What is StartSmart.ro?
StartSmart.ro is a Romanian web app designed to quickly and easily evaluate a business idea from the financial point of view. It addresses anyone with a business idea who want to create a quick and simple business plan and see if their idea is profitable.
How it works: based on a couple of types of inputs supplied by the user  (such as employees, monthly expenses, initial investment, expected sales, etc.) StartSmart.ro calculates several other expenses such as profit tax, payable VAT and other taxes, all in accordance with Romanian law and accounting standards, and gives the user the necessary reports that determine if the business is profitable or not.
StartSmart.ro is meant to be available in 2 versions, Light and Pro, with different levels of complexity and accuracy regarding data input and financial reports.

Solution
We insisted to focus very hard on the concept of “Smart” and less on the concept of “Start”. And we did that for various reasons. Firstly, we believe that the strength of the name is obviously the second word, and secondly, the “Smart” concept is more suitable for this type of business. The character is very expressive and it has a strong visual impact, designed to get attention to “Smart” concept using a giant brain.

StartSmart.ro logo is smart, funny, easy and optimistic. It has the advantage of being easily to remember and apply.

Testimonial

What is Dental View?
Dental View is the most modern 3D imaging center in Bucharest. The clinic recently launched a quarterly “Dental Imaging Magazine”, the first one in Romania, and it intends to provide a source of information in the modern dental practice. More specifically, it offers the latest information in dental imaging, exclusive articles, interviews, case studies, information on the latest image analysis technologies etc.

Approach
In October 2009, BroHouse designed the first “Dental Imaging Magazine” cover. In May, BroHouse did the  second number. So we continued to have a great collaboration features with Dental View, and we took care of their web-site.

The problem
Hospitals or even dental clinics websites have a lot of things to fix. In many cases, websites are horribly designed. Either they look like they were designed fifteen years ago and then forgotten about, or they’re so overloaded with information that it’s almost impossible to find what you’re looking for. And the most forgotten principle for most of the websites: they don’t  provide information for eventual patients. And that is the truth. Information is not put in a way that makes everything easy to find.

Solution
Knowing all this problems, we had been created  a simple and a clean layout with plenty of negative space. The bold and animated header image and also with a carefully copy, all make a great interactive website. Besides this, site includes a lot of information that make the site look really educational. An other big advantage for everyday user is  the easiest navigation.

We put and end here. We let you enjoy the site.

What is Respiro Underwater?
Founded in 2009, Respiro Underwater Research Society is a non-profit, volunteer foundation dedicated to preserving our maritime heritage through the discovery, archaeological survey and conservation of shipwrecks and other archaeological sites of the Romanian waters.
Their purpose is also to reinforce public appreciation of our marine past, present and future by initiating and supporting projects designed to uncover and explore historically significant sites before they are lost and gone forever.

Approach
The campaign “Messages for Black Sea“, a project started in collaboration with the 4 Ace Agency, caught Mircea Popa’s attention, the president of  Respiro Underwater Organization, and this was the way how they found out about BroHouse Agency.

The organization didn’t have any visual identity and no web presence. Looking for an agency to take care of visual identity for its project, Mircea Popa didn’t hesitate to call us. Right after the first meeting with Mircea Popa we found out that it’s necessarily a full visual identity for his project.

Logo
From the first time we thought that we should create a character that would express the sea and the various activities of the foundation. We are talking about professional divers, swimmers with a huge experience who know very well underwater life. In these conditions we found the concept of a siren, a mythological aquatic creature with the head of human female and the tail of a fish. It is a beautiful creature of great seamen stories and legends.

It’s simple design that puts logo above all the other graphic elements. The concept and the design were quickly embraced by Respiro team and so we could get to the next level: web design and development.

Website
Internet is one of the main channels of communication, so attention over sites is more and more bigger. Mircea Popa and his team were aware by the impact of the Internet and the new site fulfilled their expectations. Respiro website intends to be a catalyst for their work and a real communication support. By accessing the website www.respirosociety.com you can buy various promotional items: T-shirts, caps, etc.

We did our best to take things away until nothing else can be removed without interfering with the purpose of the design. So the style that we created really lets the content stand out.

One of the wonderful things about my job is that you look and learn and expand your horizons. And I can say I met artists, works of art that inspired me. I come up with these two paintings, called this time “Colors of belief” and I got to the the greatest number of 7 paintings so far (“Credo” cycle and “Collapse” painting).

For me painting may be one of the most challenging and also a reflection of everyday life. These paintings are created in a new style. I’ve tried to improve my style or even to seek another one. This time, I wanted to use much more color, as a particular game of colors, so an impressionistic way, all dressed up in a simple manner, abstract and minimalist. I haven’t  tried to look for a story, a situation or a meaning. It all boils down to aesthetics and colors.

For those who want to print and have them as pictures, contact us and we will set all the details for printing. The price is 45 euros per each picture! (the price includes only the vector source, not printing on surfaces)

Here’s how the “Colors of belief” cycle might look like on your wall:

Dental Imaging Magazine
Dental Imaging Magazine is the first specialized magazine in Romania and it aims to promote this niche area that plays a key role in modern dentistry. This magazine offers the latest information in the field, exclusive articles signed by renowned lecturers from here and abroad as well, interviews, case studies, new technologies for acquisition and dental imaging analysis, news in the field (events, congresses) etc.. Moreover, it intends to become a constant source of information for dentists and dental specialists.

Approach
In October 2009, BroHouse designed the first magazine cover. This month, Dental Imaging Magazine’s second number was released. We continued to have the same rich collaboration features with Dental View, and we took care of their second magazine cover, a visual layout that is due to suggest exactly what modern CBCT center means.

Solution
The front cover is the most important aspect of the magazine as it initially attracts the reader and is a kind of taster of what can be seen within the contents of the magazine. This front cover is a promise that the contents of the magazine will fulfill the needs of each individual dentist or group of dentists. It is an important advertisement giving as much space and importance to pictures as to words. So here’s the magazine cover.

Few words about Schirger Consulting
Schirger Consulting is an integrated marketing communications agency with excellent results in strategic communication. The company has a wide experience working with companies in the main business segments and has a good ability to quickly adapt to each industry’s particularity. Their customers belong to business areas such as Agribusiness, Financial Services, Real Estate, IT, Food&Bar, FMCG, legal etc.

Approach
Schirger Consulting came to BroHouse to translate its core values into a remarkable visual identity. The company was facing a rather common situation: the business had grown very fast in terms of projects and customers, leaving behind one of the most important elements – its brand identity. BroHouse’s challenge was to identify the company’s key elements and emphasize them through shape and color.  Our team was involved in the whole process, from the initial briefs and analysis to the final delivery.

Solution
Visual Identity. Finding the unique way of communicating the customer’s core values was the biggest challenge for us. After a meticulous research we found a typeface that is not just ‘good looking’, but also very functional.  The font interacts with the other basic elements of the logo design and it balances the whole in the right way. Schirger Consulting is all set to emerge with a new identity.

Website. Our starting point was, obviously, the logo; using information provided by the identity, we created a very elegant company website that is engaging and easy to use. The Schirger website has a super-clean design style that really lets the content stand out (a key-issue since the company is mainly involved in content development and promotion). The project is still under construction so you’ll have a complete view of what we’ve been building in the weeks to come. Keep in touch!

Testimonial

Horia talks in an entire article for “PR Romania” about some of the most known identity problems faced by a start-up business. For about 3 years of BroHouse, we have been working mostly with start-up business, because at this early stage they need more than anyone a great visual identity for their launch.

The combination of new business idea with a strong visual identity has become a “must-have”, very well understood, especially by the young generation of entrepreneurs. From all the types of business, start-ups have the greatest need for communication, but their lack of experience determined them to have a wrong and confuse dialogue between their business and audience.

I’m sure there are more other identities problems faced by business owners to bust and we’ll try to find some more to tell you, maybe in fallow-up article. Meanwhile I invite you to read the full article and feel free to leave a comment below with your questions or suggestions.  Unfortunately, the whole article is written in Romanian.

Costin had the pleasure to answer tough interview questions for PR Romania about a very popular subject: entrepreneurship in Romania. We also had the pleasure of sitting face to face with the most successful businessmen and well known advisers: Dragoș Mănac, Vlad Stan, Andrei Roșca, Bobby Voicu and Vlad Bălan.

In the interview, Costin says very honestly something about how we perceive entrepreneurship with BroHouse experience, what is the entrepreneurial stake, about the role of communication and ways of spreading the business image.

We hope you like it. Thank you Andra Zaharia and congratulations for the article.

Over time we had 3 or 4 concepts of business cards, all different, and of course we had a great feedback. That is because we are big fans of cards and we are proud of our impressive collection of business cards from the various companies. We have never underestimated the power of business cards.  In our opinion, business card is one of the most important elements of your visual identity. It’s the first thing people see when they meet you. We made sure it has a distinctive and impressive design. We kept the previous concept and we improved it. With a much better and clean design.

We hope that we will get a lot of positive response on this new card, and people will keep it in their wallets instead of throwing it away. Some might say: mission accomplished.

Where we belong
Creattica is a gallery of great design and inspirational imagery. BroHouse business cards has been accepted into the Creattica Gallery.  We hope that our work can help making Creattica into a fantastic resource for one and all.

PS: The previous business cards had an enormous success. BroHouse’s business cards are on the list of the most creative designs for business cards, along with 40 other highly successful business cards,the list made by DesignrFix site. Moreover there previous cards are also located next to the most beautiful cards on Creattica site.

The business cards upgrade

The previous business cards

Few words about TeaCup
Teacup is the first Romanian website, where people socialize and share ideas about books and reading. More specifically, TeaCup is an online community where book-lovers connect. Members create their own lists of books, see the charts with the most popular and successful books and they can share their opinion about them.
Mainly, TeaCup offers you several opportunities: you can write reviews and share your opinion about the books you read, you meet people who have similar preferences and you can get book recommendations from other readers. In other words, the user feels good. It’s like you speak about your favorite books with your best friends over a great cup of tea.

Approach
Working with Andrew Rosca reminds me somehow the early beginnings of BroHouse. It is a project that began 1 year ago and it’s one of the first visual identities from BroHouse portfolio. At that time, I announced myself a big fan of articles signed by Andrew Rosca, that’s way we wanted to be part of one of his projects. I kept in touch with Andrew and I found out that he was plotting a large project named TeaCup. This is how we started this collaboration and even a friendship.

Solution
The identity had to reflect faithfully the flavour of the teacup, a good mood and of course, a creative environment: stories, poems and articles. As the slogan says, TeaCup should represent the flavours and fragrances of the books. Generally speaking, tea has been consumed especially by those who fancy reading. TeaCup identity transposes in image, dozen of books, supported by the concept of bubbles coming from inside of the teacup. The logo has the ability to be easily remembered and used. Here are some insertions:

Testimonial: