A note from Hannah Pomphrey, Owner of Hue & Tone Creative 

Five years ago, I took a deep breath and hit publish on this blog’s first-ever post. I was announcing that I was chasing my dream of opening a small business and founding Hue & Tone, a creative-services firm focused on all things design, marketing, multimedia, web and social. 

A half-decade later, we are facing an uncertain, deeply challenging time throughout the world. As I continue to work on behalf of my clients – from a safe social distance – I am reflecting on all the last five years have brought.

It’s been quite a journey: we set up shop in Revolution Mill, one of the most exciting reclamation projects in Greensboro’s history, and later made the move to the vibrant center of downtown Greensboro (once we’re able to be safely out and about again, you can find us at 301 South Elm Street). 

We’ve helped major corporations, small businesses, startups, nonprofits, government and advocacy organizations, and individuals upgrade their branding, hone their message, reach their audience and tell their story. We’ve created everything from brochures to bus wraps. 

But during this time of physical distance and social solidarity, what matters most to me are the relationships we’ve been able to build. 

From working with the Chamber to volunteering for nonprofits I’m passionate about, seeing Hue & Tone become part of the fabric of this community has been the most rewarding part of the job. We’ve had the privilege of providing design assistance for organizations that do enormous good in the Triad and beyond. 

We’ve been able to participate in the growth and revitalization of this city we call home, working with clients like the Self-Help, Greensboro Downtown Parks, and Triad Local First. On a personal level, this has been a time when I’ve put down roots – I purchased my first home in Greensboro in 2017 – and Hue & Tone has put down roots in Greensboro, too. 

It’s been our honor, for the last five years, to work with Greensboro business owners and nonprofit leaders of all stripes – from law firms to ASL interpreters to our local universities. 

I am so proud to be part of Greensboro’s business community and, despite the many uncertainties of this time, I am confident this city full of creative, adaptable, and open-hearted people will rebuild and rebound from the challenges we’ve facing.

We’re looking forward to the next five years, and being part of that rebuilding along with our friends in Greensboro’s business community.

The view from Hue & Tone’s office.

For a twist on our usual Friday Links we’ve compiled a list of our favorite Greensboro things! We’ve been in Greensboro a little over a year, and while we still have a mile long list of things to try out, we definitely have some favorites -- here’s a quick list of everything we’ve been loving!
 

Favorite Spot: Our office at Revolution Mill!
Haven’t seen our space yet? Drop in and see us! You’ll get why we love hanging out in our office.

Favorite Restaurant: Boba House
We recommend the springs rolls and Hawaiian stir fry,  but everything we’ve sampled at this healthy and compassionate eatery has been vegan heaven.

Favorite Brewery: Red Oak 
We might be a little bias because they’re a client, but you can’t beat the clean, unfiltered taste of a Red Oak beer!

Favorite Coffee: Green Bean
A GSO staple, the Green Bean regularly makes lists “best coffee shops” and “must go to” lists. We love them for their amazing baked goods, vegan cream cheese, and close proximity to the office!  

Favorite Local Non-profit: CSDHH
There’s so many great local non-profits to pick from, but after working with CSDHH, we were blown away by their commitment to empower and inspire change for the deaf community.
 

What did we miss? Where do we need to try? Leave us a comment and let us know!

( Love Greensboro? Drop us a line and we’ll send you some I <3 GSO stickers! )

One of my favorite parts of being a business owner is the opportunity to get involved in the community. Today, I want to share two upcoming community events I've gotten to take part in.

First is the Lead Your City Summit hosted by SynerG, an organization for Greensboro's young professionals. A little more information on the event, directly from the organizers: 

Join the synerG Young Professionals for Lead Your City – a summit that will bring together Community Leaders & Activists to help young professionals GROW their leadership skills, BUILD on their ideas, SERVE the community and CONNECT their network.

Hue & Tone donated a custom-designed resume for one attendee! I'm excited to work with the winner and create a resume that helps them reach their goals. 

The second event is the one-year anniversary of co//ab, a flexible coworking space in Greensboro. Again, here's a little more about the event directly from the folks at co//ab:

co//ab will have its one-year anniversary this November and we want YOU to help us celebrate. Join us on November 16th at 5:30pm (immediately following the monthly Idea Slam @ 4pm) for a night of food, drinks, and ping pong. Sign up to challenge local "celebrities" in a ping pong tournament you won't want to miss! 

For co//ab, I designed event collateral that uses bright, clean colors and imagery to get the spirit of the event across (see the image above for an example).

If you're in Greensboro, come out to these two events! You can register for the Lead Your City Summit here, and the co//ab anniversary here.

I've mentioned our work for Revolution Mill, a historic redevelopment site in Greensboro offering office and event space, a restaurant and (soon) residential.  Here's a look at the print and web collateral we created for Creating Community Week, a series of events aimed at sharing the vision of Revolution Mill with the public.

A few notes about the work: 

• The design needed some visual and textual continuity, which is why we developed the seal-style logo you see here.
• A consistent (but not rigid) color scheme of red and teal adds to the continuity between each piece.
• The look here is consistent but not uniform, as the audience for each event varied -- from residents of the surrounding neighborhood to creatives/ad agencies to CEOs and community officials.

Let us know what you think! We'll be back tomorrow with a few links to end the week.