The approachable co-founder

Kelly Hobkirk

You will probably enjoy working with me, yet you need to know I am not a yes-man. I tell it tactfully straight. We are here to support you in pursuing your goals, developing your brand, and communicating your full value to the world.

I’m an open-minded, experienced, and opinionated graphic designer, web designer and writer. I oversee everything having to do with strategy, copywriting and creative, and I fulfill many of the project roles. People ask how it’s possible that I handle so many tasks so well? I honestly don’t know – I just do. Always have (for 25 years).

I do naming-to-launch brand development, websites, collateral design and advertising campaigns, while handling the strategy, design, copywriting, art direction, type design and presentation. I have insanely high quality standards, and I deliver on my commitments.

I work equally well collaboratively and solo. I love working with my team, and I truly appreciate each and every client.

I write about unusual marketing perspectives and new ideas on KellyHobkirk.com. I find humor, connections and inspiration in nearly anything.

Need it quick? We can make that happen. Need it to be exceptional? We’re even better at that. Want to talk about your project on a bike ride? I’m up for it.

Motivational speaking

I also do occasional training and interactive speaking engagements on branding.

What do we mean by full-scope?

Train of Thought is experienced in virtually all aspects of branding, marketing and advertising, so we can quickly and effectively examine your business, brand, website, packaging, advertising, and marketing plan, then provide the recommendations, strategic plan and creative firepower to optimize all of them in one fell swoop.

Our Unique Approach

Your brand is the language of your business. Who speaks your language?

Train of Thought is focused on building brands that connect with people’s core belief systems to create a strong sense of real community. It’s how your business becomes a valuable part of people’s lives, and how we make your business stronger. The messages you bring to your market define people’s experience – how they perceive you, how they believe in you, and how they welcome you in to their lives. Our focus is on helping you connect with relevant, compelling visual and verbal messages that ring true to both you and your customers.

We create community between people and businesses. Train of Thought began over 20 years ago with the singular goal of creating and promoting brands that connect, utilizing strategic branding, graphic design, websites and advertising as mechanisms of thought. Emotional connections are important, but thought always preceeds emotion. Because humans have an amazing ability to translate thought into emotion and action, our focus is on creating new thoughts. From that critical point on, people connect their emotions and actions with brands.

This is how people learn the dialog of their brands—of your brand. They learn by seeing, hearing, and feeling your language. They have experiences with you, and they craft a story between each other and you. Does your tribe speak your brand language? Do they connect with your brand?

Lead developer

Joe Dolson

We’ve a dedicated web development team led by Joe Dolson, who specializes in programming sites on WordPress CMS. Joe’s attention to detail, knowledge of web standards, and dedication to delivering quality web development on time every time is nothing short of exceptional.

As a WordPress developer with years of experience programming standards compliant XHTML and CSS, Joe can build just about anything. He consistently looks for ways to streamline the development process and create perfectly clean code. Joe’s unique commitment to accessibility is a much appreciated quality which makes every website he builds that much better.

Together

We’re a tight team of experienced, fun, strategic, open-minded, passionate, insanely hard-working creative professionals. We work with a talented cast of web developers, printers, photographers, SEO consultants, copywriters, designers, and our bulldog accountant. Our team hovers around five to twelve people at any given time. We work with each client one-to-one.

We stay agile by maintaining a mostly external staff, with our base in Seattle.

David Ogilvy said, “Creativity is not a function of size. Small can be beautiful.” We agree in a big way.

Check out our Portfolio →

The company

Train of Thought is a graphic design, advertising and marketing communications agency specializing in strategy, branding, print, collateral and online media. We are located at 3834 Northeast 92nd Street, Seattle, Washington 98115 USA.

You can reach us at 206.517.5679 (t) or 866.708.2760 (f), or we can always be reached by saying hello.

Train of Thought is small, agile, and experienced. We produce an extraordinary amount of exceptionally effective work in spite of our size. Graphic design, strategy, print and online advertising, logos, corporate identity, packaging, brochures, websites, and posters are among our favorite projects, though we also help clients with a variety of other branding and marketing needs.

Co-founder and principal Kelly Hobkirk is an award-winning designer and writer whose work has been featured in national and international publications and book titles.

Our steady growth has been marked by exceptionally long-term relationships with our clients. We believe this is due to our ability to provide close, personal attention, innovative communications, strategic insight, and complete transparency in our work together.

Do you believe in your brand? Learn How →