News. What We're Doing

The current pandemic has fostered a lot of cooperation between people and organizations, and we are proud to have been able to help a couple of our clients out.

This week, we launched our latest annual community project - following the great receptions we received for the prayer flags that we sent to an elder center in Nepal last year, and the holiday cards we sent to hospice patients. This year, we have produced stickers on the theme Borders are Imaginary.

Make a difference in the world through design. We are hiring a graphic designer to work on projects for our national and global humanitarian clients, including the United Nations, Parkinson's Foundation, and United Federation of Teachers.

We are extremely proud to announce the launch of the inaugural issue of For magazine. Our independently-published magazine highlights important topics facing humanity, approaching each subject with a positive, optimistic attitude.

We are incredibly excited to announce the latest Project from Ultravirgo - For: Magazine. A year in the making, with contributors spanning the globe, For is our most ambitious project to date. 

An important question for creative people of all ages. It's also the title of my most recent book!

For the past year, we have been working with Better Work - a joint partnership between the UN's International Labour Organization and the International Finance Corporation, a member of the World Bank, that works to improve conditions in garment factories - on a strategic rebrand. 

Yesterday was World Population Day, an annual event to raise awareness of global population issues. This year, UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund chose the day to kick off a yearlong push to improve investment in adolescent girls. Girls around the world face greater challenges than their male counterparts. Yet with the largest percentage of youth in history, we - as a global population - have a great opportunity to improve the future of humanity by improving the fortunes of girls around the world right now.

3D printing - or additive manufacturing, as it's officially called - is still in it's infancy, especially for anything beyond prototyping. But with our launch of Mymo a little over a year ago, we've been considering possible applications to finished products, and have learned a lot along the way. I shared some wisdom in the recently-published book How to Become a 3D Printing Entrepreneur.

A little fun after a busy week: InVision asked me and a group of other great designers and programmers what is in our work bags. 

See the results on their blog.

I recently had the pleasure to sit down with the editors of Cool Hunting to discuss our plans for Mymo, our 3D-printed jewelry line.

Read the article:
Mymo's Reinvented Monograms

It's that time of year again - when the long, lazy days of summer become long, productive days in school or at the office. While it can be a hard transition, it is also one of looking forward to the great achievements to come. In that spirit, we just launched a new video for our friends at Fagen Friedman & Fulfrost, celebrating California schools.

Last night, we had the pleasure of witnessing our good friend and client Bruce Levingston perform at Carnegie Hall. While we have seen Bruce perform in many venues over the years, Carnegie Hall always brings out the best in his programming. 

Last week we attended the Spirit of ABNY Awards presented by the ABNY Foundation, honoring those who have provided a distinguished level of service to New York City. We were honored to provide designs for the invitation and event graphics. While last year honored the tech community of NYC, this year the recipients were chosen for their commitment and generosity to the city in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. Honorees included the Mayor's Fund to Advance New York City, the Empire State Relief Fund, and US Senator Chuck Schumer.

To honor Earth Day this year, our friends and longtime clients Fagen Friedman & Fulfrost decided to do a little more for the environment by planting trees in urban areas across California. To help them commemorate the occasion, we made a short video in honor of California, home to some of the most iconic trees in the country.

As we approach Parkinson's awareness month in April, we are proud to share our latest work for the National Parkinson Foundation. What started as a project to design branded merchandise has become a national campaign involving NPF chapters around the country. The campaign, called Whatever It Takes, is designed to empower individuals and raise awareness of the many things that can be done to combat Parkinson's Disease. While other organizations are working on a cure, the National Parkinson Foundation has a unique mission: to improve the quality of life for the estimated 1 million people with Parkinson's in the US.

Did you know that 43% of the world is under age 25? Almost half! And that number is over 50% in developing countries. This number represents a half of the world that has long clamored to have its voice heard - and has found technology and social media to be the platforms that finally give them the influence they have long demanded. Just look to Egypt and the Arab Spring for potent examples of the power that youth wield today.

Today is Election Day in the States. Go Vote. It should go without saying, but the truth is voter turnout is never what it could be. It's an easy decision - regardless of who you support, just do it. :)

After a week of a powerless office, and much scrambling for continuity on many fronts - with Patrick running things from Brooklyn last week - we are officially back and up and running. And we are quite appreciative for the patience of our clients while we get back up to speed. 

We feel quite fortunate to have weathered the storm without damage, and our hearts go out to all the small businesses and individuals less fortunate. We do have a couple free desks with high-speed internet and power. If any freelance designers or small businesses are without workspace due to the hurricane, drop us a note at creative@ultravirgo.com.

At Ultravirgo, we have long been passionate about using our creative skills to improve health, and many of our favorite projects have been for clients in health-related industries. With this in mind, I headed up to the Healthcare Experience Design Conference in Boston a couple weeks ago to get more perspective on the issues at the intersection of design and healthcare. While most of our work is on the communication side - branding and design, rather than developing the experience itself* - our ever-growing interest in health has us constantly looking for new ways to use design to improve health. 

We are thrilled to be working with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) to help support the recently-launched 7 Billion Actions campaign. With the global population set to hit 7 billion people (!!) late this year, UNFPA is taking the lead by starting a truly collaborative global movement. Partnering with corporations, NGOs, and non-profits around the world, the campaign aims to inspire awareness and action around the issues that impact our global experience - by moving the focus beyond the numbers, to the stories of the 7 billion individuals that share our planet. The entire Ultravirgo team is honored to be part of this historic moment, and look forward to contributing our expertise to the movement.

I had an amazing evening at Carnegie Hall enjoying the music of violinist Colin Jacobsen and pianist Bruce Levingston--founder of Premiere Commission, which we design the marketing materials and CD covers for.

Today we launched eMatters - a new practice group focused on technology issues within the education system - for long-time client Fagen Friedman & Fulfrost (or F3, as they like to be called). We have been working closely with F3 to launch the new brand, starting with creating the name and tagline, and culminating with the video and email announcement. Taking the theme "Navigating the e-education revolution" we animated the video to visually navigate through the key issues that F3 guides their clients through. 

We just launched a new web site for the new Stadium Tennis Center at Mill Pond Park. Working with our long-time clients at Gotham Tennis Academy, this was one of our fastest web sites to date - designed and built in under 3 weeks. But with a large image slideshow header, clearly-organized content, and online registration forms for programs and court reservations, it provides easy access to everything you need to know about the facility. We've also been making some upgrades to the Gotham Tennis Academy web site that we designed as well, so take a look. If you have any interest in tennis, they're the kings in NYC.

Oh, and we have some unused tennis dome graphics from a previous project. Who wants to see a couple of friendly 282' long caterpillars over the East River?