Company

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, 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.

Believe in Your Brand

A brand is more than a person, a company, their logo or a customer's perceptions. A brand is a defining experience that is created and refined, a journey of discovery and belief, an emotional connection that leads to a relationship.

We specialize in creating and promoting meaningful brands that are enjoyed, remembered, and hold a special place in customers' minds. Our mission is to create and transform brands that lead our clients to greater success. Our work together results in a clearer, lasting vision, a more compelling voice, and richer experiences for you and your customers.

Our tag line is 'Believe in your brand' because that is precisely what we help people do. We create and market brands that people can believe in. We start with you and work outward. When your belief increases, you project your brand with greater confidence and clarity. You believe in yourself, and people believe in your brand.

Founders

Kelly Hobkirk

Kelly is a co-founder of Seattle-based branding and marketing firm Train of Thought. He began his career in design as a magazine art director at the ripe age of eighteen while attending art college. At nineteen, he became an art director for Seattle ad agency Jackson & Johnson. He freelanced for Raleigh Bicycles and Trigon Packaging before taking the helm as marketing director for one of the world’s largest woodworking machinery companies. Several industry mentors then recommended he start his own ad agency.

Kelly has a relentless focus on innovation, and he is not nearly as serious he looks.

When not working, Hobkirk can be found riding bicycles, writing, reading, speaking, and making odd connections between seemingly disparate elements.

designer
copywriter
strategist
innovator
collaborator

Ian Connors

Ian is a founding partner of Train of Thought who now serves as business development director and spiritual leader. His energy and enthusiasm for helping companies succeed is beyond compare.

Ian cut his business teeth in the snowboard manufacturing industry, developing the industry’s most sought-after process for graphics color accuracy under the shelter of his venerable company, The Woodshed. As Train of Thought’s resident sublimation guru, Ian serves as point man for our product development and distribution. His can-do attitude rocks, and he is a born story-teller.

Connors is most often on a bicycle, moto, computer, or on the slopes. He is also a valued contributor to PoopSoup.com

copywriter
planner
connector
collaborator
maniac

The Team

Kelly Hobkirk and Ian Connors co-founded Train of Thought in 1992. By 2002, Train of Thought had helped create and launch more than 150 companies and niche products. Our standard ad response, brand recognition increases and website response rates were phenomenally high, and we consistently helped sub-$1M companies quadruple their revenues.

How do we do it? Train of Thought has always believed in innovation, in tossing the rules out on their ear, in listening to clients, in the powers of collaborative effort and original thinking.

We utilize an exceptional team of external designers and developers so we can stay lean and agile, enabling us to assemble the best teams for each project.

Our Focus

We specialize in serving small to medium size businesses and non-profit organizations, startups, and solopreneurs. We have won awards, but that is really not our focus. The awards we go for come in the form of ecstatic clients who get charged up and experience greater success.

Icons by Yusuke Kamiyamane