The year was 2012 and designer Sara (Duncan) Blankenship was sending her Behance- and BuzzFeed-famous résumé to Kansas City creative agencies. When we saw it and her work, we were so impressed that we looked up the rules on “dibs” to see if it applied to business. It doesn’t, so we went the traditional route and after a few interviews and a Google search to determine what is supposed to go in an employment agreement, Johnny Lightning Strikes Again had our first employee.

So why are you just now hearing about Sara? Well, because we never posted about her. But that changes now!

What in the heck convinced you to be the first person to sign up at JLSA?

There were many reasons! Mostly it was that you guys were hyper-focused on culture and doing good work, and that really resonated with me.

How has JLSA changed since you first got here?

A lot! The obvious answer is just all of the great people who have joined the party in the last few years. Somehow, JLSA really has managed to assemble the dream team. We also have a pinball machine and a kegerator now, so those are definitely improvements.

How have you changed since you first got here?

I have four–yes four–more pets than when I started (shout-out to Leo, Maybelle, Charlie and Sadie) and a new last name (shout-out to Nathan–sorry I put you after the pets). But, as far as my work goes, I think the biggest change has been the amount of web work I do. I have learned a lot in the world of digital design and user experience since I started at JLSA, and it has been fun to take my mostly print-based foundation and apply it to the web in (hopefully) interesting and effective ways.

Do you have any advice for designers out there who maybe haven’t had viral resumés yet?

That last one was pretty long, so I’ll keep this short. Work hard, be nice, and don’t rely too much on trends.

The post Meet Designer Sara Blankenship appeared first on JLSA.

Johnny Lightning Strikes Again opened for business in 2009 and in 6 short years, we’ve had the privilege of guiding the online brands of some truly iconic Kansas City institutions. These are the projects that keep us awake at night because we love our city and don’t want it to have ugly websites. Save those for St. Louis.

So when the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, one of our absolute favorite places, asked us to sprinkle some of that Kansas City web magic on their museum website, we knew we were going to have some sleepless nights ahead of us. Lucky for us and our ability to go out in public, we didn’t screw it up and we’re as proud of the website we made as anything we’ve done in recent memory.

We just posted a case study that tells the story of what we did for them, or you can see the actual site at https://www.kemperart.org.

The post Sleepless in Kansas City appeared first on JLSA.

A requirement for getting into a VW bus and having your picture taken is that a rad logo must be on it. Everyone knows that. So when our friend John brought his literal bus into our figurative shop, can you guess what we did? If you guessed “slapped a rad logo on it” then you friend, are the big winner.

The work we did for The Photo Bus is curvy, classic, and just feels right for a photo booth in a vintage VW bus. As a result of that branding (or maybe there were other factors, who knows), The Photo Bus has been so successful that it’s expanded from its home in Kansas City to St. Louis, Dallas and El Paso. So if you happen to see it, get in it, get your picture taken and let us know about it!

The Quick Look Series gives a glimpse into some of what we’ve been up to. If you’d like to see more, check out other Quick Look posts or read a few of the case studies in our work section.

The post Quick Look: The Photo Bus Branding appeared first on JLSA.

Our last website launched in 2011. And while it may seem like four years is an awfully long amount of time to launch a new website, we’ve been really really busy, and we’re happy to say this new website launch is the mark of a new era for JLSA.

Things have changed. We’ve more than doubled in size, and we keep growing. We’ve produced an entirely new body of work for all kinds of incredible clients. We’ve got an office and even office plants (they really tie the room together). And with clean, spacious pages and responsive design to showcase our work, the website we’ve arrived at certainly fits the new era of our brand.

One thing that will never change, though, is our belief in producing creative that works—in creative that is not only striking in its beautiful design but also in its effectiveness in reaching the right people and communicating the right thing.

Which brings us back to this—the work. We’re most excited to unveil the work we’ve been, well, working on. Here are a few highlights from the case studies in our new portfolio:

• For Overstock.com, we changed the mobile future of an online retail giant.
• For KVC Health Systems, we launched a website and developed new branding for an organization that’s impossible not to support.
• For Marlow White, we helped them help our nation’s best look their best with a bit of rebranding.
• For Burns & McDonnell and the Kansas City Streetcar, we placed the streetcar in its rightful place as a new Kansas City landmark, with an interactive, illustrated responsive map to boot.

Go ahead. Take a look. We hope it inspires you to strike up a conversation with us in a comment, a coffee shop, our contact form or on social media. As always, we’d love to talk with you.

Your friends,

Johnny Lightning Strikes Again

The post JLSA 3.0 appeared first on JLSA.

Hello Friends,

As another year comes to a close, we wanted to take a moment to bid adieu to 2014. It’s been a great year at Johnny Lightning Strikes Again!

• We worked on a historic Kansas City project.
• We hired a project manager that saves our lives daily.
• We watched our clients grow and felt extremely proud that we played a small part.
• We threw epic First Friday parties.
• We were nominated for Kansas City Small Business of the Year.
• We didn’t win.
• We launched a website for an organization that is impossible not to support.
• We then helped that organization solve a national crisis.
• We hired a copywriter & strategist who is not only good at her job but is so ridiculously nice that she sort of makes us feel bad about ourselves.
• We succumbed to the oldest marketing trick in the book and used models. We do what we have to do.
• We were asked about our name 287 times, and had a good answer 48 times.
• We did our own take on the Ice Bucket Challenge.
• We explained to people that we’re located behind a bright green door in the alley.
• We apologized for not explaining well enough when people still couldn’t find us.
• We got organic.
• We ate so many breakfast sandwiches at Mildred’s, you guys.

Of course, none of this would have been possible without the people that made it possible. To all our amazing clients and friends – thank you for being a part of our year and letting us be a part of yours. We wish you success, brand awareness and high-fives in 2015!

Happy Holidays,

Josh, James, David, Shawna, Nick, Sara & Caroline

The post JLSA Year in Review appeared first on JLSA.

We used to have a hole here at JLSA. It was big and blobby and stuff—we didn’t exactly know how to describe it, but we knew it needed to be filled. That’s when Caroline Young stepped in. She’s our new copywriter and strategist, and she knew just what to say.

We plucked her from the top of the Missouri School of Journalism’s Strategic Communication program, and now she’s here to handle all our copy needs (and some strategy work too).

Want to get to know her better? We asked her questions. And she gave us answers—some well-worded ones.

When did you know you wanted to be a writer?

Wait, we aren’t going to start with this question, are we? Blerg, okay! . . .February of ‘95. I’m pretty sure it was a Tuesday. Seriously though—I don’t know when, but I do know I just love to do it. Short stories, one-liners, birthday cards, poems, grocery lists. You name it, I love to write it.

Clear thinking is clear writing. Do you have an approach to organizing your thoughts and all the information?

I’ve got two sides when it comes to writing—creative writer and careful editor. While one side wants to go crazy with a keyboard or pen and paper, the other wants to slow down, vary the syntax, check for accuracy, and replace some commas with em-dashes. The result? Fairly tight, clean first drafts and less time spent in later revisions.

Who are your favorite authors and journalists?

Thanks to sixteen straight years of required reading, I wanted to draw from poetry, music, film and art for inspiration in my free time—not get stuck in a 500-page book I knew I wouldn’t have time to finish.

So who are my favorite poets, musicians, directors and artists? Elizabeth Bishop, Rainer Maria Rilke, Feist, Tom Waits, ELO, Regina Spektor, The Flaming Lips, Paul Simon, John Prine, Wes Anderson, Michel Gondry, Paul Thomas Anderson, Van Gogh. I love so many more, but these guys I find a place for on my walls at home.

What surprised you most about your new home in KC?

How much it reminds me of my hometown Memphis. They share not only delicious food (oh, the bbq!) but also a love for forgotten music—for Memphis that music is blues and soul, for Kansas City it’s jazz.

The post Meet Copywriter and Strategist Caroline Young appeared first on JLSA.

The month of May has been a busy one. This month, we marked the end of a phenomenal project by launching a brand new website for KVC Health Systems—a locally-based nonprofit organization that does really great work for kids and families throughout the country.

After closely working with them for more than a year, KVC now has a family of six websites all newly branded with a handmade look and a message that “People Matter.”

Huge initiatives like these can be difficult to navigate, but both sides are extremely proud of the results. Here’s what Renny Arensberg, executive vice president of KVC, had to say:

“We engaged Johnny Lightning Strikes Again to overhaul the KVC Health Systems brand and marketing message—a difficult challenge due to the size of our organization and the complexity and variety of the services we provide. They are gifted communicators and were able to help us define who we are and how we should present ourselves to the public. We’ve taken a huge step forward as a result.”

Our support for KVC goes beyond its branding and website. When the Young Friends of KVC asked to co-host our First Friday event in April, we were happy to have everyone come out to the alley of 1818 Wyandotte to raise money and awareness for a great organization.

To see the new website, visit www.KVC.org.

The post The launch of KVC.org appeared first on JLSA.

Great project management is what ensures work gets done and we don’t all go insane. Needless to say, we value both of those so we thought it was high time to introduce the world (since everyone in the world obviously reads our blog) to the woman that keeps Johnny Lightning Strikes Again sane.

Hi Shawna! Let’s dive right in – how do you keep everything running so smooth?

Systems and process! The systems that JLSA had in place when I got here are amazing. It’s really all about using the tools you have and not trying to keep all the details in your head. There is no way you can keep all the jobs, tasks, next steps, etc. in your head (or on post-it notes!) at one time, so breaking it all down and using the systems at your disposal is how I keep it all together.

What do you love about working at JLSA? Yes, that is leading the witness.

My co-workers, great clients (and no, I’m not just saying that because our clients will read this!) and the overall atmosphere; it’s a fun place to work. JLSA is here to do great work and do it right, plain and simple. The overall process that we take our clients through – from strategy to execution – is the best I have seen in my career. It’s smart and straight to the point – we work with our clients to gather all the information needed up front to make good decisions in strategy before jumping into execution. That statement seems like an obvious one, but you would be amazed at how many companies aren’t doing that – many times everyone wants to jump into execution of a project before having all the information you need to execute it well.

What is the process you follow and software used? Are there any future improvements coming to serve our clients even better?

We currently use Basecamp and a couple other applications to keep the work moving, but are looking into some new options for project management software that may help tie a few of those together. The trick is to find software that can work for all types of projects, from developing a branding strategy to developing a website. JLSA does a large range of marketing/advertising work, so finding something that works for everything is my biggest challenge.

Your dedication to work is remarkable! What else in life do you love doing and how do you keep it all balanced?

My family is my #1 priority and being able to focus on them when I am not at work is great. Work/life balance is huge for me, and I have been able to find that at JLSA. It’s busy with my husband, a 4 year old and 1 year old (as I am sure many reading this can relate to!), but it’s a lot of fun! I also love to run, and well, with 2 little kids, don’t have much free time outside of that!

The post Meet Project Manager Shawna Beckner appeared first on JLSA.

As people who love downtown Kansas City, we believe there’s no more important project for the future of the city than the construction of the streetcar starter line. So when we were selected to design the new kcstreetcar.org, we were both tremendously excited and extremely proud.

The new website, which we produced in collaboration with Burns & McDonnell, The KC Streetcar Constructors and the City of Kansas City, communicates construction notices and updates along the 2-mile streetcar route. If you think that sounds boring, we worked hard to make sure it wasn’t. The site features a fun, illustrated map that is not only extremely functional, but places the streetcar in its rightful place among the other landmarks that define our city.

“We knew conceptually what type of user experience we wanted to create. JLSA created that vision through effective graphics, a smart layout, and a user-friendly and intuitive content-management that makes it possible for our team to make frequent updates in a minimal amount of time.” Meghan Jansen, Public Information Manager, KC Streetcar Constructors

The technical challenges of this project were obvious: Due to the ever-changing nature of such a huge, city-wide endeavor, updates needed to be made quickly and easily. Everything is editable through a WordPress content management system, even the map. The site also needed to work flawlessly on all devices, so we designed it to be mobile friendly.

The communication challenges of this project were less obvious and, in some ways, more difficult. We needed to let people get the information they needed quickly, but deliver it in a way that minimized the stress of detours and lane closures. Construction projects on this scale can be inconvenient, but if viewed through the lens of progress, excitement and city pride, we thought we could lessen any potential frustration.

Visit the new website at kcstreetcar.org from your computer, tablet or phone and be sure to check back often to stay up to date on the construction progress of Kansas City’s streetcar.

The post JLSA and the future of Kansas City appeared first on JLSA.

The principals of two Kansas City agencies, Twentypixel and Stark Collective, have joined our team at Johnny Lightning Strikes Again. Their respective talents in web development and brand strategy are a perfect fit for our ever-growing agency and are already having a tremendous impact on our clients’ creative initiatives.

Nick Greenup, who joins us from his firm Twentypixel, is a man of many skills. His expertise in front end development and user experience, plus his knowledge of the CMS platforms of Drupal and WordPress are essential to modern data driven and responsive websites. Immediate client projects that he’s developed include sites for the Kansas City  Streetcar project (http://kcstreetcar.jlsa.com) and Kansas City engineering firm Affinis (http://affinis.us).

Nick started his career in digital animation before turning his full attention to code. He’s also a nationally ranked pinball champion. His wizardry in pinball is on display at national tournaments and locally at 403 Club (http://www.403club.com) where he has been running a local tournament for 3+ years. Needless to say, we’ve been lacking a proper pinball champion for some time now, so it’s great to put that search to rest.

Kris Flint, who transitioned to us from Stark Collective, has a long career in marketing communications. After founding and building Kansas City agency Two West (http://twowest.com) to what it is today, he started Stark Collective, an integrated digital branding agency. With more work than Stark was set up to handle, his years of experience in business development, brand strategy and agency operations have found a home at JLSA.

Kris has managed agency relationships for both large corporate clients like Sprint as well as project work for entrepreneurial ventures and small businesses like Iris. His love of creativity and design comes from his roots as graphic designer and is applicable when he consults on an organization’s business plan and helps develop their brand strategy. You will also find Kris serving as a Trustee for Park University and teaching Taekwondo at his dojang.

Our recent growth, including the exciting additions of Nick and Kris, will enable us to better meet the creative needs of our clients and explore new and innovative ways to grow their businesses.

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