PORTFOLIO
SPOTLIGHT VIDEO
Bridgemakers is a fully youth-led Twin Cities nonprofit dedicated to ensuring all young people can experience and live in purpose, prosperity and power. With the support of one of our foundation clients, we were honored to tell the story of this organization, the youth who founded it, and how they’re transforming youth-serving systems and developing young leaders.
Upper Midwest Industries
Brand Refresh
Situation: Upper Midwest Industries (UMI) is a 60-year-old family-held manufacturing company. Now owned by the third generation of the family, the new owners decided it was time for a refresh of their brand’s positioning to reflect their unique strengths and desired direction for the business.
What we did: The Lilja team met with the new owners to talk about what UMI values, what makes the company unique, and their business goals. We learned they are deeply committed to investing in the future of American manufacturing through their current businesses and growing that in the coming years, and that their talented, long-term employees make all the difference in their quality.
Results: We developed refreshed brand positioning language for UMI, including mission, vision and values language, that communicates this commitment and how they are working to achieve their vision. One element of this is their new positioning statement:
Upper Midwest Industries is building a family of innovative manufacturing companies that continues the legacy of American manufacturing. Through our two primary subsidiaries, Spantek, expanded metal, and Blow Molded Specialties, plastics, we’re doing our part to ensure that American-made, high-quality components are available to a wide range of manufacturing partners in the U.S. and around the world.
We’re in it for the long haul. As a family-owned and operated business, we're committed to making our company, community and country a better place for the next generation.
We also refreshed UMI’s visual brand identity with a new logo that pays homage to the previous logo, with a more sleek presentation and approachable color palette.
These elements all culminated in UMI’s new website.
Tetra Pak U.S. and Canada
Sustainability Report
Supplement
United Properties
History & Brand Wall
In 2017, Lilja Communications worked with United Properties to design graphic panels for a history installation in their new headquarters in downtown Minneapolis. United Properties' 100-year history, current and past projects, and team culture are displayed on individual panels that form a dynamic centerpiece for the new office. Moving forward, the modularity of the design allows changes at any point to stay up-to-date and fresh.
Since 2017 Lilja has been working with Tetra Pak on the U.S. and Canada Supplement to their Global Sustainability Report. Each year Lilja has helped craft content and design the supplement within Tetra Pak's existing style specifications and template to create high quality content that fits with the rest of the Global Sustainability Report.
Catalyst Initiative
Infographic
City of Aspen
Climate Action Plan
Lilja partnered with the City of Aspen's Climate Action Department to design their 2018 Climate Action Plan (CAP). Using custom-made charts, the CAP looks at the community’s progress to date and analysis of business-as-usual future trends against possible greenhouse gas reductions. Unique tables and iconography present a breakdown of the 46 actions the City is encouraged to adopt across six sectors to move the community closer to meeting its short- and long-term goals.
In 2020, the Catalyst Initiative reached out to Lilja to create an eye-catching infographic that effectively told its story. The client wanted a design that reflected its healing work using soft colors and icons with an artistic, engaging aesthetic. It was also important to include a diverse representation of gender, race and age with the icons to accurately reflect the populations Catalyst serves. The final product features hand-drawn icons, which effectively complement the soothing color palette.
BOOKS
Park Dental
Business History Book and Timeline Installation
Lilja worked with Park Dental to write, design and publish the dental group practice’s history. With the theme “Our Patients, Our People, Our Story,” Lilja worked to create a book design that honored the founders’ pioneering vision to create the first dental group practice in Minnesota, as well as the commitment to providing quality, patient-centered care long into the future.
Following the book’s publication, Lilja worked with Park Dental to create a timeline installation for their corporate offices. Using design themes and images from the book, Lilja developed a multi-layered installation that gave observers the experience of reading "Park Dental: Our Patients, Our People, Our Story."
Tom Hubler
Business Book Project
Lilja worked with family business consultant Tom Hubler to turn his vast writings into a practical guide for family businesses. "The Soul of Family Business" explores what it takes to run a successful family business and illustrates how love is the foundation and family values are the secret sauce for success. Lilja approached the book design to highlight the “soul” aspect of Tom’s message and emulate the colorful, circular world of family businesses.
Mary Nelson Keithahn
Collection of Meditations and Prayers
Retired pastor and prolific author Mary Nelson Keithahn asked Lilja to help publish her collection of meditations and prayers. In creating a cover design for "Embracing the Light: Reflections on God’s Word," Lilja worked to evoke Mary’s message of faith with intelligence and the light readers will find in the sacred stories she shares.
John D. Horman
Sing Your Way to Christmas
Lilja worked with accomplished musician, composer, and music teacher John Horman to turn the histories behind the most popular Christmas carols into a fact-filled songbook. "Sing Your Way to Christmas" dives into the stories behind our favorite holiday songs, who wrote them, and how they ended up in our universal musical repertoire.
Brad Robinson
The Price of Victory
Brad Robinson enlisted Lilja's help in helping him chronicle his sailor achievements and struggles, his desire to advance the world of competitive sailing by building a better A Scow sailboat as a gift to his fleet, and the rejection and vilification he faced by members of the fleet he was trying to help.
