Launching Stack Creative

As of today, the doors of Stack Creative are officially open.

What is Stack Creative?

Glad you asked!

We’re a small, independent, multidisciplinary creative studio based in Toronto, Canada. Our core offering is art direction and visual design geared towards small businesses and start-ups.

When we say “multidisciplinary,” we mean it. Branding; art direction and graphic design for print, web, social, digital products, and physical spaces; advertising art direction across all media; UI and the nitty-gritty detail work. You name it, and we can create it.

We also partner with a growing roster of external specialists and firms in complementary fields such as copywriting, UX, strategy and development.

Why should you work with Stack?

The services we offer are purposefully broad, because rare is the project that exists in a vacuum — especially in the early or growth stages of a company, product or service.

A discussion about “branding” or “design” is as much about a button colour or logo, as it is about a copywriting style, as it is about the vibe of a physical space, or any number of other touchpoints. Though the scope varies across projects, we’ve found this interconnected truth holds, regardless of the specific deliverables.

Context matters. Our holistic, connect-the-dots approach supports this mission: to present your business to the world in a way that resonates to your audience, through work that’s fundamentally true to your core.

But with all of that said, there’s more to the success of a client/studio partnership than just consistently delivering work that we think will move the needle.

What are Stack’s core values?

At Stack, we have three fundamental values that underpin our approach to any project we sign on for: commitment, communication and transparency.

We exist to help your company thrive. We also understand where you might be coming from — working with an external partner to show the world something you’ve created or built can often be an emotional decision and process. On top of that, time, money, and trust are all valuable, finite resources.

The way we see it, we’re in this together. We approach every client engagement with a fundamental commitment to the process and success of the project — and in turn, your business. The more we deepen our understanding of your unique strengths, the challenges you face, and the market you’re in or after, the more we’ll meaningfully increase our chances of success.

Working this closely enables us to work in a remarkably open and trusting way, with less hierarchy to wade through and increased opportunity for true collaboration. This also enhances our chances of spotting any opportunities before they pass — or any warning flags before they become too urgent to ignore.

Who’s running Stack?

My name is Stuart Thursby, and I’m the Founder and Creative Director.

I’ve worked in both Toronto and Berlin with agencies such as AJ&Smart, BBDO & Proximity Canada, DDB, FCB/SIX, Teehan+Lax, and T4G Kick as a designer, art director and associate design director. My awards shelf contains recognition from the ADCCs, Applied Arts, CMAs, Cannes, D&ADs, Webby’s and more, and I’ve been fortunate enough to teach classes in visual design at Humber College and UX design at RED Academy to boot.

My trip around the advertising and design industry to date has been a joyful ride. I’ve been fortunate enough to work with a bunch of talented colleagues, creative directors, clients and friends, on a number of great projects, learning as much as I could all along the way.

But the call of entrepreneurship is a strong one, and the decision to start Stack was a relatively easy one to make. Nothing excites me more than working with smaller companies, brands and start-ups on the unique challenges inherent to them.

Awesome. How do I get in touch?

I’m writing this post to announce the launch of the studio, and to lay out our founding philosophy and the intent with which we work.

If you have any marketing or creative needs, or even if you simply have an idea you want to kick around over a coffee or a cocktail — our door is always open.

Our website is stackcreative.co. You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

You can also reach me directly at stuart@stackcreative.co, or by phone or text at 647–447–6770.

I hope our paths cross soon.

Cheers,

Stuart

—

Stuart Thursby is the Founder & Creative Director of Stack Creative, based in Toronto, Canada.

Subscribe today to Insights and Tactics to receive articles like this, direct to your inbox. It ships once every three weeks, and contains curious insights and actionable tactics around branding, advertising, and the web.