Blogging | Larson Design Group Blog

Category Archives: Blogging

Emily Diehl
Designer – Landscape Architecture

At Larson Design Group, we believe that our employees are our greatest asset. In this feature, we profile some of the staff members who contribute to our success. This month the spotlight is on Emily Diehl, Designer with LDG’s Landscape Architecture group.

Where did your career take you before joining LDG?
I worked full-time while attending Penn State to get my bachelor’s degree in landscape architecture. I worked a variety of retail jobs, managing employees and schedules, marketing, creating displays, stocking merchandise, and making sure my customers left happy. I am probably one of the few to say I truly loved working in retail. I loved being able to help so many people find things for their home, or that perfect shoe or tennis racquet. Yes, there is a lot of negativity surrounding the retail world, but I made it a goal to help people enjoy their shopping experience and in turn I enjoyed my job. I learned that you can’t make everyone happy; some customers will always find something to complain about. Also, the thought of leaving that comfortable work environment to come work in an office every day was very scary to me, but I did it and it turned out for the best. After 9 years, I still love being here.

> Read the rest of this article

Comments (1) | Permalink | Tags: Emily Diehl, employee spotlight, Landscape Architecture

Click image to enlarge.

I recently had the privilege of spending a couple of hours with some local high school students who are members of the Building Leaders for the Susquehanna Valley program. This group was picked among some of the brightest local students and they meet on a monthly basis. Their February session included an exercise where they were given a hypothetical 200-acre property in “Bright Hope”, USA and divided into groups to propose a development on the tract. After a brainstorming session, each of the five groups unveiled their plans, which ranged from a hospital to a golf course to a power plant.

Over lunch, I joined professionals from the Central PA Chamber of Commerce, Union County Planning Department, Bucknell University Small Business Development Corporation, and Susquehanna Visitors Bureau to quiz a group on their ideas and to provide real-world insight to refine their proposal. After some tweaks (from coal-fired power to natural gas at my table), each group took turns giving a final presentation to the entire group.

> Read the rest of this article

Comments (1) | Permalink |

Larson Design Group (LDG) is currently designing a compressed natural gas (CNG) fueling station in conjunction with the City of Williamsport. The station will be located at the River Valley Transit (RVT) garage on West Third Street in Williamsport and will be open to the public.

Why Natural Gas?

The price of CNG fluctuates between a half and a third of the price of gasoline. Maintenance costs for natural gas-powered vehicles (NGVs) are equal to or less than those of gas or diesel. Combined with government grants, significant savings can be an expected result of CNG-powered fleets. In fact, RVT has already received a $3.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation and a $400,000 grant from the Department of Environmental Protection to help fund both the fueling station and the purchase of four CNG buses. RVT expects an annual savings of over $400,000 once the natural gas station is completed.

> Read the rest of this article

Comments (3) | Permalink | Tags: CNG, Gas, Gas Station, Lycoming County, Marcellus, Marcellus Shale, Natural Gas, PA, public transportation, River Valley Transit, Williamsport

As many of you may have noticed, January 18th was Internet Blackout Day in an unbelievably successful attempt for many of the web’s heaviest hitters to show their strong disapproval of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA). As companies like Google, Wikipedia, and WordPress “blacked out” their content and urged users to endorse their opposition to the bill, SOPA and PIPA’s sponsors started to run for the hills, but the lawmakers haven’t backed down – even as the amount of endorsements against the bills allegedly shut down congress’ switchboards and melted their servers.

> Read the rest of this article

Comments (1) | Permalink |

Photo: © Fred Fokkelman

The term “branding” – as it refers to an expression of a corporate identity or visual persona – comes from the practice of branding cattle. Branding often starts with research in order to develop a logo and then progresses to various other supporting visual elements or applications. Branding is often dismissed from a budget as an unnecessary expense. This is an understandable misunderstanding of the process and benefits of good branding.

Branding is an investment, and when done right it can pay off big time, not just in attracting attention from your target market and making a strong impression, but also in streamlining the design decisions that employees make every day (often without even recognizing them). The intention is not to be complicated or contrived but simple, supportive, and effective in order to create and maintain a recognizable and beneficial visual presence with your audience.

Things like templates and brand guides are not some fascist attempt to restrict the individual’s creativity, but rather a way to relieve employees from the burden of making small and/or repetitive design decisions everyday that would inevitably contribute to overhead costs and an inconsistent visual identity for the company. The most widely-experienced visual-design processes throughout the company should be understood and addressed during the branding process.

> Read the rest of this article