who is gbg?

Who we are

When it comes to graphic design agencies, there are lots of us out there. It can be confusing when you’re trying to pinpoint the right one for you. But we’re not all created equal.

Here’s what sets us apart:

• We’re small.
We believe that our clients benefit from our small, tightly-knit staff, because we pool our talents and work closely together to find the best solution to your product needs.
• We’re personally invested.
Living and working in a small town is the way to go, as far as we’re concerned. We love getting to know our clients and becoming personally invested in their success. That also means that our door is always open and one of us will answer the phone when you call — and we’ll know who you are. If you stop by, you'll probably meet our three dogs: Occy, a sweet-tempered yellow lab who will want a tummy rub; Che-Che, the chocolate lab baby of the family who will beg to play ball; and Guadalupe, our 5 pound black toy poodle who joined us in 2010 as a rescue.

• We’re affordable.
We know what it’s like to be a small- to medium-sized business. Not only are we one, ourselves, but we’ve also worked with a lot ofthem. So we understand how important it is to work within a set budget.
• We’re artists.
At GBG, we’re able to apply our passion to our work, so we think that we’re pretty lucky. Whenever we can, we incorporate special touches like hand illustration and custom carving to make your project stand apart from the competition.

What we do

Our mission is to provide graphic branding services and products that are artfully crafted. We aim to support businesses in all stages of development and create cost-effective and beautiful advertising platforms for them that allow them to compete at the local, national or even global level. We consider the environment carefully with our business practices.

How we began

In 2006, we (Julie Ruth and Shannon Matthew Long) bought GBG from its previous owner. With Julie’s marketing and design background and Shannon’s experience as a sculptor and retail manager, the opportunity seemed like a natural fit.

Getting married and starting a business around the same time might seem like a recipe for disaster for many. But we get to live in Vermont — a state that we’ve both migrated to and love dearly — and do work that we both enjoy.

What we’re about

We try to keep as much in-house as possible, so you don’t have to worry about when your materials will arrive — or from where. For us, this business is “hands-on.” We are personally connected with your product throughout every stage of its development — from design to production. And we enjoy the meaningful relationships that are formed with our customers, many of whom live in northern Vermont and the surrounding area.

And we’re all artists here, so we do things that other designers might not do. To make your package design or logo as uniquely different as possible, we incorporate hand-drawn illustrations and custom carving into a lot of our work. Not only will your product stand out from the crowd, but it will also be a work of art.

Who we serve

Most of the clients we work with are owners of either:

• Veritable institutions in the business community who want to rely on us as their marketing partner. We take care of everything from design to production for products, catalogs, signage, web content and other marketing collateral.

• Established businesses looking to enhance their current image with a new sign, trade show displays or new packaging for their products.

• Small and medium-sized businesses that are either starting up or are experiencing sudden growth.

We can meet you where you’re at, wherever you might be in the growth of your business.

How we work

We like to think of ourselves as good listeners. While we may have specific ideas and suggestions to address your design needs, we don’t take a steamroller approach to getting the job done. Our goal is to deliver an end product that looks great, stands out in the marketplace, and feels good to you. And we think that the best way to do this is by keeping your thoughts and ideas on the table at all times.

Every project begins with a free initial consultation, so that we can get a sense of your business and design needs. After we decide on a plan, then we can work on putting together a proposal that includes a description of services and an estimate.

We look forward to working with you. Call us at 802-888-5515 or email us to get started.