Awards!!

Innovative Design Concepts has had several floats in various parades so far.  We are winding down the float season and are working on our last couple of floats.  Everyone has been working hard and the payoff has been great.  We have won a few awards for our float designs.  The first award was the Sweepstake Winner at the Provo Freedom Festival Parade.  This was a Kung-Fu Panda design that was for the Primary Children's Hospital float sponsored by Pepsi and Walmart.  The second award was in that same parade but for the Orem City float that we designed and this float won the Mayor's Award for the Most Outstanding City Entry.  We love winning awards and our customers are pleased with the results as well. 

Another crowd favorite is the KFC/Real Salt Lake Float.  Although this float didn't win an award in this particular parade everyone flocked to it and enjoyed the fun design.  The float has a KFC on the back that was built, painted, and glittered all by hand.  Their is a family on the float enjoying some "So Good" KFC.  It's going to be very exciting when all of the floats go down the street for the Days' of 47 Parade.  We are looking forward to seeing all of the stake floats and anticipate this parade being the best one yet.  Thanks to everyone for your recent business and please contact us if you need anything else or have questions.  The IDC Crew.

June Marks Our Halfway Point For Float Season

I must apologize if this blog entry sounds a bit blah... We have all be making jokes around the office that we have almost had it with parade floats.  Of course we are all designers and this is just how we talk, we all know that there is nothing we would rather be doing.  We are about half way through our float line up and things are looking great.  We always enjoy when clients see their floats for the first time and we get what we call "The Wow Effect."  I guess this is what makes all the blood, sweat, tears, and glitter worth it for us.  Not to toot our own horn, but I'm going to anyway.  We have received much acclaim for our recent work with Murray City, Herriman City, Sandy City, and South Jordan City.  We can't wait to see the reaction of the crowds when people see our floats.  Of course we are proud of our work but it's the satisfaction that we see with our clients that really makes it worth it. 
In the line up for the next week or so.  We are now taking on Midvale City, Draper City, Walmart, U of U, and KFC/REAL.  I know it sounds like we are over extended but that's only because we really are. Some of us are wondering if we can really get all of this done. And as many of you know some of these floats come down to the wire and we end up working day and night.  But that's the price you have to pay when you choose and artistic career based on deadlines. 
We would just like to thank all of the stakes for their recent participation with our float class.  We hope that all of you are enjoying your float building experience and that your floats are looking sparkly and fun.  We know that they will all look amazing on July 25th.  Thanks for all of your support and remember we are here to help so let us know if there is anything that we can do for you.

Ferris Wheels and Hot Air Balloons....must be float season.

This past week was quite the eye opening experience for me.  I was asked to join the warehouse crew and help construct parade floats.  Let's just say that I gained so much respect for the warehouse crew.  What would normally take a professional an hour for a project, took me at least half the day.  I discovered just how time consuming these floats can be and just how much detail goes in to making them look amazing as they glide down the street on parade day.  I've always considered myself to be you know moderately detail oriented, but I guess I was wrong.  Needless to say I was asked at the end of the week if I would stick to what I do best and that's the sales & marketing.  So no more float decorating for me.  But that still leaves 8 of the best float designers back in the warehouse working some serious late shifts pulling off what we like to call "float miracles."  Together we have finished Sandy City, Herriman, and Murray City, leaving us just about a day away from finishing Orem City and South Jordan City.  I've been telling everyone just how amazing these floats are turning out and I am really excited to see them all in the Days of '47 Parade.  I've spoken with several of the stake float committees and had the opportunity to view their floats.  They all look really amazing.  However, it was nice to have shared the same frustration that many of these stakes have experienced with float design.  The general response that I get from the stake float builders is "I had no idea just how time consuming building a float is."  So much hard work goes in to these floats and I would just like to thank the crew at IDC for their dedication and hard work with extra hours and doing this with a smile.  The end result will definitely be worth it.  I would also like the stake float builders to be reminded that we are here to help and to contact us with any questions that you may be having and we will do our best to resolve them. 

The float pictures I have included are of Murray City, South Jordan City, Herriman City, and Sandy City.  I'm sure that all of these will be showstoppers this year.  Thanks again, and happy float building everyone.

Bulldozer

This week we finished the Bank of American Fork float as well as Springville City.  The floats look great and we can't wait to see them in their first parade.  We have started on Herriman City which has a really fun theme this year in honor of the men and women who helped out with the tragic fire last year.  The theme is Heros Among Us.  This float will look spectacular.  David and Paul kept saying how interesting it has been building a bulldozer because this is the first time they have ever built one.  The bulldozer looks great!  As if we are not already busy enough, we have also started Murray City which has in past years won first place in the government category.  I'm sure they are looking forward to trying to repeat this.  However, I'm sure just as many cities would love to steal that title from them.  Here are a few pictures of the two floats in the beginning stages.  Enjoy.  Also just a reminder we will be having another seminar on May 19th @ our warehouse beginning at 7 pm.  We hope to see everyone there. 

IDC of Utah
Warehouse
925 West 100 North Suite B
North Salt Lake, UT.  84054

Dream House, Dream Vacation, Dream Education

This week we have completed a new float.  This is the float for The Bank of American Fork.  We have our talented art sculptor paul who we have thank for his incredible construction skills and artistic talent.  Everybody plays a huge role in building these floats but Paul seems to slip under the radar and doesn't always receive the credit that he deserves.  So for this we thank you Paul.  Our other sculptor Barbie and our painter Annette also deserve a great thanks for their work on the Bank of American Fork's famous pig Seymour.  Seymour is thinking about his dream vacation, dream education, and dream house.  We are excited to return this float to Bank of American Fork and start on a new float for someone else.  This is going to be our ongoing schedule for the next couple of months.  Onward and upward as we "press forward" to the big Days of '47 Parade in July. 

Chop Shop

I recently decided to nickname our warehouse "The Chop Shop".  I've seen our crew disassemble and recreate some pretty amazing floats.  It's brilliant what these guys...and girls can do.  They literally chop up, strip, cut, glue, glitter, paint, and sculpt.  You name it and they can do it.  We are very lucky to have these people on our crew.  We have added a few new employees to our team named Fran, Trent, and Amy.  We are so happy to have the extra help as we move right into our busy season.  I've included a before and after picture of a float from Springville.  And our train float for Bank of American Fork is coming together perfectly.  Many of the stake floats are under way and looking really good.  We would just like to remind you that we are here to help you with any of your questions and we love teaching you how to paint, glitter, sculpt etc...  So don't hesitate to call us.  Our next float seminar date will be May 19th, 2011 and we hope to see everyone there, until then happy float building.

Leapin' Leaners & Low Tops 2011

Every year in March Innovative Design Concepts throws an event called Leapin' Leaners & Low Tops.  This is an event to raise money for charity and is sponsored by O.C. Tanner.  We love this event because it is on such a large scale that the final product is spectacular.  Any person that is in the event industry knows just how difficult it can be to put a large event together and have everything fall into place.  When the event comes together and everything falls into place this takes a lot of planning and the reward is a happy client.  This year everything ran smooth and the event was amazing.  We hung extra large balloons and streamers from the rafters.  Our floral department put together some amazing arrangements.  And our setup crew was outstanding right down to the smallest details.  The event raised a bunch of money and was a huge success.  We at IDC are pleased that we had the opportunity to be a part of it, and are eagerly looking forward to next March.

Under The Sea

As many of you may already know, one of our main focuses are themed interior environments.  These are such fun jobs because all of our designers come together to make these themed environments happen.  They also give us an opportunity to travel all over the country to different offices and waiting rooms to install them.  We love this because we get to show off our work not only in Utah.  Our most recent themed environment was installed in Houston, Texas for a pediatric dental office.  We start with our sculptor who carves out the characters.  After this step we have our talented artists paint the characters.  The next step is the travel and installation.  Our artistic director David and his son Paul install everything and transform an ordinary office space into a fantasy themed environment ready for adventure.  It is this type of team work that allows us to pull off these themed environments, and is a huge part of our company.  "Changing one office at a time."  This should be our new company slogan.

Aliens Have Landed

Well at least that's what the Utah Dental Association (UDA) must have thought.  As you may already know the UDA holds an annual dental convention each year.  This is the perfect opportunity for Innovative Design Concepts of Utah to showcase our work.  Wow!  We sure were the talk of the convention.  Everybody had to get a picture by our booth, and find out just exactly what we were up to as well as why we were there.  Our themed environments are a huge part of our company and these environments are a great way to revolutionize your office space into a fun atmosphere for everyone.  Not only do we do space themes but we can create anything that our clients can dream up.  You should have seen the gears turning when we told them we can create most anything.  Most of the dentists and hygenists came up with some pretty fun ideas.  We as designers love this process, because it's a chance for us to get to know our clients while creating an environment that will completely change what they used to think an office should be like.  Thanks to our wonderful team we received great exposure and let people know that we are here to change spaces into Wow! environments.

Apology

I must apologize because in earlier posts I listed all of our employees.  But now it has been brought to my attention that I accidentally left one out. (I have no idea how I could leave out one of our most important team players).  This person is Alecia or as we like to call her around the office.  Queen accountant.  Enjoy.

Feb. 27th - March 5th

Cans, cans and more cans.  Once again it is time for the Associated Foods event.  We decided to create a soup can inspired event.  We made fresh floral arrangment centerpieces for the tables.  The stage setup was created using giant soup cans with the logos of the different grocery stores on them along with motivational words such as; Success, Tradition, and The Power of Possibility.  With our talented warehouse crew these cans really made a big impact on the employees of Associated Foods.  Other than the Associated Foods event we have still be gearing up for parade float season.  I decided that it would be a good idea to do some before and after pictures.  So there is a picture of Springville City float before picture.  We did remove quite a bit from the float when the picture was taken, but it will be fun to see the finished product and exactly what the designers at IDC can do. Keep watching for after pics as we finish more and more floats.

Innovative Design Concepts of Utah

February 20th - 26th

We have started the float season off with a bang!!  Last week we held our parade float kick-off meeting and had a wonderful turn out.  It was so much fun learning about floats and everyone enjoyed Davids energetic way of teaching.  We have added a few new helpers as we are heading into busy float season.  These gals are by far at the top when it comes to creativity and expertise.  Jan is working on her second year in float building.  Pamela has been with the company going on two years and has quite the eye for floral creativity.  As far as our warehouse crew goes we have quite the team with Paul, Leo, and Dave.  We as a whole are very excited to be moving forward stronger than we have ever been and we look forward to making this the best parade float season ever!