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Chris London and Paul Quinn of Pixel Productions Inc. in Medford have designed everything from board games to gift bags to Web sites. The Hip Hop Millionaire game is one of their most recent projects.Christin Palazzolo

July 31, 2007

By Greg Stiles

Mail Tribune

When their previous employer's bread-and-butter account disappeared from the books, a pair of Medford graphic designers went to work tapping into a network of referrals and old friends.

Today, Pixel Productions Inc., operated by Paul Quinn and Chris London, performs a variety of graphic services for clients from Medford to Florida.

You may have played games, received gifts or gone to Web sites they've designed.

Quinn and London worked together for Revelations Inc., whose primary client was Big Idea Productions, whose chief property was VeggieTales. But when Big Idea sold VeggieTales rights, the graphic work performed here began going elsewhere. Revelations Inc., which was based in Phoenix, Ariz., no longer needed its Medford outpost.

"Revelations had 75 percent of their business from one account," Quinn says. "We don't want too many big accounts. We'd rather have a multitude of accounts that give us a firmer base. If you have a couple of big ones and they go away, then you're in trouble. We have several large active clients and several repeat small clients with a fast turn-around."

Pixel Productions got off to an informal start about four years ago.

"We were still in communication with a lot of people," London says. "They always liked our work and shoot a lot of people our way. We weren't even in the phone book for the first two years. We still had a lot of ties to the gift industry. We kept under the radar, but the people who knew of us used our products."

Among those in the know were the folks at Moms on Edge, Osprey, Fla., maker of early childhood development toys — including the Naughty Spot Time-out mat — aimed at teaching good behavioral skills.

Quinn and London have designed several games, including the Amazon Hop game, another Moms on Edge product.

More recently, Pixel Productions helped propel Sound Beach, N.Y., enterprise ATL Hip Hop Toys to market. The board game called Hip Hop Millionaire has sold more then 1,000 copies at $24.95. In the game, players acquire CD tracks and "Hip Hop Grammies" as they venture from ghetto to acclaim. The player with the biggest collection wins.

"A good 95 percent of our business is done by e-mail," London says. "Even when we're designing, we will send concepts through e-mail and get approvals that way."

Much of Pixel Production's efforts involve private labels.

The duo recently developed product designs for Berwick Offray, a Pennsylvania firm that makes seasonal gift packaging products. The firm asked for a series of designs for gift bags to present to Target, to be marketed under the Berwick Offray name.

"We were told we had a 75 percent success rate, almost unheard of, in what was presented," Quinn says.

One of the designs was a trendy skater and extreme sports look, while another was a diva with an attitude.

"Something that would appeal to a tween or teenager," he says. "It just got accepted so it should be in stores by the end of the year."

While the typical consumer might not give it much thought, packaging is considered a key ingredient to retail sales.

Cynthia Mace, owner of Creative U Puppet Co., uses Pixel Productions to package her puppets, which are made in China.

"It's very important because the puppets go into major stores," Mace says. "Colors have to be eye-catching and you have to make it exciting for kids. I wanted to make sure they understood my needs and whatever Chris didn't pick up, Paul did — they work well together."

London, 33, moved to Southern Oregon to work for Grants Pass financial guru Ken Roberts and two years later joined the Revelations Inc. art department in east Medford.

Quinn, 36, a native of Melbourne, Australia, changed hemispheres in pursuit of his future wife, whom he met while visiting Hawaii, and moved here in 1993. He worked for Joseph Berto at Holeshot in Shady Cove, then moved on to Lanphier & Associates in Medford before becoming art director at Revelations.

In addition to their design work for products, they've developed Web sites and branding for local clients, including Caregiver Services, Rock Point Wines, OpEx and Road Rage Choppers.

Reach reporter Greg Stiles at 776-4463 or e-mail business@mailtribune.com.

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