Ahoy! February 16 was the date pf Hybrid’s annual hospitality suite for the National Turkey Federation. The theme was Ye Gobbler’s Revenge, a traditional pirate mood to celebrate the tradeshow being hosted in the National Football League’s Tampa Bay Buccaneer’s hometown.

Hybrid, a Hendrix Genetics Company, is the world’s largest primary breeder of turkeys. They are international in over 50 countries but the have been operating out of their Waterloo Region head office in Kitchener since 1953.

Year after year, excitement for the Hybrid reception rises due to its 15 years of brilliant receptions and stellar reputation. It is the most anticipated meet and greet, with their delicious buffet and visitor gifts. The reception is especially known for the high quality food. This year, every guest was presented with a keep-sake knife as a souvenir for attending.

Machteld Faas Xander was brought on board to bring the theme alive. The provocative invitations and unique event visual identity played a large role in the evening’s success. The turkey mascot, Gobbler, was used to advertise the event, using the old wooden-boat textures contrasted with the colourful illustrations of Gobbler. Coasters have been a continual hit at the annual show so they designed a duo-sided coaster that was placed around the tradeshow and hotel bars to build excitement for the suite.

The hours of hard work paid off with the results of the night. Both attendees and planners were pleased with this year’s hospitality suite. Visitors are already looking-forward to what Hybrid will plan for next year’s event.

Yo-Ho-Ho!

Category: Communication Design, Community Design | Comments Off on Gobbler’s Revenge

posted by admin on July 21st, 2011  |  MFX Captures Brand Ethos in Custom Tradeshow Booth Design

Machteld Faas Xander client, IST (Innovative Steam Technologies an Aecon Company) was in need of a custom tradeshow booth that they planned to unveil at PowerGen Europe, an electricity and power technology sector event held this past June at Fiera Milano City Convention Complex, in Milan, Italy (this event alternates between Milan, Italy, Cologne and Germany annually).

MFX worked closely with business partner and tradeshow logistics and custom exhibit design company, Moose Exhibits to create concepts for a clean, modern tradeshow booth using IST’s trademark orange, white and blue colour scheme that would welcome customers to explore IST’s product capabilities.

Collaboratively, MFX and Moose created a beautifully airy, bright and friendly atmosphere for IST representatives to flow through and engage potential customers. The final design featured four major sections:

Section 1: A comfy ‘sit down and chat’ area with a social, barista feel where IST reps could engage attendees in casual one-on-one discussion or take a seat on the modern couches for personal presentations on the iPad slide decks.

Section 2: The booth’s core, consisting of a casual information area centered around a counter of marketing materials. The core area also featured an 40×45-inch touch screen, where IST reps could call up informational and visual references, technology details, cost saving-charts, etc. as needed.

Section 3: Four freestanding plex stands, showcasing specific products from the IST line on one side and supportive customer testimonials on the opposite side.

Section 4: The groundbreaking aspect, a box tower akin to a freestanding column of stacked building blocks, featuring bright IST installations on one side and relevant testimonial quotes and images directly opposite.

MFX and Moose purposefully created an open, continuous flow between the three dynamic booth areas so that the deeper into the booth they ventured; the deeper into the IST brand was experienced. And this way, conference attendees could see and experience all three elements from any angle as they approached the booth.

The result, was a booth that not only attracted new and potential customers on the show floor, but also provided a solid representation of the (IST brand and it’s ethos of innovative technology and products that are helping drive the boiler industry forward.

Category: Communication Design | Comments Off on MFX Captures Brand Ethos in Custom Tradeshow Booth Design

posted by admin on June 3rd, 2011  |  Was the Machteld Faas Xander Rebrand Successful?

In March, MFX Partners formally underwent a brand identity change, becoming Machteld Faas Xander.

The response from many of you was intrigue, delight and astonishment. While others stared at us bewildered and asked, “How the heck do you pronounce that?”, which we promptly handled with a handy pronunciation key.

You might think that because we’re a creativity firm that’s helped rebrand numerous companies and their products, rebranding ourselves would have been easy. And even though we have a creative process for this type of thing, it took a lot of brainstorming, head scratching and late nights to find a brand identity that meant more than just a name on our office door.

But the larger question remains, were we successful?

You already know that we made the name Machteld Faas Xander up, but we didn’t just pull it out of a hat. Our 12 month rebranding process went something like this:

1. Firstly, we wanted to maintain the equity we had in the name MFX for the past 10 years. From a customer relations, marketing, SEO point of view, etc, this is priceless.

2. Secondly, we also wanted names you wouldn’t normally hear on the street and associate with feelings and emotions, as with common names like “Mike” or “Jen”. Because we’re different; we deserved different (this is where we got really creative) we used very distinct names that allow us to assign whatever values and stories we want.

3. Lastly, our new identity had to embody the “passionate creative people” that are part of our world; the values of our owners and founders, John and Rebecca Short; and, by god, it had to make a lasting impression. And yes, we still have people looking at us in slight disbelief when we tell them where we work, but there is no finer way to spark up a conversation.

In the end, we can stand confidently beside Machteld Faas and Xander as archetypes that embody our values as a company. And as we grow, archetypes are the best way to communicate these values clearly to staff and customers. MFX exemplifies Machteld, the Creator archetype who encourages creative expression from everyone, throughout the organization; Faas, our Explorer archetype, infuses his fierce independence and drive for learning and working into our culture; and finally, from Xander, the Magician archetype, we’re ever-reminded that the best way to inspire people is by showing them.

In the end, we’ve come full circle. We used our own process to develop a brand that not only helps us think better, but also shows us that when we come together in a fun, positive, open environment—we can accomplish anything—and that is the type of success we can be proud of.

Category: Communication Design | Comments Off on Was the Machteld Faas Xander Rebrand Successful?

« Newer Posts