Inspired, disciplined creativity

/ As seasoned designers based in the San Francisco Bay Area, Jeanette Karthaus and Michael Collins work together to create simple, evocative brand identities for established and emerging brands on a national and global scale.

karthaus collins brand identity designers

Jeanette Karthaus

Jeanette is a highly skilled designer and former brand agency account manager, whose talent and sensibilities translate beautifully on every component of a brand identity program. Her background on both the client and consultant side is invaluable to companies undertaking brand change, and her day-to-day management skills are a tremendous asset. As an independent consultant she worked for the brand firms TrueBrand and MetaDesign. In her roles as senior designer she worked for Chronicle Books, as well as for the University of Phoenix on a fully integrated, multi-faceted brand identity program that won a Re-brand Award of Distinction.

Jeanette holds a BFA in Graphic Design from the Academy of Art, San Francisco.

Michael Collins

Michael has a thorough knowledge of the creative process and integrated brand identity programs including complex, multi-faced design systems and a love of logo design as evidenced by the many identities he has created for corporations and institutions. As a lead designer and project manager, he worked at the brand firms Landor Associates (San Francisco and London), Luxon Carrà and TrueBrand, and as an independent creative consultant on significant brand identity programs on a national and global scale.

Michael holds a BFA with Honors from the Art Center College of Design.

Commitment

/ Our client experience and creative work represents a wide, diverse range of enterprise products, services and activities. With each engagement we immerse ourselves deeply into our client’s unique inner culture, their audience and their message. We don’t necessarily specialize in any one industry — we do strive to create fresh solutions that stand apart in our client’s field of business. But what all our clients share is a passionate brand vision and a personal commitment to ‘get it right’.

Our clients

Corporate + Institutional visionaries
Marketing directors

Branding identity scenarios we address

New ground-up
Rebrand
Refresh
Extension

Our strategic partners

Brand strategists
Brand + naming agencies
Internal + agency creative directors
PR agencies

Our core offerings

Brand visual audit + recommendations
Logo design + refresh
Brand architecture + co-branding
Brand look + feel and integrated design systems
Brand look + feel refresh
Brand rollout materials
Targeted communications
Brand guidelines + training
Event branding

Our combined experience includes:

B2B

Ampere Computing
EPIC Insurance Brokers
Fulagai Investment Bank
Asset Management Ventures
Chromalloy
Landmark Aviation
Coherent, Inc.
Standard Aero
TW Telecom
Dell
CoreSite
Linkbit
Nexcelle
Hamilton-Hunter Business Park
Technicolor

B2C

LG
Tesoro Retail Petroleum
Shell
Chefsbest.org
NWA Northwest Airlines
US Airways
Bridgestone
Farmland Foods
Natural Wonders
Fresh Pride
Cnet

Education/Healthcare/
Foundation

Education/
Healthcare/
Foundation

UCSF University of California San Francisco
Lucile Packard Foundation for Childrenʼs Health Stanford
Stanford University
University of Phoenix
Make-A-Wish Foundation
Golden State Warriors Community Foundation
Life Technologies
Vortran Medical Technology
Senn Delaney
Cigna

Public Facing

FAA–Federal Aviation Administration
1996 Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games
Expo ʼ92, Seville Spain

Praise from our clients and partners: