Steve Sandstrom "has very likely influenced your purchases of Tazo tea, Bulleit Bourbon, Full Sail & Session beer, Converse shoes, St. Germain liqueur, Moonstruck chocolate, and Kombucha!,"
Steve Sandstrom, a graphic designer and University of Oregon alumnus ('78 BFA in painting), founded Portland's innovative Sandstrom Design, now Sandstrom Partners, Inc. His clients have included Tazo Tea, Converse, Levi Strauss & Co., Nike, ESPN, Coca-Cola, Brown-Forman, Miller Brewing, Fiskars, Seagrams, Steppenwolf Theatre, adidas, Nissan, Virgin Mobile, Sony Pictures, Microsoft, Marriott, Full Sail Brewing and Cooper Spirits. Advertising agency relationships have included Wieden+Kennedy, TBWA/ChiatDay, Ogilvy, JWT, GSD&M, McKinney, BBDO, Y&R and Publicis.
His design expertise began in earnest while still at UO. In 1978, as a fine arts student, Sandstrom was part of a debate about UO mascot Donald Duck vs. Mallard Drake. As a cartoonist and graphics editor for the Oregon Daily Emerald, Sandstrom drew a strip called "Duck Soup" that ran each Friday and featured a swank, witty, and urbane duck named Mallard (pronounced Mil-LARD). Soon, students got organized and formed a committee to appoint Mallard Drake as the new mascot.
At issue was whether to change from the Disney Donald Duck as the representative of the university. Donald had been the university's logo to the outside world since 1947, and students were to vote at a spring election for a possible change of mascot. Sandstrom took this all in stride and said that when he graduated the Duck Soup strip would end. With his characteristic sharp humor, Sandstrom said "When I go, the duck goes."
Before he left UO in 1978, Sandstrom had won the Society of Professional Journalists' national Mark of Excellence Award for editorial cartooning.
After graduation, Sandstrom moved to Portland, free-lanced, and worked at a couple of small advertising agencies before getting a job at Nike as a senior art director. In November 1988, after four years at Nike, he started Sandstrom Design in partnership with creatively acclaimed ad agency Borders, Perrin & Norrander.
Sandstrom Partners has been featured in several publications including Graphis, CA, Adweek, Critique, ID, Novum (Germany), How, Creativity, and @Issue, and in numerous books on branding, design, packaging and corporate identity. He was integrally involved with the creation of Tazo, an eclectic premium tea brand, and the development of its brand personality, and he was primarily responsible for Tazo's award-winning packaging and general design aesthetic. Tazo is now owned by Starbucks. Sandstrom was part of the successful launch of St-Germain, a premium French liqueur developed by Cooper Spirits, and a strategic partner in the rebuilding of the Converse brand, which is now owned by Nike.
He has won numerous design and advertising awards including The One Show, Graphis Top Ten in Design, D&AD (London), Communication Arts, ID, Clio's, FAB, Andy's, Kelly's, Belding's, Type Directors, New York Art Director's, London International Advertising and the American Advertising Federation. In 1994, he was the youngest to be honored as Advertising Professional of the Year by the Portland Advertising Federation and the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from that organization.
Sandstrom serves on the board of directors for The One Club and is a past member of the Board of Visitors for the University of Oregon School of Architecture and Allied Arts. He is a past board member and president of the Portland Advertising Federation, and past board member of BodyVox, a highly acclaimed progressive dance company.
When asked to reflect on key instructors at UO, Sandstrom cites a litany of highly regarded Department of Art faculty members: Dave Foster, LaVerne Krause, Ken Paul, Ralph Baker, and visiting professor Tim Corkery from New York.
"Foster provided me with some terrific lessons about life as a teacher and as an adult. He would be reluctant to give you answers, but happy to point you in a direction so you could find your own way," Sandstrom recalls.
"There was no coordinated graphic design program being offered at that time. I studied fine arts, not marketing or business. Most of the business of marketing I learned on the job and developed with each experience. However, the development of ideas, concepts, and solutions—which have been a constant in my career—was always a part of the university."
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Steve Sandstrom 
Western Standard Poster 
Western Standard Wooden Beer Crates 
Betty Buzz bottle caps 
Betty Buzz ginger beer collage 
Betty Buzz logotype 
35th Portland International Film Festival, 2012 poster 
38th Portland International Film festival, 2015 poster 
=40th Portland International Film festival 2017 poster 
41th Portland International Film Festival 2018 poster 
St-Germain Spirits 
St-Germain Spirits menu 
St-Germain Spirits promotional design 
St-Germain Spirits promotional design 
St-Germain Spirits stationery 
St-Germain Spirits packaging design 
St-Germain Spirits packaging design 
Kobrick Coffee bags packaging design 
Steven Smith Teamaker tea packaging design tiptop box 
Steven Smith Teamaker tea packaging design winter tins 
Steven Smith Teamaker tea retail display design leather box 
Steven Smith Teamaker tea teapot teacup identity design 
Austin Moffatt Barkwell Howe stationery design 
Dovetail jean tack 
Steppenwolf Theatre, fall to earth poster design 
Steppenwolf Theatre, Homebody/Kabul poster design 
Steppenwolf Theatre, topped by to see the man poster design 
Steppenwolf Theatre, Wedding band poster design 
Kombucha wonder drink identity brochure design 
Catalog print design spread
Top Notch Graphic Designer!
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