Artisan Minds – Brand and Communication Design

Artisan Minds is a Santa Fe-based brand and communication design agency with a passion for creating and cultivating brands. Our goal is to help clients build meaningful and lasting relationships with positive outcomes. We bring world-class expertise, creativity and management to every project, adapting our team to suit each client’s unique requirements. Grounded in research and pursued with imagination, Artisan Minds delivers results through a process that’s designed to be fun and productive. We pride ourselves on completing projects on schedule and within budget.

OUR PROCESS

At Artisan Minds, we cull the deep DNA of a brand by aligning the greatest minds and influencers in the room. We believe to understand the core aspects of a brand, is to embody it and to live its values every day. We provide rich insight and a process to capture a brand’s voice, look and feel and personality, while staying true to its vision. Whether starting with a clean slate or with a well-recognized brand, we expertly create creative, emotional and timeless campaigns to create a unique narrative and proposition that crystallizes a brand’s best assets. We only work with people that have an inspirational vision and a passion for life. We want to inspire others through our love of creativity and brave spirit to bring their ideas to life. By embodying our own brand, we believe we are truly living our truth and therefore, an inspired life for us and our families. Anything is possible.

Brand Strategy01

Strategy is the most crucial first step in the narrative and creative development process. A clearly defined strategy serves as a North Star, a point of reference, a brand blueprint. We work closely alongside our clients to gain the necessary insights that underpin a strategic framework. Through in-depth conversations, brand experience and ideation workshops and other information-gathering exercises we encapsulate and define their brand DNA and define their unique position in the world.

Discovery Session
Perception Research
Brand Strategy Audit
Brand Experience Workshops
Brand Strategy Platforms
Marketing Strategy & Planning
Campaign Strategy
Content Strategy
Messaging Workshops
Naming Systems

Brand Identity & Narrative02

Whether we’re crafting a new identity, or evolving an existing one, our approach to brand identity development is guided by the same analytical process and principles. It’s essential that the client, designer and writer, work hand-in-hand to develop an identity that encapsulates our client’s brand personality, differentiates them from their competition, and tells an emotionally compelling story visually and through the written word that makes a lasting impression on their audience.

Brand Identity Development
Stationary System
Brand Identity Guidelines
Brand Book
Communication Guides
Message Matrix

Brand Experience03

We combine strong visuals, powerful storytelling and best-in-class production to create engaging and memorable brand experiences. Whether we’re repositioning a local or global company, creating a narrative, designing retail packaging or crafting copy for a print campaign, we extend the same set of visual and tonal principles to ensure a cohesive and consistent brand experience. This is where it all comes together.

Website Discovery Session
Website Design & Development
Graphic Design
Print & Digital Design
Campaign Design
Labeling & Packaging
Data Visualizations (Infographics)
Art & Creative Direction
Interior Design

About

Nicole Rassmuson

Founding Partner

Nicole Rassmuson

Founding partner, Branding & Design Consultant

Nicole is an internationally known designer and art director with significant experience in London, New York, Hong Kong, Stockholm and Santa Fe. Nicole is well-known for breakthrough work created for national and international clients including: the Victoria and Albert Museum, Stockholm University, Henry and Camille Dreyfus Foundation and the Rockwell Group. Though her primary discipline is visual communications, Nicole is a strategic thinker specializing in branding that combines the design creativity with entrepreneurial best practice for the past 25 years. Rassmuson creates corporate identities, marketing and sales materials and advertising programs for a range of commercial and non-profit organizations where she has managed multi-disciplinary marketing teams. In the last eleven years in Santa Fe, she has worked with Mix Santa Fe, The City of Santa Fe Arts Commission, Current Media Festival and New Mexico Tourism to institutions like Santa Fe Site Santa Fe, Performance Santa Fe, Georgia O'Keeffe Museum and IAIA.

Collaborators

We are a diverse group of curious, engaged, and experienced professionals.

Scott Blue

Writer

Built on more than 25 years of experience at the intersection brand marketing and advertising, Scott’s career has been spent with three ad and marketing agencies across five cities – Minneapolis, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and, now, Santa Fe. He is focused on brand strategy, content strategy and the implementation of both through powerful campaigns across mediums. His literary and storytelling expertise have catapulted game-changing organizations such as American Express, Deloitte., Priceline, Sanyo, NBC and TIME to the forefront of the markets they serve. In the non-profit arena he has collaborated with the likes of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, The Orange County Philharmonic Society, and New Classrooms. Along the way, he has freelanced in video production at ABC Sports, TBS and CNN.

Dawn Manges

Graphic Designer

Dawn is a visual storyteller and design is her language. Whether designing print, digital, brand identity, exhibits or branded environments, she expresses your story through curiosity, strategy and meaningful creative solutions to inspire and connect your audience. Manges is an award winning designer who has integrated her background in architecture with graphic design, approaching each project phase with attention to detail and a fresh, modern perspective. Her work includes AT&T, British Airways, Smithsonian Institution, Nature Research Center, Rockefeller Foundation and numerous businesses from the public and private sectors. Dawn resides in beautiful Colorado where she enjoys spending time outdoors and exploring the mountains with friends and family.

Benjamin Rawn

Programer

Benjamin Rawn is a freelance software developer based in Berlin and Santa Fe. He works internationally with digital agencies and Internet firms to create interactive platforms driven by robust backend systems. With a broad range of full-stack development experience, Benjamin has consulted on major online projects for Fortune 500 companies over the last decade.

Kristin Bortles

Artist

Kristin Bortles is a fine artist by training and practice, and has explored furniture design, pattern making, mural painting and illustration to name a few of her accomplishments in the visual realm. Some of her latest projects include development of several hand-painted upholstery fabric designs, a variety of product display for retail stores using materials such as 3Form patented acrylic, wood, marble and steel, and sculptures made of dyed duck eggs and dried carved lemon peels. To every project Bortles brings her unique sensibilities and vision to distinguish all she does from the average experience.