Phoenix Design Week - Happening NOW!

This week, central Phoenix is the place to be for all things design. FORWARD , by Phoenix Design Week, is happening throughout central Phoenix, primarily at the Phoenix Convention Center. The event started yesterday, with exhibits opening at Air, CO+HOOTS, and Sitewire, and an evening reception at Sitewire. The Thursday and Friday schedules look quite similar to Wednesday, although Friday night brings the first party at Levine Machine. This kick-off party is all about getting people excited and ready for the weekend! Saturday and Sunday, for those who have registered, are full of conferences about design. Registration is still open - tickets can be reserved for $75/day, or $125 for the full weekend. Lecture topics include "Rewiring the Designer's Mind", "What's New in CS5", and "Using what you know: Transitioning from Print to Web". Whatever your focus is, this event is sure to invigorate your design taste buds and get you thinking! Check out a few sample pictures from exhibits below:

Alphalimn


FORWARD Posters


Creative Roulette


Enjoy! Are you going to Phoenix Design Week? Let us know in the comments!

Out of the Box Marketing

Preparing marketing strategy often comes with the same, cliched advice. "Think outside of the box!" typically leads the conversation in this list. However, a cliche does not necessarily make something wrong. The phrase "think outside the box" alone is actually good advice - if you follow it. The reason phrases like this become cliche is because they get thrown around to people who don't understand. They "think outside the box" by making a billboard with colors they've never seen before, or by making a banner slightly bigger than it was the previous month. However, from a consumer standpoint, these minute changes make absolutely no difference in attention paid. When a brand actually thinks outside the box, they must do something completely innovative. A truly innovative idea will turn heads, and stick in heads - that is the kind of attention we like to grab at Paramount! However, this can be hard to do. For this reason, we've attached some inspiration.



While people often debate the ROI of billboards, we're certain this one provided a return. What a simple, affordable way to turn a billboard from something everyday to something innovative. That is our inspiration for the day, let us know if you have more!

Interactive Walls

This post is a little bit more "techy" than we typically get, but in this day and age, how can you not surrender to technology every once in a while? Though so far, these walls do not have much of place in the advertising arena, they sure do attract attention. While different firms have taken these to different levels, each is just as interesting as the last.

First, check out Perceptive Pixel's Multi-Touch Wall. This thing makes the iPad look like a child's toy, and there is an even bigger attention grabber - this video is from 2007.


Now, that obviously looks cool, but would you like to actually learn something about amazing technology like this? Intel has a much less user friendly, but still very impressive touch-screen wall, and an interview along with it. This one was built using all Intel processors, including the Intel Core i7, Intel Centrino 2, and the Intel Atom.


Last, check out how Touch-It.com uses a touch-screen wall to revolutionize the office.


The question is, where is this all leading us? If some of these walls have been around since 2007, what does that mean for the consumer market? It seems like an interesting cycle. When computers were first invented, they took up an entire room. Now that the power of a computer can fit in your pocket, is it time to revisit the mega-computers of the past and revolutionize technology once again? Do you think this will once again affect how we access information? Let us know your thoughts!

Ever Wonder How a Building Gets Wrapped?

We talk about some pretty high tech stuff every once in awhile, and sometimes forget to stop and explain the process. Although we do our best to give you all the details required to really understand the process, nothing does it better than a video! We were so excited to stumble upon this awesome video that shows a building in the process of being wrapped for Boeing. Although the exact procedure can vary, this is a fun video that does the process justice. Watch it the whole way through, it is amazing to see it all come together!

Boeing 787 Wrap Up - The best bloopers are a click away

University of Arizona Stadium

Ask and you shall receive, more pictures for your viewing desires! We photographed the process of the University of Arizona Stadium project, and thought we'd share a few highlights. Just to give you some info about the actual process, we managed quite a few renovations to the Tucson, Arizona stadium. First, we changed out three of the main scoreboard TriVision panels, each measuring 12'x18' wide. In addition to this, we installed the 18'x24' Backlit panels, an auxiliary TriVision panel, and the McDonalds speaker cover. Talk about a big job! Every project is a learning experience to us though, so we appreciated the full process.

Here are a few pictures to help you visualize!

Creative Design in Practice

At Paramount, we're constantly looking for ways to improve ourselves. If someone else had a great idea, we feel they deserve credit for that idea! The work being done at American Exhibition Services is no exception - they have great ideas, and run with them. One challenge companies often have when it comes to design, especially with large format printing, is creating new places for advertisements. When all of your usual locations are taken (for instance, billboards, benches, etc.), it is time to think a little out-of-the-box. American Exhibition Services does it right - check out how they took an innovative location, and made it grab the attention of any passerby.



And hey, props to them! If that stair graphic didn't grab someone's attention, I don't know what will! Keep up the good work, AES!

Paramount Promotions in the News!

Well, we hate to back out on a promise, and we promised you our Phoenix Business Journal article... and here it is! Published in the Phoenix Business Journal on Friday, September 3, the article highlights a few of the exciting things going on here at Paramount. A transcription of the article follows after the picture!

"Paramount Promotions, a Phoenix design, print, and production company acquired MonsterColor, another local, large-format printer. The purchase is expected to add about $1 million to Paramount's annual revenue and four employees to its staff: two production technicians, a graphic design and print specialist, and a salesperson. Paramount also gained nearly $200,000 in state-of-the-art printing and production equipment. Paramount recently completed the printing and installation of more than 25,000 square feet of banner wraps on the new SeaLife Arizona Aquarium at Arizona Mills in Tempe. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Brad Bergamo is CEO of Paramount Promotions. For more: www.paramountpromotions.com."

Talk about BUZZ! They got the section exactly right, creating buzz is what we're all about!

A Day in the Life of Paramount (Part One!)

We love to tell you about our upcoming and completed projects, new methods of printing, and exciting ideas we've got... but we figured knowing what it is like to be us is just as important! To help you get a better idea of what exactly it is like, we went around the office on an average day and took some photos. These photos are not posed or planned, they're simply what our office looks like day in and day out! We hope that looking through these photos gives you a little more insight into what our goals and ideas really look like.

Hard at Work:

A view of the office in all its glory.

Signage:

Just a few signs we've created to help businesses meet their goals!

Boat Wrap:

This one is still in progress - we'll have it wrapped in no time!

And of course... what we do best:

Attracting attention! Just a small reminder of why we do what we do!