Wednesday, July 24, 2019
Melting my hardened design industry heart back into the shape of a real heart. 23 years ago I founded my design shop, Replace, only to do work for the good folks on our shared planet. Seward Coop, Jonny Pops, Galactic Pizza, Geek Squad, Local Crate, Equal Exchange, Nomi – the list is far to long to give full shout – But when we were lucky enough to start designing for Vireo Health 4 years ago, you could tell that something VERY special had happened… and more importantly WAS happening. For 4 years we have been lucky enough to be at an EPIC daily design sprint for this great company. Vireo is facing the horrors of the opioid epidemic head on with a better option: Minnesota grown Medical Cannabis. I can honestly say that in my nearly 30 years as a designer, I have never seen a client with their hearts, brains, arms, spines and souls so invested into positive social change through the lens of their business. And THAT my fine friend is really saying something. Bravo to Dr. Kyle Kingsley featured yesterday in the Strib. It is a flat out honor to design this brand and a bigger honor just to know the folks at Vireo.
– Jeff Johnson