Thinkso received 3 silver International Design Awards for the design of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering 2012 annual report, the Baylor College of Medicine Quarterly Report, and the Orphans Rising website. The International Design Awards exist to celebrate the world’s most visionary designers, discover new and emerging talent, and promote the appreciation of design worldwide. Architects and designers of interiors, fashion, products, and graphics submitted entries from over 65 countries throughout the world.

Brett Traylor sat down with editor Josh Stone to discuss “Give a Brand!”, highlights from 2012, and Thinkso’s diverse portfolio and goals for growth. We’ve pulled a few interview excerpts for our clients and friends:

On the origins of “Give a Brand!”:
“We grew ‘Give a Brand!’ out of our dedication to doing good and giving back, and as a way to make better use of dollars that would otherwise go toward self-promotion, one-off charity efforts, or client gifts. We turned it into a company-wide, single-day event and pulled in clients and vendors to collaborate.”

On 2012 highlights:
“I would flag the Stanford DoResearch website… It was a huge, comprehensive undertaking, and we did all aspects of naming, design and content strategy. There’s really nothing else out there like it.”

On Thinkso’s diverse portfolio:
“It can be easy to pound away at an industry where work is abundant and we have a lot of experience. But we really make an effort to keep our client mix and portfolio as diverse as we can. “Give a Brand!” helps us do that by pushing the agency into new areas. Expanding our base of clients and industries is always something that we’re consciously trying to do.”

Based in Atlanta, Daily Vista is a daily publisher of newsworthy material and insightful conversations with marketing executives and decision makers.

Thinkso was a double winner in the 2012 Graphic Design USA American Web Design Awards. Our work for SwapClear and Common Ground was recognized for excellence in web and identity design.

YoungEntrepreneur.com published Brett’s article on the “5 Essentials to Cultivate Business”.

Our interview series gets a bit of coverage, and we get a bit excited.

YoungEntrepreneur.com and Forbes featured our piece on how Thinkso mines its social network to take care of business.

We shared ten things that we learned from our office move with Forbes.com in the article, “When It’s Time For A Small Business To Grow Up”.

Thinkso’s redesign of the Expeditionary Learning brand identity has been included as part of the REBRAND 100 Global Awards in the category of “distinction.” REBRAND™ is the world’s leading resource for effective brand transformations. The REBRAND 100 Global Awards is the first and most respected recognition for repositioned brands. Featured in such media as The Wall Street Journal, CNN Money, Bloomberg and Businessweek. The full 2011 winners showcase here.

American Express OPEN, the company’s small business service division, features Thinkso as one of five branding firms in their web series Project RE:Brand. Thinkso was tasked with rebranding Finish Line, a New York City based physical therapy practice. The purpose of the project was to provide OPEN clients with the opportunity to view and learn from real branding projects.

Later this month, American Express Open, the company’s small business service division, will launch Project RE:Brand. Thinkso is one of five branding agencies featured in the series. AmEx hired each agency to rebrand a small business and documented the processes in reality-style webisodes. The purpose of the project is to provide all Open clients with the opportunity to view and learn from real branding projects. Thinkso’s three webisodes will launch in December. Stay tuned!