DESIGN CHATTER
From Painted Posters To Instagram: The Evolution of Ad Design
Sep 10, 2025
Visual ads have evolved dramatically since the 1930s. Back then, bold illustrations, hand lettering, and limited color palettes made posters stand out on walls and in print. By mid-century, photography shifted ads toward realism and lifestyle storytelling, while the digital age brought sleek editing and global campaigns. Today, the best practices are about clarity and adaptability: ads must grab attention on everything from billboards to Instagram feeds. The tools may have changed, but some things never change: stop the scroll (or the passerby!) and leave a lasting impression and get new clients!
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Packaging Design FAQ: How we show up as your design partner
Sep 08, 2025
Before you can sell your physical products to your perfect customer, those bibs and bobs are going to need packaging to help sell them.
But there’s a problem.
You don’t know where to start. Should you go straight to a commercial printer? Maybe it makes more sense to use an overnight online vendor?
There’s a lot to consider, and you might even be confused about where a design agency like ours fits into the process.
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6 ways KEYLAY provides value to your business (and nope, it’s not about money)
Sep 08, 2025
Once you get a proposal, you may skip past the line item details and immediately jump to the final total. It’s more than you anticipated, which makes you wonder, “We’re just paying for a [logo, landing page, email, etc.] design, right? Is it really worth that much?”
It’s a fair question.
And we’ll answer it by saying that when you partner with an agency, you gain design expertise that considers how the final result ultimately serves your business goals.
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Why Album Art Still Matters in the Streaming Era
Sep 05, 2025
At the height of the early-2000s “nu-metal” phase (think jagged type, grunge textures, and gothic logos, you remember), Deftones’ album White Pony stood out by doing the opposite. Sleek silver cover. Simple horse silhouette. That’s it. It was a quiet but powerful statement, designed by Frank Maddocks, who back then was a young designer at Warner Records. That minimalist risky move not only redefined the band’s visual identity but also kicked off a collaboration between Maddocks and Deftones that’s still going strong today.
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Lighting the Way with a Brand Refresh
Sep 03, 2025
Yankee Candle just gave its brand a literal glow-up! Partnering with the agency Beardwood&Co., the home fragrance company has refreshed its design to honor over 50 years of business while upscaling their look for today’s design-conscious consumers. The apothecary jar and logo remain (because let’s be real, they’re non-negotiable), but the new look leans heavily into refined visuals and layered textures. Think: candles that look as good on your shelf as they smell when lit!
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Cracker Barrel…Without the Barrel!
Aug 29, 2025
You know we love a rebrand, especially when it ends up being polarizing! The latest contender: Cracker Barrel. The chain has dropped its longtime brown barrel-and-man logo in favor of a simplified logo mark that leans on the barrel shape without, well, the barrel. The logo refresh was part of a $700 million transformation that includes redesigned restaurants, lighter interiors, and revamped menus, all of which is meant to modernize the 56-year-old chain. But reactions are mixed: some longtime fans feel it strays too far from Cracker Barrel’s roots,
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