It’s almost time for the All-Star break and we’ve all got baseball on the brain. So what better way to celebrate the spirit of baseball than by teaming up with the 2005 World Champion Chicago White Sox on a project inspired by President Obama’s call to service and volunteerism.

The White Sox were looking for some heavy hitters to help them send some strong and positive messages in the Chicago community. The project features 4 broadcast PSAs and 10 online videos. Each piece features White Sox players such as outfielder Carlos Quentin and Sox General Manager Kenny Williams. These sports role models really stepped up to the plate with messages encouraging literacy, education, good health, and drug free living.

ki provided full creative for the project. “It was outstanding work,” says Lou Hernandez from Chicago White Sox Public Relations. ki’s Pete Hendricks, editor and project supervisor says, “It was an honor to be chosen by the Chicago White Sox to help with such an important community inspired project.”

Joining Hendricks on this project were lead designer Cassie Scroggins and co-designer Rachel White handling graphics along with Thadchai Sattayatam and myself serving as editors for the online content.

Check out the project on the main page of our website www.kieditdesign.com. It’s a home run!

The ki Cafe would like to welcome our first Designer to the ki Artist Series… (drum roll please)… Design Director Cassie Scroggins!

Barista: What made you pursue this career?

Cassie: I knew that I wanted to study art in college but it wasn’t until my brother who is also a designer told me “if your going to be a designer you better like working with type.”  I took my very first typography class my freshman year of college and I was hooked.

Barista: What do you like most about working at ki?

Cassie: We eat lunch together everyday around a big table like a family!

Barista: What is your favorite word?

Cassie: Janky! A fellow creative director I used to work with used this to describe something that was done half-ass.

Barista: What sound do you love?

Cassie: Crickets on a summer night.

Barista: What sound do you hate?

Cassie: Last call.

Barista: What profession other than yours would you like to attempt?

Cassie: I’d love a job like Anthony Bourdain’s.

Barista: What profession would you not like to do?

Cassie: I wouldn’t like anything that put me in pantyhose or a cubicle.

Barista: Favorite commercial currently on the air?

Cassie: Well my  least favorite commercial is that stupid “He went to Jarred” spot.  And I’m sure I’m not alone on this one.

Barista: Television show you try not to miss?

Cassie: MAD MEN! Hands down.

Barista: Favorite Quote?

Cassie: I don’t know if I have a favorite but growing up my father always used to say “If you watch your pennies the dollars will take care of themselves.”   –And I wait.

We like to consider our menu here at ki pretty diverse in terms of the scope of projects we’ve fulfilled. But never have we had an order this tall (and wide)…

We collaborated with RealWorld productions on two projects that would end in a larger than life format.

The first was a project that included 3 large format videos for SCCM’s (Society of Critical Care Medicine) 2009 annual conference in Nashville, TN. The challenge of this project was to balance stunning motion graphics with a highly technical workflow. While the footage came to us shot on green screen using the Sony HDCAM at 1080i resolution, the project was worked on in a hefty 3600×1080 pixel aspect ratio. Why such a super sized order? The final presentation was projected at 60ft x 20ft. To paint a clearer picture for you, that’s almost (but not quite) the size of the Wrigley Field scoreboard!

Dual HD projectors were used to project the images to the ginormous screen.

SCCM Conference – Nashville, TN

Once we were able to serve up the SCCM order, RealWorld Productions came back for a second project with similar specs. This time it was for the McDonald’s Owner-Operator Conference(CROA) in Las Vegas. With the SCCM project under our belt, we at ki were eager for the challenge.  We set the plan in motion with Cassie Scroggins designing the style boards and executing some sample animations for the team to follow.  We provided several template animations and a style guide for the internal production staff of McDonald’s creative services to make the vision a reality.

In essence, there’s no order too big for ki