Design the Whole Town: Co-founded by East parent Ingred Sidie, Design Ranch’s work can be spotted around Kansas City

Have you ever stopped by Mildred’s for a morning dark roast? Or Parlor to decide which part of the world you’ll eat lunch in? You had to have noticed their iconic logos and branding on their menus — brought to life in “The Ranch,” Design Ranch’s office five minutes down the road from where you picked up that coffee.

Co-founded by East parent Ingred Sidie, Design Ranch is KC’s iconic design agency focusing on branding and graphic design. Their name is also recognized for opening their office up to high school students for internships, field trips and real world learning experiences.

Sidie, her partner Michelle Sonderegger and their team of one to three interns at a time have caught the city’s attention through their clean, bold typography and the witty play-on-words seen in their branding for Unforked, Happy Bottoms, the National Museum of Toys and Miniatures and many more. 

“I would think it’s the clever side of language that sets us apart,” Sidie said. “A lot of people say it’s our use of color, and bold typography. We’re very Swiss in our approach, very clean and modern.”

Sidie’s interest in design stemmed from her mom’s interest in culture. While she lived a 40-minute drive away from the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, her mom would still take her to her summer art classes daily, which later translated into an interest in commercial arts in high school.

“But beyond that, [my mom] tried to do something culturally with [my sister and I] every month,” Sidie said. “A museum, or the theater or a musical, we were always doing those types of things.”

After graduating from Otis School of Design in Los Angeles, Sidie landed a job at Willoughby Design — a women-owned design agency — in KC near her hometown, where she worked for ten years. After her and Sonderegger began to receive most of the recognition for their work, they decided to try something different.

By starting their own agency, Kansas City would agree they succeeded after 25 years of reaching around 80 businesses and organizations a year with their work.

“People have become more aware and appreciative of quality, good design,” Sidie said. “They come to us because they want that little special extra [touch].”

Sidie uses their modern, bright and naturally-lit office as a creative hub. Lined with open windows and scattered with mock-ups of a current logo her team’s working on, Sidie keeps her office open to schools for field trips and interns, with a presentation on-hand showing some of their best work.

Sidie connected with her daughter’s art teacher Jennifer Hensley, which created the opportunity for East digital design students to skip the Photoshop tutorial and instead tour an office similar to one they may work in professionally. 

“You know, it’s surprising, because sometimes the college kids won’t even talk,” Sidie said. “But then the high school kids are like, ‘What’s this? What do you do? How do I do this?’ They just really want to learn.”

Senior Alex Meiners’ interest in digital design landed him a field trip with art teacher Jennifer Hair’s design studio classes. Meiners appreciated both the open-aired ambiance of “The Ranch,” and Sidie’s effort to apply skills learned in school to a real-world office. Through a tour of their space, a question-answer session and a sparkling water, Meiners and his peers were actually interested in a school field trip.

“You could take any class and it’ll explain how to do something, but it won’t really go in-depth, and you won’t be able to apply said thing,” Meiners said. “I feel like [Sidie] is really trying to help [fix] that with a lot of kids and broaden their horizons.”

That’s also the aim of ProX, a program for the Kauffman Foundation which helps students do a five-week paid internship over the summer at a real business. Sidie supports the program through having designed ProX’s brand and supporting high school interns during the summer and college students throughout the year. 

“I do for sure think that all of the real world learning programs are paying off,” Sidie said. “It is very important for those kids because, in the past, you did an internship in college. It’s starting younger and younger now. So being able to have those opportunities in high school really opens up doors and allows you to try different things.”

Aside from providing opportunities for students, Design Ranch stretches their InDesign files and sketchbooks thin by doing work for hotels, restaurants, other businesses and, most uniquely, nonprofits. With Happy Bottoms diaper bank’s cheeky branding and the Charlotte Street Foundation’s mood-lit logo, Sidie stresses the importance of a quality product over profit. 

“We’ve started the firm with the idea that we would never compromise the quality of the work that we do,” Sidie said. “And we’ve stood by that for 25 years. Now, that doesn’t always translate into tons of money.”

You may be surprised to hear that the Design Ranch team isn’t hunched over their desks designing one brand after the next. 

With music playing, the snap of a spiked drink can opening and corn hole stocked in a closet for easy access, Sidie stresses the importance of staying motivated in a creatively-rooted profession. You may even find the team on an ice-cream break at French Custard, another brand they designed. 

“I think it’s just trying to continue to expose yourself to new things and look at new things,” Sidie said. “And we always encourage our designers to go out and look at things and, you know, explore.”