Maybe it was that last post about fast food, but SwimTeam’r Mike is inspired and going strong.

Although today is typically reserved for chocolates and truffles, Mike’s thinking skinny. He says, “New Year’s resolutions and all, this is one of my favorite sites for finding delicious recipes that are good for you.”

He’s talking about Skinnytaste.com, a resource that gives you healthy alternatives to the foods you love.

Recently, Mike streamed a movie on Netflix called, “Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead.” It inspired him to get back to the gym a few days a week – and given all the buzz lately that sitting is the new smoking, it’s a good time for all of us to dig back into that resolve to get moving & eat right.

Thanks for the inspiration!

Here’s a photo essay that got us giggling. It’s a good reminder to promote your clients hard, but stay within the confines of reality.

We asked our writer Lee Ziegler what he found inspiring…and it turns out it has nothing to do with words.

“This little video on the Chipotle website shares the entire company philosophy without any words, and as a writer, that impresses the heck out of me,” says Lee. “It’s gorgeous and haunting and, above all, simple.”

And it goes without saying that all of us at SwimCreative are inspired by burritos.

SwimTeam’r Ben is inspired by the public company Tom’s Shoes – a for-profit business with a non-profit heart. As Ben puts it, “They’re a company that sells relatively simple shoes under the premise that for every pair someone buys, they donate a pair of shoes to people in developing countries who don’t have any. The idea is simple. What really inspires me though is that they are not just a for-profit business, but a for-profit business that truly adds value to the world and makes an impact.”

From a marketing standpoint it’s interesting to see how they’re very out front with their mission. It’s clear they’re not a for-profit company who also does this good thing, but the mission and the business are integral to each other.

We’re always looking for resources to help make our designs stand out. SwimTeam’r Beau likes the website losttype, a “pay-what-you-want” source for high quality fonts. He says some of them are just “retro awesome” and sometimes a project will demand nothing less.

The book Zag is about making your business noticeably different than your competition.If you’re interested in getting your company to think with more innovation, read The Designful Company. And lastly, The Brand Gap addresses the gap between a businesses strategy and the design process.

No time to pick up a book? Neumeier’s video The Innovation Toolkit combines all three concepts in a short movie format.

We also jump in the lake sometimes, but that’s a different post.

Guardian Pest Solutions wanted to position itself as the solution, so Swim put its spin on a direct-mail campaign. Targeted Hotel Managers received 23 postcards between a Monday and Friday. Each day the number of postcards increased — kind of like an unchecked pest problem.

Over a four-week span, a total of 100 hotel properties were targeted with 13 hotels per week asking for proposals. That’s a 52% success rate…and hopefully, a few hundred thousand less bed bugs in the world.

Photography by Laramie Carlson.
Illustration Design by Cody Paulson.
Paint Stenciling by Let The Whole World Know