Malley Design, 1229 Tyler Street NE, # 110, Minneapolis, MN (2026)

04/23/2026

The brief called for a full brand identity system, with core apparel to launch. Crew necks, pocket tees, hoodies, trucker hats, each built around the logo, the wordmark, and Best West’s rallying cry.

Now, Midwest pride is actually a bit of a contradiction. We’d rather send you home with leftovers than trumpet our own accomplishments. How do you communicate the quiet confidence of a people who (generally!) don’t have anything to prove?

Overall, we chose vintage nostalgia with 2026 punch. Script and all-caps typography mixed together. Warm, human, graphic enough to live on a hat or a chest pocket without explanation. The cardinal became one of the brand’s most versatile marks, a nod to the regional symbol that shows up in backyards from Minnesota to Indiana.

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04/09/2026

A museum piece wasn’t the goal. So we merged the deco bones with a healthy dose of cowboy culture, neon accents, and imagery built around Fun Biz’s actual food concepts. The result is a brand that feels like it’s been part of the fairgrounds for decades. Playful and original, but rooted in something real.

For a space that serves 10 concepts under one roof, the brand needed to unify without flattening. Cavalcade does that. Every touchpoint speaks the same language, but the menu sets it apart. Come because of the brand. Stay for the turkey legs. Or pork belly bacon bites. Or Mexican street corn pizza.

Case Study link in bio.

03/05/2026

Trying to get something to “look Minnesotan” can quickly collapse into old cliches, like the design equivalent of telling someone you’re from Minnesota, only for them to reward you with their best impression of Marge Gunderson from Fargo.

But the Minnesota vibe feels earned. Sauna Water is confident, but understated. Here for you, but relying on substance over flash. And happy to be in 68 degrees, but right at home in the extremes of hot and cold. Just like the people who hail from the state we’re proud to call home.

“We knew we needed a seasoned design team with experience creating elevated consumer brands. The team at Malley collaborated closely with us and exceeded our expectations, delivering a brand and packaging system that supported our market positioning, design standards, and aspirations.” — Jeff Vondenkamp, Founder of Sauna Water

Case Study link in bio.
📸 Product shots:

03/05/2026

“The way we’re wired is to be outside,” Jeff says. So no matter how many hours you spent burnt out behind your screen of choice, nature will always feel alluring.

With Sauna Water’s all-natural, often-foraged ingredients, nature felt like an art direction that was both obvious and smart. But instead of pine trees and smoke billowing out of saunas, we chose something subtler. Is it a body of water? Maybe. Light coming through a heap of steam? Buy a can or 12 and tell us what you think. Like sauna itself, it’s less something you understand and more an atmosphere you experience.

The colors double down on the vibes. We kept them grounded in colors you’d actually see in nature while turning the volume down on saturation. The can gets your attention, alright, but it doesn’t have to shout at you to do it.

The logotype is Scandinavian-influenced, with geometric serifs that are beautiful, but in a sound and useful way. Accompanying fonts introduce subtle curves that strike a balance between premium and organic, while giving it a more welcoming touch to pair with the stoic logotype.

Case Study link in bio.

03/04/2026

If you’re a consumer scanning the aisles, you spend about 1.5 seconds on any given beverage.

And if you’re the brains behind a beverage that’s N/A, wellness, or both, you probably already felt the crowd around you. Alcohol consumption is down, alternatives are up, and the functional beverage industry is expecting to nearly double between 2022 and 2030.

With so many guests at the party, how do you get eyes to linger on you? That’s the question which came to us from Jeff Vondenkamp, the entrepreneur behind , a casual wellness beverage crafted for the salt, stress relief, and social connection that comes at 175 degrees. A successful partnership with , followed by a Star Tribune feature, led to 6 months of demand that was all ebb and no flow.

Jeff saw an opportunity to seize the moment. He partnered with us to deliver a packaging design that won attention in the aisles and gave them an image that could scale nationally while remaining true to its anti-hustle, pro-people roots.

Case Study link in bio
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02/18/2026

Open Door is comfortable in its own skin, and comfortable trading flash for authenticity. The color palette is built on calming shades of gray, which conveys an understated confidence and wisdom.

Still, soft pops of color draw inspiration from the outdoors and Open Door’s cultivator mindset, which moves at the pace of nature.

Don’t get us wrong: creeds are cool, music is nice, and words matter. But for anyone considering a church, it’s people that cause you to stick around long after you’ve walked through the door. And if you ask us, that’s what makes Open Door special.

Case Study link in bio.

02/17/2026

If we live in an age of dividing lines, Church of the Open Door defies it at every turn. Denominations? You’ll find every kind of Christian there. Political polarization? The entire political spectrum finds a way to feel at home. Intergenerational relationships dying in the U.S.? Open Door thrives on them. A unified pursuit binds their community together: “Engaging in the struggle of becoming fully alive in God.”

But when Dave Johnson concluded his 38-year run as the church’s visionary leader and Senior Pastor, Open Door faced fundamental questions. Who are we going to be? What will always be true about us? And how do we need to reimagine ourselves going forward?

Shortly after installing Dave Brickey as the new Senior Pastor, Open Door sought our partnership to help answer these questions while putting visual and verbal language to their core vision as a spiritual community.
Our Brand Platform process revealed four core attributes to Open Door’s brand:

Compassionate, Protective, Knowledgeable, Communal

Taken together, these are the ingredients that make up Open Door’s secret sauce. All our work needed to conspire together to show that Open Door really is that kind of community.

Enter, Beloved. Early in our work, that tagline emerged and immediately clicked into place. It’s simple, relationally-driven, and expands on what their name can mean. An invitation to move not just into a physical space, but a community engaged in the struggle of life and faith.

12/12/2025

Flying is not only founder Reed’s passion, but a surprisingly common hobby among IT company owners. And if you sit with it for a few seconds, the metaphor clicks into place. iTValuations was offering a suite of services to accelerate company valuations with surprising speed. And you’ll never take to the skies without a flight instructor to guide you. Show you the plane’s vitals. Point out the flashing red lights. Teach you how to get to 30,000 feet.

The logo mark is a “V” with an arrow pointing upward and onward to symbolize both flight and the exponential growth that iTV seeks to deliver.

Their offerings are many, so we built icons for each service using the arrow as a core building block and let the abstract forms create the feel of a tech-startup on the rise. And since the launch in 2024, that’s exactly what iTValuations has been.

Case Study Link in Bio
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12/11/2025

NEW WORK: Reed Warren had gotten pretty far.

After starting out with a mergers and acquisitions firm, Reed realized that the valuations that made these transactions possible were imprecise at best, sketchy at worst. He built iTValuations to provide M&A consulting for IT service firms with a data-driven valuation model that stood up to scrutiny from anyone involved in the transaction.

But like all our favorite clients, Reed and the iTV team had their sights set higher. They were a founder-driven company focused on one-time valuations for IT companies. They wanted to become a tech company offering transformation for IT businesses at crossroads moments.

A brand that looks like a scale-up and sounds like a splash. We’ve done that plenty before. Transformation was the core promise, after all, and one possible theme took that literally. Initial concepts borrowed heavily from the digital world and relying on blues and greens.

But if you’ve been to any IT conference, you’ll see a sea of blue and techy elements that made this theme tricky to pull off while standing out. What if we didn’t go blue? What if we didn’t lean on abstract digital elements? In other words, what if we didn’t play it safe?

Flying is not only Reed’s passion, but a surprisingly common hobby among IT company owners. And if you sit with it for a few seconds, the metaphor clicks into place. iTValuations was offering a suite of services to accelerate company valuations with surprising speed. And you’ll never take to the skies without a flight instructor to guide you. Show you the plane’s vitals. Point out the flashing red lights. Teach you how to get to 30,000 feet.

The logo mark is a “V” with an arrow pointing upward and onward to symbolize both flight and the exponential growth that iTV seeks to deliver.

Their offerings are many, so we built icons for each service using the arrow as a core building block and let the abstract forms create the feel of a tech-startup on the rise. And since the launch in 2024, that’s exactly what iTValuations has been.

“There’s a shortage of agencies who listen carefully and thoughtfully collaborate. Malley sought to understand us and nailed the delivery, all in a tight timeline. Can’t imagine working with a better group.” — Aaron Mahl, Executive Vice President Business Development

• 112% Increase in Monthly Recurring Revenue
• 123% Growth in VaaS Clients
• 295% Increase in IT Tax Advisor Service

Full Case Study: https://malley.design/work/itvaluations/

11/21/2025

Kelsey’s store is full of items, yet her greatest feat is that it all feels organized and carefully considered. The patterns we designed for Potluck feel just as maximal at first, but when you look closer, there’s a clear variation and rhythm at play. Just like Potluck’s in-store experience, every detail in the brand works to invite you into one cohesive, retro-but-in-a-good way journey.

“Your creative brief helped me to see the brand in a new light. The way you named the store dynamics as creative tensions was such a lightbulb moment.”
— Kelsey Lee, Owner of Potluck Kitchenware

11/20/2025

How do you create a memorable experience that takes you back to earlier eras? It can quickly devolve into a parade of atomic starbursts and boomerang curves that don’t evoke the kind of nostalgia that people actually love about a retro feel.

Jazz is a staple sound at Potluck, so when an image from our moodboard reminded Kelsey of a 50s Jazz Club, we wondered about bottling up that sophisticated aura into the brand.

Our customized typeface for the word aims to strike a balance between the exceptional quality of Potluck’s curated selection while nodding to the playful whimsy of the 50s. To balance its sophistication, we paired it with a utilitarian sans serif and warm pink and brown colors to create the feeling of a premium brand with a reach wide enough to connect with the cost-conscious.

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11/19/2025

Since becoming Potluck Kitchenware’s second owner in 2023, Kelsey Lee has been on a mission to transform what was once a cluttered antique store with incidental new kitchenware into a retail experience designed to take you places.

But while Kelsey has been thoughtfully updating the physical space and upgrading the inventory with exceptional mise-en-place merchandising, the Potluck brand lagged behind with an aesthetic that looked retro, but not in a good way.

Our challenge was to create a custom visual identity that drove new foot traffic to a secondary business street while appealing to seasonal residents, visitors, and year-round residents who each had different needs and cost sensibilities.

Here’s a first look at the final solution! Case study link in bio.

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