Retail
The Creatives: Mike Calkins
By John Levesque July 17, 2015
This article originally appeared in the August 2015 issue of Seattle magazine.
Mike Calkins
Principal and creative director, Mint Design
Lower Queen Anne; mint-usa.com
FOCUS: Branding is our focus. Clients range from local startups and institutions (Hilliards, Starbucks) to national corporations like Target, The Honest Company and Coca-Cola.
MOST CHALLENGING ASSIGNMENT: Probably the brand development of a premium coffee for Coca-Cola (Far Coast) that included everything from the logo and packaging to the design and illustrations for 20 different coffees and teas along with signage and environmental graphics. Everything was created in a challenging timeline under six months.
I WISH I CAME UP WITH: A respected and enduring font. The labor and sustained focus required on something so nuanced is mind boggling.
I ADMIRE: Carl Sagan. His lifelong crusade for rational thought was always persuasive, thanks to his extraordinarily outsize combination of intellect and humility.
OUTSIDE MY WINDOW I SEE: The P-I globe!
HOW I WOULD BRAND SEATTLE: Very carefully. This ones a hot potato. Cynicism around marketing is at an all-time high and selling a community on who they are visually is a tall order. I can think of only one successful example, Milton Glasers I [Heart] NY. How that would go over today is anyones guess.