Wee Society’s Wee You-Things Blocks earned the coveted Parents' Choice Gold Award. Since 1978, Parents' Choice award seals have helped parents identify high quality toys and media that encourage kids' creativity and celebrate the fun of learning.

Parents' Choice Foundation President Claire S. Green gave You-Things Blocks a glowing review:

"Inviting to look at, to touch, and even to smell, this set of 16 Made-in-America blocks are a playful introduction to design, puzzle solving, building, and storytelling … We applaud their understanding that 21st century kids play on and off screen, and design delightful playful learning experiences for both dimensions."

The Office-designed blocks are made with replenishable basswood and printed with non-toxic inks.

Two of the design industry’s most admired competitions recently recognized Office’s work.

One Club Design awarded its esteemed Silver Pencil to the Bigfoot Art Show for 826 Valencia, as well as a Design Merit Award to Wee Society branding.

The One Show Design competition sets the bar for recognizing excellence in design. Each year, a new international jury of judges is tasked with seeking out and rewarding “work that is smart, compelling and relevant—work that defies categorization.” Out of nearly 4,000 entries from 28 countries around the world, just 77 Pencil winners were announced.

The Bigfoot Art Show poster also won a prestigious D&AD In Book honor for “brilliance in commercial creativity.” The D&AD Awards are recognized around the world as setting the standard for the best and most innovative creative work.

Wee Society has released Wee You-Things, its iOS interactive book app designed by Office to encourage kids (ages 3-7) to understand and value differences.

In it, a quirky crew of characters celebrates “you-things”—those little and big things that, together, make you special and like no one else in the world. Ruth has a purple tooth. Little Dot gets scared a lot. Brad has two dads. Ling pretends that she’s a king. After meeting 22 new friends, kids are asked, “What’s your you-thing?,” and get to become part of the story.

"No other app takes on this important topic in such a fun way," says Carolina Nugent, Education Director, KinderTown, which helps parents find quality educational apps for kids. "It opens up so many possibilities for conversations between kids and adults. And by calling them 'you-things,' Wee Society has created a new vocabulary for talking about differences."

With Wee You-Things, Wee Society hopes to send the message that what makes you different is also what makes you awesome—and maybe even help prevent prejudicial and bullying behaviors down the road.

The app features interactive animations (with silly sound effects) that respond to touch and encourage discovery, tips to help bring parents and kids closer together, and music and narration from indie rock band Rabbit!

It’s available for download in the App Store, and is compatible with iPhone, iPad and iPad Mini.

Wee Society’s Wee Alphas App was selected as a Webby Awards Official Honoree for Best Visual Design.

The Webby Awards is the leading international award honoring excellence on the web. Out of 11,000 entries from all 50 US states and over 60 countries, the Academy awarded the Official Honoree distinction to the top 10% of all work entered. Winners are chosen by the International Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences.

Office designed the Wee Alphas App—available for download in the App Store.

The Art Directors Club honored Office’s Bigfoot Art Show with its prestigious Silver Cube for design excellence.

The ADC Annual Awards honor the “most compelling, moving work” from around the world in advertising, design, photography, illustration, and digital media. Office’s Bigfoot Art Show was on this year’s short list of winning entries, selected from 23 countries.

The Bigfoot Art Show will be featured in the Art Directors Annual. Congratulations to all the other Cube winners!

Wee Society's Wee Alphas app won a prestigious Parents' Choice Silver Award, recognizing it among the very best mobile apps that entertain and teach, stimulate imagination and inspire creativity. Office designed the app for Wee Society. 

The app was selected by a panel of educators, kids, parents, scientists, performing artists and librarians. According to the organization, "We look for material to help parents and kids connect. We look for products that teach, without being preachy … In landscape swelling with products marketed as 'educational,' the Parents’ Choice Awards Committees help identify products our experts believe live up to the marketing claims. We don’t recognize or commend those that don’t."

The Parents' Choice Foundation is the nation's oldest nonprofit program created to recognize and recommend quality children's media and products. They also wrote a review of the Wee Alphas app: "Simple but irresistible stencil illustrations of twenty-six animals hold hidden letters in the Wee Alphas app … The final screen of the app reprises all of the animal characters in a giggle-worthy celebration of the app's special variety of silly humor."

You can download Wee Alphas in the App Store. More on Wee Society.

Next Generation is a non-profit, non-partisan organization that's tackling the biggest challenges facing the next generation of Americans – addressing climate change and improving opportunities for kids.

“We’ve spent hundreds of billions of dollars on war over the last 10 years at the same time we’ve been spending less and less on kids,” Next Generation co-founder Jim Steyer told the NY Times. “That’s fiscally insane and morally bankrupt, but no one is talking about it.”

Through research, policy development, and innovative campaigns, Next Generation aims to mobilize the public to demand investments in what's most important.

Office worked with the Next Generation team to develop a new visual identity that reflects the organization’s forward-looking focus in two important areas. The lowercase “n” and uppercase “g” in the mark come together to form an abstract eye, and represents their powerful vision for a brighter future.

"I've worked on a lot of start-up identity projects, so I know how challenging it can be to come up with a mark that works for all the stakeholders," says Matthew Lewis, VP & Director of Communications, Next Generation. "That's why our experience with the team at Office was so incredible – not only did they nail it, but they got it on the first try. The creative was really phenomenal, they responded rapidly to our feedback, and had the files ready for implementation within hours of our sign-off. Most importantly, the mark gets a ton of unsolicited, positive feedback; it's striking, versatile, and really represents who we are as an organization."

Find out more about Next Generation.

Disney Baby released a short film that Office directed to celebrate life’s “everyday magical moments” as parents.

“There was no storyboard. We set up situations to capture those ‘awww' moments as they unfolded,” said Jason Schulte, creative director. “We shot real families so we'd have authentic emotional connections, and did it with natural lighting in an actual home."

The result is a mix of perfectly silly, snuggly, sweet and funny moments with baby. The film was shot and edited by Ryan Marshall, with music by Rabbit.

The Type Directors Club recognized four Office projects in the prestigious TDC Communication International Design Competition.

They are among 215 winning projects that were selected from over 2,000 entries from 37 countries. This includes Wee Society branding, Wee Alphas screen print, Wee Alphas app, and Office's Bigfoot Art Show, which was also awarded "judge's choice," as one of the top entries in the show.

The work will be published in the TDC's Annual, Typography 34, and will be exhibited in the U.S., Canada, England, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Russia, Spain, South Korea, Taiwan and Vietnam.

Office received an Award of Excellence in the 2013 Communication Arts Typography Competition for Wee Society's Wee Alphas screen print. The competition celebrates the best in typography, and publishes the work in the Communication Arts Typography Annual.

The Wee Alphas limited edition 13-color screen print features furry, finned and feathered characters with a letter of the alphabet hidden in each illustration. The print is available for sale from Wee Society.

BIG thanks to everyone who attended "I Don't Believe in You Either," the Bigfoot-inspired art show benefitting 826 Valencia and 826 Boston held on Nov. 8. And special thanks to our generous sponsor The Bold Italic; to our kind supporters Magnolia Pub & Brewery and David Barrett; and to our crazy-talented guest artists . If you couldn't make it, limited edition prints and a few pieces of original art are available for sale in our shop. 

It was a phenomenal evening. Here's a peek …























Photo: Nathan Strandberg



Photo: Nathan Strandberg























Photo: Nathan Strandberg



Photo:  Nathan Strandberg









See more images of the original paintings and re-imagined stumps.

Office invited local artists to re-imagine tree stumps for its upcoming "I Don't Believe in You Either" Bigfoot-inspired art show event, benefitting 826 Valencia and 826 Boston.

Stumps-as-art created by Dave Eggers, Jessica Hische, Lisa Congdon, Ben Barry and Erik Marinovich and several other equally-talented artists will be up for silent auction at the event.

Office created more than 35 original paintings (see a preview here), a limited edition show print and screen-printed vintage postcards that will be for sale.

Select items may be available for sale here following the show. For updates, follow us on Twitter or like us on Facebook, and we'll keep you posted.


Black & White— Alan Dye



Bigfoot Disguise— Ben Barry



Bigfoot— Dave Eggers



Big Pattern— Brian Flynn



Don't Stop Believin'— Lisa Congdon



I Want to Believe— Jessica Hische



Big Leg— Caleb Kozlowski



Gigantic— Erik Marinovich



Forest— Brent Couchman



Leave Me Alone— Richard Perez



Bigfoot Lending Library— Eric & Christine Strohl



Limited edition show print



Screen-printed vintage postcards

Here's a preview of our "I Don't Believe in You Either" Bigfoot-inspired art show this Thursday, Nov. 8, at The Bold Italic in San Francisco. Some pieces may be available for sale in Office's shop following the show. For updates, follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook.






I Don’t Believe In You Either (Yosemite)
Frame: 25”w x 19”h
Acrylic on litho printed paper
Landscape Artist: Dino Massaroni



Long Hairy Legs
Each Frame: 15 1/4”w x 11 1/4”h
Acrylic over paint-by-number on board



Deer Hug
Frame: 15 3/8"w x 19 3/8"h
Acrylic on litho printed paper



Teeth (Fall)
Frame: 8 3/8”w x 11”h
Acrylic over oil on board



Think Big (Diptych)
Each Frame: 8 7/8”w x 7 7/8”h
Acrylic over oil on canvas



Live Large (Montana)
Frame: 42 5/8”w x 30 5/8”h
Acrylic over litho printed board
Landscape Artist: Robert Wood, 1955



BF Silhouette (Lake)
Frame: 12 3/4”w x 16 3/4”h
Acrylic on litho printed paper
Landscape Artist: W.M. Thompson



Grand Teton Footprint
Frame: 11 7/8”w x 14 7/8”h
Acrylic on litho printed paper



First Spring Days
Frame: 44 1/4”w x 24 1/4”h
Acrylic on litho printed board
Landscape Artist: Clemens Freitag



Living Fossil
Frame: 53 1/8”w x 26 1/4”h
Acrylic on litho printed board
Landscape Artist: Robert Wood, 1965



A Pair of Footprints
Each Frame: 6 1/4”w x 7 3/8”h
Acrylic over paint-by-number on canvas board



Stop Following Me (Triptych)
Each Frame: 12 1/4”w x 10 1/4”h
Acrylic over photographic prints



Believing Is Seeing
Frame: 33”w x 15”h
Acrylic on litho printed board



8-1/2 Feet of Fabulous
Frame: 20 1/4”w x 26 1/4”h
Acrylic over paint-by-number on board



Think Big (Forest)
Frame: 43 3/4”w x 32”h
Acrylic on canvas
Landscape Artist: Haller



Not So Bigfoot (Spring)
Frame: 22 1/8”w x 18”h
Acrylic on litho printed paper
Landscape Artist: Robert Wood



Hoax
Frame: 14 7/8”w x 17 7/8”h
Acrylic on canvas



Snack Time
Frame: 18 1/4”w x 14 3/8”h
Acrylic over litho printed board



Gold Tooth Yeti (Mountain)
Frame: 38 5/8”w x 26 3/4”h
Acrylic over litho printed board



Mountain Footprints
Frame: 24 3/4”w x 20 3/4”h
Acrylic over oil on canvas



Forest Footprints
Frame: 16 7/8”w x 12 7/8”h
Acrylic over oil on canvas board



Long Hairy Legs 2
Frame: 11 3/4”w x 9 7/8”h
Acrylic over litho on paper 
Landscape Artist: U. Lovell



With My Own 2 Eyes
Frame: 20 1/8”w x 16 1/4”h
Acrylic on litho printed paper



BF Is My BFF
Frame: 14”w x 18”h
Acrylic over paint-by-number board



Live Large (Tahoe)
Frame: 11 7/8”w x 9 3/4”h
Acrylic on litho printed paper



Not So Bigfoot (Fall)
Frame: 15.5”h x 19.5”w
Acrylic over oil on canvas
Landscape Artist: H.F. Stewart



Seeing Is Believing
Frame: 18 5/8”w x 14 5/8”h
Acrylic over watercolor on paper



Stop Following Me
Frame: 15 7/8”w x 12 3/4”h
Acrylic over paint-by-number on board



I Saw It / U Saw Nothing
Each Frame: 17 7/8”w x 13 3/4”h
Acrylic over paint-by-number on board



Gold Tooth (Stream)
Frame: 17 1/4”w x 13 1/8”h
Acrylic over paint-by-number on board



Not Yeti
Frame: 31 1/2”w x 23 3/8”h
Acrylic on litho printed paper



River Footprints
Frame: 32”w x 27 3/4”h
Acrylic over oil on board



BF Silhouette (Mountain)
Frame: 17”w x 12 7/8”h
Acrylic over paint by number on board



BF Silhouette (Woods)
Frame: 17”w x 12 7/8”h
Acrylic over paint-by-number on board



BF Silhouette (Winter)
Frame: 20 1/2" w x 24 1/2" h
Acrylic on canvas
Landscape Artist: O. Hall


Look Closer (Mountains)
Frame: 17 1/8"w x 13 1/4"h
Acrylic on paint-by-number board



Look Closer
Frame:  10"w x 8"h
Acrylic over litho painted board

Office's art prints are featured in a Fab.com sale, starting today.

From Fab: "Office makes small, but not so subtle prints that merge the brilliance and patience of folk craft with outrageous, 21st century colors, textures and subjects. Its metallic stamp accents pop and weave with bold tones to invite a closer look and keep viewers guessing."

With special Fab prices, it's the perfect time to buy one for a holiday gift, and get one for yourself. "My mom hangs all of them (except Technicolor, which she didn't like) in her dining room," says Jason Schulte, Office founder and creative director.

If you miss the Fab sale, the prints are also available in our shop.

The Wee Alphas app from Wee Society appeared in the release video for the iPad Mini, shown at today's much-anticipated Apple event where the new smaller tablet was unveiled.

The video features Apple SVP of Design Jony Ive, and the voice-over says, "These aren't scaled up phone apps. These are powerful apps that take full advantage of iPad's beautiful display." Watch the video here.

Office designed the Wee Alphas learning app for preschoolers, featuring the somewhat silly stories and quirky illustrations of Alexander the Angelfish, Biki the Buffalo, and their furry, feathered or finned friends.

The cast of 26 alphabetized characters also appears in a series of Wee Alphas art prints, which were also designed by Office.

To keep up to date on Wee Society news and occasional free stuff, follow @wee_society on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest, and subscribe to the newsletter.