The Chopping Block
Orange-powered and Web-fueled: Firm continues to thrive with keen sense of humor and extreme talent for graphic design and technology
Top Row (from left): Vanessa Perry, Thiago de Mello Bueno, Jason Hilyer, Tom Romer, Matthew Richmond
Middle Row (from left): Daniel Schutzsmith, Will Hall, Geoff Stearns, Charles Michelet
Bottom Row (from left): Marshall Jones, Katy Portier
Missing from Picture: Rachel Bell, Chandler McWilliams
What do a love for wood grain, doing the unexpected, and the color orange have in common? They were the similar sensibilities of four Cooper Union graphic design graduates — Tom Romer, Mike Essl, Matthew Richmond, and Rob Reed — who founded design firm The Chopping Block in 1996 with the motto "World Domination Through Graphic Design."
The Block's early identity, print, and Web work showcased the founders' gravitation toward the unexpected. "You design Web sites and interfaces that don't look like Web sites and interfaces," a client told them in their early days. Their work got noticed, and the partners knew they were onto something.
Blending design and technology talent
Today, The Chopping Block is more successful than ever, still designing unusual Web sites for bands like Phish, Dave Matthews Band, and They Might Be Giants and completing cutting-edge interface design and programming such as creating a new online player for XM Satellite Radio. The firm — comprised of 11 exceptionally talented designers, production, artists, and development staff headed by Richmond and Romer — is also pioneering retail and corporate brands and interactive content that involves increased interactivity and user participation.
"We knew years ago that the user experience is a huge part of our work. A high level of interactivity has always set our designs apart from those built by others in the industry," says Richmond, partner and creative director for the firm.
Trey Anastasio
Simply go to Snapple.com for a compelling example. There, consumers can "Return the Favor" as part of an integrated advertising campaign developed by Cliff Freeman & Partners with the Web site produced by The Chopping Block. Snapple fans can log on to Snapple.com, write and submit something nice about Snapple and invite their friends to visit the site. Snapple will then "Return the Favor" and contact the friends by email, prompting them to say something nice about the original submitter. The compliments are then posted on Snapple.com.
Snapple
Serious branding with a sense of humor
The Block continues to create smaller, inventive websites, but now more than ever, the firm is helping to shape brands and create corporate sites that are interactive, large, and experience- and standards-based. "Branding and corporate sites are a huge growth area for us, and we have been able to successfully bring online established print-only brands like Hearst Magazines' properties such as iVillage and CosmoGIRL," says Richmond.
Still, the firm has never lost its sense of humor. Nor has it changed the tools it uses on a daily basis. Since its founding, The Chopping Block's core design tool has been Adobe Illustrator software. And today, The Chopping Block uses Adobe Creative Suite 2, including Illustrator CS2 software, GoLive CS2, and Photoshop CS2 software.
"Adobe continues to improve integration across Adobe Creative Suite components, enabling incremental productivity increases that add up to a huge impact on our work," says Richmond. "Also, Live Paint and Live Trace in Illustrator CS2 make it so much easier to sketch out ideas and bring them into the final project in a fraction of the time."
“Also, Live Paint and Live Trace in Illustrator CS2 make it so much easier to sketch out ideas and bring them into the final project at a fraction of the time.”
The Chopping Block partner and creative director
In addition to its history of developing rich interactive Flash based projects and applications online, The Chopping Block is also excited about scalable vector graphics (SVG) and support for SVG and SVG-t (tiny) in Illustrator CS2 and GoLive CS2. SVG, a language for describing two-dimensional graphics and graphical applications in XML, allows developers and designers like The Chopping Block to create content simultaneously for both the Web and for platforms like mobile phones.
"There's something interesting about all-2D artwork in SVG for a Web site or mobile phone. SVG graphics have a different, exciting look, and it's a snap to create artwork and animations once for multiple platforms," says Richmond. "SVG also increases the ability for scripting, programming, and even cooler stuff."
Take CosmoGIRL.com, for example, where The Chopping Block's innovative approach lets you surf the traditional CosmoGIRL! Web site or hit CosmoGIRL.com on a mobile, Internet-ready phone to receive quizzes, horoscopes, beauty tips, and more.
CosmoGIRL
The intersection of exceptional design and the latest technology is always where you'll find The Chopping Block. So stay tuned. There's more from The Chopping Block that's innovative, humorous, and unexpected coming to a computer, cell phone, or other device near you.
