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An Applied-Values Approach to Branding

“Marketing is about values. It’s a complicated and noisy world, and we’re not going to get a chance to get people to remember much about us. No company is. So we have to be really clear about what we want them to know about us.” – Steve Jobs At Murmur we employ what we call…

Dani Severson, Art Director at Murmur Creative

Introducing Senior Art Director Dani Severson

Like any creative studio worth its salt, the Murmur team is composed of a diverse spectrum of colorful individuals whose talents and perspectives enrich our work and expand our horizons. As part of a burgeoning series of short interviews, we’ve decided to showcase our people and their perspectives to celebrate their contributions and share their…

Our Journey to a New Brand

 Sound on! 🙂 How it Began A branding agency rebranding itself is not unlike a barber cutting their own hair or a director directing themself in a film. It’s a bit of a magic trick. This is not to say that we didn’t succeed. We are in love with our new brand!  It was…

Murmur Creative pose with Santa Clause at Brown Hope

Murmur Volunteer Day at Brown Hope

As we wrap up 2021, I feel like it’s been a hard year in a series of hard years. But as difficult as things may seem here at Murmur, it’s been a lot harder for others. I feel like this knowledge has been ever-present–a weight many of us lug throughout the day. Because with each…

DEI Update graphic

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Update

As a certified B Corporation and values-based organization that is beholden to our employees, community, and our environment, it is vital for us to do more than state our support and intentions for social justice, we must also demonstrate progress. As strong supporters of Black Lives Matter and other BIPoC movements, we recognized action above…

Intuitive SEO Copywriting

While SEO can sometimes seem like technical wizardry that only the masters of the Google-verse can succeed at, creating web pages that are well-optimized for search engines does not require in-depth technical know-how. Often in SEO, highly technical optimizations will have negligible effects, while simple and intuitive changes can make big differences. Once you have…

We’ve Become a B Corp!

This year, Murmur achieved one of our long-term dreams, joining a stellar group of companies that are striving to make the future brighter through business.  What Is a B Corp? B Corporations make a legal commitment to balance purpose with profit. B Corp companies, like Patagonia, Ben & Jerry’s, and New Seasons, must complete a…

Introducing Our New Branding

The Cobbler’s Dilemma Here at Murmur we’ve got some dirty laundry to air. We’re embarrassed to admit we’ve been running with the same branding since we were a little 5-person operation, almost 5 years ago. We recommend that our clients evaluate their branding every few years to make sure their organization’s visual identity is still…

We Won The AMA MAX Best Branding Award For Cascade Brewing!

We’re pretty busy around here at Murmur Creative, so we don’t have a lot of time to submit our work for awards. The exception is the American Marketing Association’s MAX awards. Every year, the Portland chapter of the American Marketing Association hosts the AMA MAX Awards to honor creative work from across the Pacific Northwest…

404 error message sinking in ocean

Our Best 404 Error Pages

At Murmur Creative, the user experience is paramount. For this reason, we always put extra care into every page of the sites we design—even pages that people rarely see. A perfect example is the 404 page. Mistyping a URL or clicking on a broken link can be a negative user experience. And while we can’t keep…

Miranda Schmidt Content Strategist

Introducing Miranda!

Miranda is the newest addition to the Murmur team (and boy are we lucky to have her!). She bowled us over in her interview and continues to impress us with her wordsmithery, smarts, and unquenchable thirst for knowledge. Let’s learn a little bit about what makes her tick! So you were an English professor before…

Murmur Camping Trip 2017

Murmur Camp: Our 2017 Camping Adventure

Every summer Murmur heads out into the domestic-wild with our tents and sleeping bags for a weekend of sun, BBQ, family, and no cell phone reception. It’s a wonderful way to reset, relax, and enjoy each other without the deadlines, meetings, and everyday stress of agency life. It’s an opportunity for us to connect, not…

Murmur Creative Careers

Freelance Web Designer

Collaborate with a super-fun group of designers, developers, and marketing folks to work on local and national brands. We’re looking to develop a relationship with an experienced freelance web designer with UI/UX chops. We’re a small team and when our plate gets full we’d like the ability to augment our capabilities with a talented freelancer.…

[Podcast] The Story of Murmur Creative – Part 3

Did Murmur Creative reach its 2016 goal of a million dollars? What trials and tribulations did the agency face during the year? What did they learn? What lies ahead for Murmur in 2017? In this Creative Agency Podcast year end review episode, Chris and Andrew Bolton discuss what happened in 2016. They talk about taking on bigger projects, outgrowing…

Murmur Creative's Having an 80's Prom

Design Week Portland is Coming to Washington High

1982 was a great year in American history. Gato Del Sol Cougar II won the Kentucky Derby (Laser Light Majestic Light came in second), the world was introduced to Madonna, “Noid” was a legitimate insult, MJ released Thriller (still the best selling album of all time), and E.T., Blade Runner, Fast Times at Ridgemont High,…