Why go through the effort and expense of having a mural painted in your office? For my clients at Next Phase Legal in Norfolk, MA, it was about beautifying their lobby while creating a lasting impression and setting a tone for their clients.
Indeed - in the week while I was painting it, I heard comments from clients visiting the firm that ranged from “beautiful” to “soothing”, “relaxing”, “mesmerizing” and “memorable”… Mission accomplished!
My client Steve first came to me with a quote from Seth Godin that is a perfect stage-setter for the dispute resolution work they do at Next Phase:
“Peace might not mean getting everyone else to do what you want them to do. Instead, it might involve understanding that others don't always want what we want and don't often believe what we believe. Most of the time, people want to be seen, understood and appreciated. If we can offer someone dignity, we give them a gift that's difficult to find.”
Steve’s goal was to create something special and he knew he wanted more than just the quote painted on the wall – so we met to brainstorm ideas. After bouncing around a few thoughts, we landed on the idea of incorporating an image of water together with the quote. Steve and I share a passion for paddling, but we also liked the engaging and soothing qualities of water to complement Seth Godin’s words.
With this idea and the lobby colors in hand, I was off to paint a concept sketch. To accommodate designs with type, I take an image of my completed concept painting and combine it with type in PowerPoint to show what the final result with image and type will look like. This also enables me to easily look at different fonts together with my clients without altering the concept painting. Below are the concept painting and the PPT.
The scale concept painting
Concept with type
Steve loved the painting and after looking at a few font options, we had a winner!
When I paint the concept, I use actual wall paints and keep record of exactly what I use – so once the concept is approved I know exactly what I need to do on the wall! For anyone familiar with my fine-art paintings, you already know how much I love painting water – so this was a fun mural to paint!! Below is the final mural
The final mural
Enjoy!
Jason