MANVIL

Since the mid 80′s MANVIL has had a place in its heart for a small, now defunct Swedish auto manufacturer.

Maybe the love is brought on because it was a smaller, quirky European brand with odd designs and a utilitarian nature. Perhaps the love was exacerbated due to the overbuilt, somewhat simple design that featured safety over cosmetics, and driver comfort over several aspects of style. Maybe it was the city-proof bumpers, the oddly mounted motors and transmissions, or maybe it was the place they stuck the ignition keys. Whatever it was we still love mid-80′s early 90′s Saabs.

So when one of our clients mentioned the fact that they were going to attend Sweden’s Midnight Sun Rally, we were pretty jazzed.

When we learned that one of our client’s sponsor companies was named S2AB (spell it out people) we thought that would be a great graphic and we set to work on it.

Now the Swedish auto manufacturer WE love may not run with the “masculine” symbol, but we think the MANVIL S2AB logo works pretty well displaying the love we have for Saab. We also think it works pretty well in general, with a heart that is not overbearing, but clearly visible, and in just the right font.

Clean lines, the right color and a nice solid, pronounced font. We thought that would work for any company, and we still do.

Subsequently we learned that the folks at S2AB have their own logo. We humbly ask them to reconsider it. They design and produce innovative, world leading automotive projects, we at MANVIL wish they would look the part. (But we’re biased)

Good luck Travis!

Here at MANVIL, we’ve had the great opportunity to work some pretty hands-on jobs. Anybody who’s seen prior work will see that Pete Wilson Stoneworks has been a major player in MANVIL’s work. We love working with Pete and his crew, and we like the feeling of a hard day of work making the city of Portland a better looking place.

So it comes as little surprise that when our client Link-Wall came a calling, we were excited to help. Simple enough in concept, yet thoroughly researched and supported by actual engineering math, the Link-Wall product is getting the ball rolling for some handsome, stout, structurally sound soil retention.

As graphics go, the product speaks for itself: thick, simple and effective. Our hat goes off to the designer and fabricator, a good friend and supporter of Soapbox. How could we not accept the challenge?!

Our hat is off to the Link-Wall project! Efficient, adaptable and good looking is not and easy product to put forth unless it has been thought out thoroughly. Cheers guys!

For years now MANVIL has had questions as to whether we’d want to expand to a clothing line. We love product development, but due to a history of work in the construction trades, we have a heavy preference towards the durable, the over-sized, and the cotton or wool. (The waxed cotton in foul weather)

We’re not a huge fan of synthetic clothing. Not that there’s anything wrong with it, but we’d never be able to look all modern and fashionable like in the Nike or adidas high fashion realm. Although we do have affiliates who’d sport that stuff with applomb, the hollow strands that make up poly-propy-whatever dont work for MANVIL’s core office.  Let’s just say that the strands retain our personal traits so well that we prefer cotton or wool due to their ability to become odor free. (Plug nose here)

So what does MANVIL do at this point when the fabric we love doesn’t come cheap? We keep on trying to figure out ways to make it work for us, and in the meantime, we introduce this, the MANVIL Apparel logo v.1.5.

Soapbox extravaganza!

MANVIL has enjoyed being a part of Portland Adult Soapbox for almost 9 years now. Nine years? Oof Dah!

Oh, it started out innocently. A lunatic red-head at the bar stated she needed somebody to push her car. No big deal, right? So we stepped right in to help. Well the day was a blast, the ginger raced like the loon she is, as did her partner, and although she didn’t win, the fun and camaraderie (there honey, it’s finally spelled right) stuck in our heads. About a thousand fun-loving souls, all relatively well medicated, having a giant party in a public park with the paid-for consent of the city of Portland. (Our fair city!)

So, many years later, when the Derby Grand Jefe, Captain Chaos asked MANVIL for some help with the graphics on a fairly tight deadline, we were more than happy to oblige. We fulfilled all design needs for the event with pride of ownership.

Then a potential client asked about any recent integrated marketing campaigns we’d finished lately. Big words! Fancy words, which to us meant, “what did you do to promote something”. So we roughed something up for them… and realized, hey, we were on task with this whole thing. There is ‘cohesion in the design elements’ (read; a common theme) and the damned things kinda look good. They looked great post-production thanks to the professional efforts of Tom at Northwest Imprints and Sher-Lynn at the IMI Group. (Tees and posters) Our rapidly produced advertisement was displayed in the Portland Mercury and the Soapbox website turned out to be well received as well.

So here is a pile of the images, in a rather hastily built display. (sometimes it’s better to get the images displayed hastily, than to never display them at all)