Signs of Smiles

February 20, 2005
This article is from The Nashua Telegraph, and was written by Patrick Meighan.

Drive by 624 Daniel Webster Highway and it’s impossible not to do a double-take.

If you’re like many passers-by, you don’t know what the heck Grinning Moon Creative is. You just like the name.

People are grabbed by the catchy sign that bears a crescent moon design and the head-turning name, said James and Danielle Mojonnier, the couple who owns the business inside.

“That’s why we didn’t care about paying a little bit extra for this interesting sign,” James said. “People see it, and it sticks in their head.”

Sure, the sign is catchy, but what does it mean?

“We get a lot of interesting guesses. Like a dentist’s office, because of the grin,” he said.

When the building was under construction 2½ years ago, the partial sign stuck out front fostered curiosity.

“People were guessing what we did,” Danielle said.

They still get the occasional walk-in customer expecting to find a card shop or boutique of some sort, not the office of a husband-wife operation that designs everything from Web sites and book jackets to business advertisements, brochures and logos.

Or, for that matter, the customer off the street wouldn’t expect to find a growing company that received this year’s Business of the Year Award ber of Commerce.

To the young go the spoils

Besides the name, the other eye-popping thing about Grinning Moon Creative is the age of the proprietors. James, the artist, is 26. His wife, the business brains behind the operation, is 25.

They’re accustomed to getting what Danielle describes as “that look” from perspective clients.

“We definitely get that look sometimes when people come in and realize how young we are,” Danielle said.

“Sometimes people will come in and meet with us and seem very skeptical,” James said. “They’ll say, ‘but you look so young.’ But after the first draft is done . . .”

“ . . .You can see them sigh in relief,” Danielle jumped in.

“Like, ‘You know what you’re doing!’ ” James said.

Those who equate youth with inexperience may question the talent or acumen of these wet-behind-the-ears entrepreneurs. Doubters need only to look at the Grinning Moon portfolio, or talk to Chamber officers about what they describe as a “hip, young graphic design company” that has taken Merrimack by storm.

The Mojonniers started the business when they both were students at Carnegie Mellon University, where James studied graphic design and Danielle theater directing.

“James was good enough to wait around for an extra year while I finished grad school as well, before we moved up here,” Danielle said.

Some of James’ first professional designs were covers of books published through his college’s university press. Grinning Moon began in Pittsburgh while the Mojonniers were still students, and when they moved the business to New England – Danielle is from Beverly, Mass., and James is from Charleston, S.C. – some of their Steel City clients stuck with them.

However, most of their client base now is from New Hampshire. The business was jump-started when the couple joined the Merrimack Chamber of Commerce, and has grown largely through word of mouth, the Mojonniers said.

Barnstorming the design world

When they looked to locate in New England, the Mojonniers wanted a place near population centers and off a major highway. They found that site when they bought and renovated an old barn in Reeds Ferry just off Exit 12 of the F.E. Everett Turnpike.

“When we moved in, this building was fully a barn,” James said.

It was unheated. Hay covered uneven floors. Each window denoted a horse stall. The original barn door now forms a cool-looking inside partition.

“We’ve come a long way,” James said.

“We couldn’t leave this door out front, because it’s not weather-tight,” Danielle said. “But we definitely wanted to save it. We saved as much as we could.”

Stabile Co. did a large part of the structural work, and won an award for the company’s work on the building. The couple did finish work such as putting down tile floors, installing cabinets and painting the interior.

“When we bought it, people said they thought it was all going to be bulldozed. We said, ‘OK, what did we get ourselves into?’ ” Danielle said.

James said it took them a little longer than expected to get going, but once they had the location established in the summer of 2002 and could sit down, show their portfolio and present themselves to clients, business has flourished.

James works in different media, including photography and computer graphics, but he loves pen and ink drawings most. At CMU, he was an editorial cartoonist and art editor for the campus newspaper. He now draws editorial cartoons for a local weekly newspaper, the Merrimack News Connection.

Working in graphic design means tailoring the concept to the individual client. Grinning Moon caters to businesses with less than 100 employees. Some clients are individuals. Usually, they can juggle working with 10 clients at a time.

The client list includes Heritage Case Management, BeachFront Property Swimwear, Stoneham Theatre, Santa Fe Smokehouse, the New Hampshire Housing Finance Authority, Merrimack Veterinary Hospital, Innovations Salon and Spa, and many others.

When they talk about the broad range of clients, the Mojonniers sound downright evangelical.

“The stuff that we do for our clients is definitely – I’m trying to find the right word – it’s definitely rewarding, because I always learn a little bit more with every project,” James said.

“Our client base has all different industries,” Danielle said.

“And that can be exciting,” James said, “because you learn a little bit about every industry, from real estate to beverage processing to working with a lawyer, a case manager . . .”

“. . . a veterinary hospital, a construction company, a hair salon, all kinds of things,” Danielle said. “You have to learn what their strengths are, and what makes them stand out from their competitors. And that’s what we try to highlight, what’s unique about each company.

“I really think you try to change the look of your work to go with the industry, too.”

Character studies of clients

When a prospective client first contacts Grinning Moon, Danielle draws upon her theater background and creates a profile of the business, which she likens to a character study.

“You get to know how they think of themselves and how they want to be seen,” James said.

After the profile is completed, James presents usually four different drafts of the particular design. At the end of the process, all options have been explored, “and the resulting design is the best possible design,” James said.

It’s often a process of honing in, the Mojonniers said. Sometimes, what the company wants is exactly the opposite of what they say they want. They’ll say they want to be different, and then push for a traditional design.

Helping the client settle on a design appropriate for the business also can be a process of education, Danielle said.

“Most of our clients have never worked with a designer before,” she said.

The Mojonniers make a point of looking at their clients’ competitors to make sure their design doesn’t look similar. The idea is to set the client apart from the crowd, they said.

“If I see them making a choice I think is wrong in the design process, I definitely speak out,” James said. “I try to point out why. Maybe what they like is just what they’re used to.”

And then come the lawyers

Some clients, of course, are more challenging than others.

“It’s almost impossible to get a lawyer to go with a logo that’s not the scales of justice,” James said.

“We try,” Danielle said. “We give them 12 ideas, and one is the scales, because they asked for it, and you’re hoping they go for the other 11. And they go for the scales.”

At other times, working with clients is something akin to a round of “Fear Factor.”

“I try to bring a sense of humor, whenever appropriate, into my work,” James said.

“Sometimes we have to drag our clients into that. They’re scared. They want to be unique, and they want to be different from their competitors, but at the same time to do that you have to be willing to do something that no one else is doing,” Danielle said.

Calvin and Schwab

As for the artistic side of the coin, James likes to combine photography with Photoshop, to play with odd juxtapositions of images.

James’ father has a strong interest in architecture and unusual designs and constantly sends them books, Danielle said.

Among James’ favorite artists and influences, he cites Bill Watterson, the artist who drew the Calvin and Hobbes comic strip, and graphic designer Michael Schwab.

“When I’m designing for myself, or what I personally find attractive – the works of Michael Schwab,” James said. “His manner of working with form and color is very cool.”

When James designed a logo for Blackdog Builders Inc., based in Salem, he allowed Schwab’s influence to reflect in the work.

His design appears on the company’s logo, stationery, business cards, signage, sportswear and truck displays. It’s a strong image of a black dog set against a striking red background

“In terms of the boldness of the color, use of shapes,” the design is much like something Schwab would create, James said.

Low-key by design

The Mojonniers consider Grinning Moon to be an accessible, down-to-earth, client-friendly business

“We were very conscious in forming a business that would be very approachable. We try to steer away from terminology that they’re not going to know. We try to be really friendly so they feel comfortable,” Danielle said.

“By the end, we feel like they’re our children,” she said. “We send them off into the world. A lot of these companies are really small and they’re starting to grow. Or they’re trying to reinvent themselves and keep up with modern changes.”

For now, James and Danielle have no plans to go Metropolitan, either by moving the business to New York, the hub of design creativity, or by expanding.

Creatively, Grinning Moon is a reflection of James’ artistic style, and Danielle fears that would be lost if the company hired additional designers.

“We’re very happy keeping it just the two of us. We’ve got all that we can handle,” Danielle said.

The couple is proud of the Chamber award, but they don’t feel it should be surprising that young entrepreneurs can find success.

“Anyone with the right amount of drive and focus can do this,” James said. “I don’t see it as novel because I’m doing what I love.”

“We have a definite niche with these small businesses,” Danielle said.

Patrick Meighan can be reached at 594-6518 or meighanp@telegraph-nh.com.