Observed Topics

Will we be seeing geometric packaging hitting the shelves in the near future? If it's up to the imagination of students Dzmitry Samal and Petar Pavlov maybe we will. These Buckminster Fuller-esque packaging structures mark a distinct departure for Doritos and Coca-Cola.

Clearly these multi-faceted structures may pose challenges to implement. And of course the increased costs and environmental impact would need to be factored in. Do you think we'll be seeing more of this come to market in the food and beverage packaging? Maybe in another industry?

What are your thoughts?

POSTED ON Friday, October 23, 2009
FILE UNDER: Business, Design, Ideas

The folks at LogoLounge have selected our work for inclusion in their prestigious Master Library Collection, and we're both honored and stoked to say the least. The award and recognition is for our logo & brand identity for Half Badger Records. The email said:

"Your work has been selected for inclusion in a remarkable new LogoLounge project, 'Animals and Mythology', in the new Master Library series…"

the messsage continued... "What is the Master Library series? Like our existing (and continuing) LogoLounge book series, the new Master Library books will bring you exemplary logo design work from creatives around the world. Our first book in the series, Initials and Crests, is at the publisher as we write and promises to be a new best selling series from Rockport in the model of LogoLounge.

Unlike our original series, though, each book in the Master Library series will focus on a very specific logo design category, to wit:

Initials and Crests
Animals and Mythology
Typography
People
Shapes and Symbols
Nature and Food
Arts and Culture

We hope to include your work in the the Master Library series, Animals and Mythology."

The Master Collection will be published by Rockport and should be released in July 2010. Amazon already has it available for pre-order.

POSTED ON Thursday, October 15, 2009
FILE UNDER: Design, News & Notable, Projects, Recognition, Studiofluid

I'd like to welcome Clara and Katarina, the Design in Transit duo, to Los Angeles, California and the US of A.

These two adventurous ladies are here from Germany, taking a tour of the west coast and hoping to gain graphic design experience in the process. About a month ago, they emailed from Germany to set up a time to come by and get a tour of Studiofluid on their arrival in L.A.

So far we've collaborated on an advertising campaign, shared a few meals together, and I've pointed some cool design highlights to check out in Los Angeles. Next week I think we're going together to check out the Echo Park Time Travel Mart for some packaging and general design awesomeness inspiration.

I've also introduced the DIT ladies to a few other design firms in the area that might be interesting for them to visit. If you're in Los Angeles, San Francisco or maybe even Portland and you want to collaborate with Design in Transit, they'd love to hear from you. To invite them out for some good American beer or just say hello, you can get in touch at: designintransit @ hotmail dot de — and tell them Studiofluid sent ya.

POSTED ON Monday, October 12, 2009
FILE UNDER: Community, Design, Friends, Ideas, News & Notable

The design work we've been doing for the Pasadena Symphony is starting to pop up throughout Los Angeles. Right now, the Metro Rail Gold Line that connects Union Station to Sierra Madre is running the "Take Your Ears Out for the Evening" ad campaign, announcing the 2009-2010 Symphony Classics.

Photo courtesy of Tim Harwick.

POSTED ON Monday, October 5, 2009
FILE UNDER: Community, Design, News & Notable, Projects

The Pasadena Wine Festival is less than 2 weeks away, and since Studiofluid handled the event branding and web design, we've got a special treat for you…
We're giving away:

Good for Saturday and/or Sunday October 3 & 4, 2009. The event will be at the beautiful L.A. County Arboretum, from 4:30-10p both days. These passes are going for $170, so here's your chance for the hookup!

Post to twitter starting with "I want #pasadenawinefest tix"… followed with your best reason. The winner will be selected (based on creativity) and announced on the morning of Monday 9/28. We'll be in touch to for mailing address, comp passes will go out via priority mail the same day.

Good luck!

POSTED ON Monday, September 21, 2009
FILE UNDER: Community, Friends, News & Notable, Projects

This week the Pasadena Star-News ran a story on the Pasadena Symphony and POPS and how they're overhauling their brand strategy and visual identity. Studiofluid has been right in the middle of that process for the last couple months—partnering with the Symphony to design their new logo, season booklet, stationery and new web site—so I joined them for the interview and small photo shoot.

When it came time to speak about the brand strategy and our results, I had the floor for a few minutes to articulate our process and share about our new branding results. And what made it into the final piece?

Probably did, too.

POSTED ON Friday, September 18, 2009
FILE UNDER: Community, Friends, Projects, Recognition, Studiofluid

The Pasadena Wine Festival is being billed as the largest lifestyle event of its kind. Festival goers will enjoy the beautiful atmosphere of the Los Angeles Arborateum, sample wines and gourmet foods from around the globe, and experience lifestyle points of interest such as travel, leisure activities, cooking and entertaining.

Studiofluid developed a visual identity that captures the energy of the festival, and connects with the sophisticated yet fun-loving audience that will attend. Moving forward, we're building a multimedia marketing campaign to solidify event sponsors and attract attendees from Pasadena area as well as all parts of Southern California. Our advertisements for the festival have run in Pasadena Magazine and Los Angeles Magazine among others, and we've worked with sponsors such as Coffee Bean, Whole Foods, Rusnak Mercedes-Benz and KPCC to provide valuable brand exposure and make this event a success. The web site integrates with Paypal to accept credit cards and process ticket sales online. Using a sign up form, we've tied in the client's Constant Contact database to send out email newsletters to interested visitors.

Make sure you mark October 3rd & 4th on your calendar and reserve your tickets today! All ticket sales from the Pasadena Wine Festival will benefit the Pasadena Symphony Association in support of the cultural arts.

POSTED ON Wednesday, September 16, 2009
FILE UNDER: Branding, Community, Food & Beverage, Print Design, Web Site Design

We're happy to announce that Studiofluid is working closely with the Pasadena Symphony and POPS on a massive re-branding effort. We're helping them with a new identity system for their various orchestras, stationery and print collateral, the 2010 season brochure, and a completely redesigned web site.

Here's a sneak peak of the progress we've been making on the branding and web site. Stay tuned for the results, which will make a splash in September!

UPDATE: Check out more of the project in the work section, and visit the new pasadenasymphony-pops.org.

POSTED ON Friday, August 28, 2009
FILE UNDER: Business, Design, News & Notable, Projects, Studiofluid

Today our DDC poster arrived, packed in a handsome, sturdy tube complete with a shipping label crafted with care.

The 24x39" poster is crammed with over 1000 logos / experiments / and inside jokes created by master craftsman Aaron Draplin. The extra effort oozes from this one, complete with two additional pages for navigation and explanation, and some other goodies thrown in to boot.

Don't go buying one of these unless you're prepared for the inexplicable pull that will have you cross-referencing the location key and liner notes, hovering over this poster for the better part of your day.

POSTED ON Wednesday, June 24, 2009
FILE UNDER: Design, Friends

I was recently contacted by Sabrina Vega to be a part of her online / book project. The image above is my postcard submission to her project, which is this:

“A couple of years ago in 2006 , right after I graduated from Texas State University, I had the idea to collect my name, Sabrina in every shape and form I could think of…”

Working on my submission was a rewarding experience—in particular getting my hands dirty with a soft pencil to fill in the background.

I was honored to be included among some high profile contributors such as Milton Glaser, Stafan Sagmeister, and Gary Baseman. I think my favorite is done by Kim Robertson, who created an anagram our of Sabrina's first and last names, turning it into "A Bar in Vegas."

Thanks Sabrina, and good luck with your book!

POSTED ON Thursday, June 18, 2009
FILE UNDER: Community, Design, Friends, Ideas, News & Notable, Projects

And then I discovered Infinite Storage Solutions, based in San Clemente, CA. I knew I had finally found the right company, and within 20 minutes I was in the car, driving down to see the product in their showroom.

ISS is based on a modular system of sturdy extruded aluminum rails, which—as their name suggests—can be customized for an infinite number of useful configurations. We're thrilled with the L-shaped desk and standing height work station, for the function as well as the attention to detail and minimal lines of the ISS system.

I also love the product is made right here in the USA, and that they're a family owned and run business. In fact, during my visit, John and Mona they invited me to join them for pizza in the break room with their staff and kids. It's always nice to meet people who are creating their own opportunities through innovation—and thriving.

ISS actually custom designs your furniture in Google SketchUp so you can evaluate in 3D before purchasing. You can even drop their SketchUp files into your floor plan and see how it will fit into your space.

Their customer service is top-notch too. (Thanks, Kristy!) What else could you ask for? If you're in the market for a workspace for your small business, or if you have a live/work space like we do, you would be wise to give ISS Designs a closer look.

And if you're headed to the Dwell on Design Expo in L.A. this month, make sure you stop by the ISS exhibitor booth, and tell them Studiofluid sent ya.

POSTED ON Tuesday, June 16, 2009
FILE UNDER: Business, Ideas, Productivity, Studiofluid

Over at the Toilet Paper Entrepreneur, a group of entrepreneurs contributed their best strategies for staying focused and getting things done.

Ben's idea is featured at #10.

Here's a link the the Freedom App, which is highly recommended for those of you on the Mac.

POSTED ON Wednesday, May 27, 2009
FILE UNDER: Business, Community, Ideas, News & Notable, Productivity, Studiofluid

But is that enough?

Not exactly. Your site also needs to be visible to search engines if your customer is going to find you in the first place. (Making your site visible to search engines is called "Search Engine Optimization" or "SEO.")

At some point, when you've got all the fundamentals in place, partnering with a dedicated SEO company may be the right decision. But if you're a small to mid-sized business, building your site properly and adding quality content will likely be money much better spent.

So how is your site currently scoring? If you have a existing site, now you can get an objective analysis by Website Grader for free!

Website Grader is a free seo tool that measures the marketing effectiveness of a website. It provides a score that incorporates things like website traffic, SEO, social popularity and other technical factors. It also provides some basic advice on how the website can be improved from a marketing perspective.

On May 5, 2009, Studiofluid recieved a WebsiteGrader score 91 with an Alexa rank of 755,131 which is in the top 2.7 % of all websites.

If you're looking to revamp your low-scoring web site, or build a new site right from the ground up, Studiofluid can help. We build efficient and intuitive web sites that are easy for your visitors to use, and that allow you the best possible visibility to search engines like Yahoo! and Google.

And yeah, your site will look great too.

POSTED ON Wednesday, May 6, 2009
FILE UNDER: Business, Ideas, News & Notable, Studiofluid, Technology

April 27th. Yes, today is the day we've been waiting for.

A wonderful day dedicated to celebrate the profession of graphic and communication design. And by celebrating, I mean that we're putting the finishing touches on some client work and drafting some new proposals.

Unfortunately I see no mention of it in our AIGA Los Angeles chapter.

And today is the 15th anniversary. Who knew? Now we do.

POSTED ON Monday, April 27, 2009
FILE UNDER: Community, Design, Ideas

It's been a flurry of activity around here. I just finished renovating my live/work space and my new office looks great and functions even better. I'm looking at a photo shoot soon so I can post some here.

Identity and Retail Packaging for a healthy snack food company. Can't say a whole lot about that one now, but we're stoked about everything is coming together.

Branding and Website for the Pasadena Wine Festival which will be held at the Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanical Garden this fall. Our site will handle ticket sales and event sponsorship. All ticket sales from the event benefit the Pasadena Symphony.

Branding and Website for a remodeling company. We're helping the owner connect with his clearly defined target audience in Southern California. His website includes a content management system (CMS) and will clearly communicate their commitment to quality, community focus, and will encourage visitors to get in touch for a free estimate.

And a few more are in the pipeline, but it's a bit too early to say...

POSTED ON Thursday, April 16, 2009
FILE UNDER: Business, Community, Design, News & Notable, Projects, Studiofluid

Trendwatching has an interesting article about how more people are taking entrepreneurial steps to supplement their income. Keep scrolling, there are a lot of solid ideas and unique business models made possible through our increasingly connected world.

POSTED ON Monday, April 6, 2009
FILE UNDER: Business, Community, Ideas, News & Notable, Technology

I get so energized talking with other entrepreneurs. Yeah, there is a lot of doom-and-gloom news out there, but there are also incredible opportunities for those courageous enough to take action. Just this week I met with three people who are taking control of their own careers, who are now partnering with Studiofluid to help launch their ideas with impact.

If you find yourself on the fence about your next business move, you might want to give this a read. Business Coach and Venture Capitalist Paul Graham shares his insights on why to start a startup in a bad economy. Some of these really jumped out at me:

• If you're the right sort of person, you'll win even in a bad economy. And if you're not, a good economy won't save you.
• If you're worried about threats to the survival of your company, don't look for them in the news. Look in the mirror.
• Startups often make things cheaper, so in that respect they're better positioned to prosper in a recession than big companies.
• Another advantage of bad times is that there's less competition... If everyone else is cowering in a corner, you may have a whole car to yourself.

Also worth checking out is Paul's latest company, Y Combinator, which specializes in funding early stage startups.

POSTED ON Tuesday, March 31, 2009
FILE UNDER: Business, Ideas, News & Notable, Technology

Jessica Helfand and William Drenttel put together a short film posted on the AIGA site (American Institute Graphic Arts) based on her thought provoking text on the presence and pervasiveness of Graphic Design in our world.

“…Graphic design is the boldly directional arrows on street signs and the blurred, frenetic typography on the title sequence to E.R. It is the bright green logo for the New York Jets and the monochromatic front page of the Wall Street Journal. It is hang-tags in clothing stores, postage stamps and food packaging, fascist propaganda posters and brainless junk mail…”

Graphic Design is deeply rooted in the past and the meaning we've assigned to images and symbols over many centuries. Understanding and reinterpreting those meanings is one aspect of graphic design that I find so fascinating.

POSTED ON Tuesday, March 31, 2009
FILE UNDER: Community, Ideas, News & Notable, Technology

If you've got a great idea for a business, but and you're not quite sure what the next step would be, make sure you check out the resources available to you at SCORE.org (Service Corps of Retired Executives). In partnership with with the SBA (Small Business Administration), SCORE is a nationwide network of volunteers who have made their mark in the business world and desire to give back to the community by helping emerging entrepreneurs.

Those are some of my favorite words* to live by, and for business guidance, the wisdom is accessible to you. If you're located in Southern California, you'll want to check out SCORE Los Angeles with headquarters in Glendale and other branches across the city. There you can sign up for free individual counseling sessions with a retired entrepreneur, who can help with writing a business plan, walk you through funding options, or answer questions specific to your business.

SCORE also offers helpful workshops on a variety of topics, at a bargain price of $25-35 per session. I continue to attend the workshops because I usually walk away with something useful, and it is a great way for me to stay tuned to the pulse of the entrepreneurs that Studiofluid regularly helps.

And a bonus for the ladies out there, make sure to check out Ladies who Launch. I've got a few friends who enthusiastically recommend that one as well.

* First heard by twin filmmakers Noah and Logan Miller.

POSTED ON Friday, March 20, 2009
FILE UNDER: Business, Community, Ideas, News & Notable

At Startup Weekend Los Angeles, my team developed "Yummyware" in less than 48 hours from concept to working prototype. Our inspiration came from the real-world frustrations of one of our team members who works for Hotcakes Bakes, a bakery here in Los Angeles.

ABOVE: Yummyware branding and customized login screen.

ABOVE: Daily view shows projects to be completed and employee messages.

ABOVE: All orders available at a glance by week.

ABOVE: Order form tailored by each bakery, and helps capture detailed information with custom orders.

We developed Yummyware for Hotcakes Bakes as the prototype customer, with the ability to scale the product and sell it as a monthly subscription service to Bakeries and other confectioneries in need of simple customized management help. (Just get in touch if you would like to license the product).

I worked with a team of 6 entrepreneurs to push out a working version during our weekend. I led the software architecture, user interface, visual design, product naming and logo design. My teammates built the database, implemented the HTML/CSS, proposed a business and marketing plan, led the pitch presentation and made valuable contributions to the UI and product as a whole. Many thanks again to teammates Talya, Tracey, Madeline, Craig and Joel. You guys rock!

If a simple, customized solution sounds like something that could benefit your small business, get it touch. We'd love to hear from you and help you become profitable.

POSTED ON Tuesday, March 3, 2009
FILE UNDER: Business, Community, Design, Ideas, Technology

The answer is Startup Weekend, of course. And a whole lot of fun.

On the weekend of February 27th-March 1st, I gathered with over 50 other entrepreneurs with backgrounds including user interface, graphic design, programming, pr, and business development for the second Startup Weekend Los Angeles. Of the initial 20+ pitches presented on Friday night, we broke off into teams of 5-9 people based on what seemed interesting. Over the course of the weekend, seven teams designed and built working sites, each with varying degrees of completion.

The creativity and results were impressive, to say the least.

1. Blocksnap: Upload and experience views on the neighborhood level.
2. CheapChews: Receive coupons and notifications for local restaurants.
3. Fill in the Geek: Connecting comic buyers with comic sellers.
4. Sponsor Hub: A place for sponsors and non-profits find each other.
5. Yummyware: Simple bakery management software.
6. Share my Spot: You park here while I am not.
7. Craigee: A decision making tool for Craigslist.

SWLA was rewarding a rewarding experience unto itself, even if the projects never saw the light of day. But, in fact, they're out there live on the web and it will be interesting to see if any gain long-term traction. You can read more about my team's project: Yummyware, the simple bakery management software.

A huge thanks to host Jerome from Blankspaces, and the event sponsors who provided an amazing spread of food and tech support.

POSTED ON Monday, March 2, 2009
FILE UNDER: Business, Design, Ideas, News & Notable

Thomas Brodahl featured a little press about Studiofluid over at Surfstation, regarding the Coop Italia Packaging project we recently completed.

His commentary is insightful into our process and final result:

“Nice little story. How often does your client let you make their logo gray and small?…Quite the change.”

How true. We were very fortunate to work with Coop, who gave us a lot of freedom with our proposals. They understand that making the logo bigger and brighter does not equate with stronger branding. It is not often that clients have this type of self-confidence, but those are the clients that we seek out, and find the most rewarding to work with. And the results speak for themselves.

POSTED ON Tuesday, February 17, 2009
FILE UNDER: Ideas, News & Notable, Projects

When launching a new product or service, there is a strong temptation to just jump in and arrive at branding decisions based on your assumptions.

And while that may be a quick and cheap way to get up and running, it might also be one of the most costly decisions you'll ever make—when you discover your assumptions were wrong and you need to retool your brand from the ground up (assuming your company is still around).

Right now Studiofluid is working with a Food and Beverage company looking to break into the saturated Snack Food category. We've been spending time in supermarkets performing design research and have put together a market analysis to help our client with the following:

1. Understand the Context and how Snacks are displayed
2. Study Market Leaders and Competing Brands
3. Discover Packaging Trends
4. Find Clichés and Points of Market Over-saturation
5. Identify Opportunities for Differentiation

(more...)

POSTED ON Friday, February 13, 2009
FILE UNDER: Business, Design, Ideas, News & Notable, Research, Studiofluid

“Should I be paying an SEO company?” is a question I commonly hear from clients.

While optimizing your web site for search engines is vitally important, depending on your goals and current design of your web site, you might be surprised to find that hiring a “SEO specialist” could be a waste of money.

It is likely that you, yourself can follow some simple steps that will generate visibility and save money in the long run. In other words, that $300/ month you were budgeting for an SEO company may be better spent on developing a site from the ground-up that is SEO friendly, and then following the steps below to increase your listing in the search engines.

1. Make the content on your web site easy for Yahoo! and Google to find you. This means including using your keywords naturally and frequently in a) relevant page titles, b) page keywords in the metadata tags, c) in the page text content itself.
2. Do not embed important words as image graphics, unless you include those words in other places.
3. Stay away from sites entirely in flash, unless you are working with a developer who knows how to make them visible to search engines, you give each page it's own unique address.
4. Post relevant, keyword rich content to your site on a regular basis.
5. Create a pay-per-click campaign with Google AdWords, where you pay only when traffic is directed to your site.
6. Create listings for your company with industry-specific sites or city search listings. Often times this can be done for free.
7. Read blogs and articles related to your industry, and post thoughtful comments (thoughtful being the key word!). Provide a link back to your site.
8. Install analytic software on your site, such as Google Analytics, so you can see how people are finding you check out their behavior. You can then increase the frequency you use certain keywords, or be inspired for other topics to write about.

If you've taken these steps, and are wanting to take your company to the next level, by all means, an experienced SEO company may be the way to go.

And if not, what are you waiting for? By following the simple steps above, you will see the results of being visible to your market, and will have taken control of your own SEO destiny.

POSTED ON Wednesday, February 4, 2009
FILE UNDER: Ideas, Marketing, Technology

I spent Friday attending the GoGreen expo at the Los Angeles Convention Center; meeting people, checking out the scene and generally observing how people are branding and marketing their “green” businesses. As expected, the display booths ran the gamut from those pursuing meaningful contributions, to the occasional “greenwashing” , to those you might find at any craft show across the country.

What stood out was the significant amount of companies with decent ideas, yet their presentations failed to address a few basic questions:

• What exactly do you do?
• How are you different from the next booth over?
• Why does your product matter to me?

If developing a new business was as simple as developing an innovative product, many more companies would succeed. As it turns out, helping people understand the story behind your product and why they should care about it, is every bit as important as the product itself. Unfortunately, this is why so many more companies with great aspirations and products fail to reach their full potential.

POSTED ON Monday, January 26, 2009
FILE UNDER: Business, Ideas, Sustainability

Yesterday, in conjunction with the Detriot Auto Show, NPR aired an interview with Daniel Sperling and regarding his book Two Billion Cars. He discusses the global impacts of our cars, and what is on the horizon for sustainable transportation.

In 2008 Studiofluid created an infographic to help communicate the concepts Dr. Sperling presents in his book, as well as to U.S. congress and audiences throughout the world. It feels good to see our work serving it's purpose and helping people understand some important global topics.

You can listen to the interview over on NPR's site.

POSTED ON Friday, January 16, 2009
FILE UNDER: News & Notable, Projects, Sustainability, Technology

Each year, Studiofluid makes a point to close the doors and head down and be a part of the action on the corner of Fountain and Edgemont. See, every year Hope International holds the East Hollywood toy giveaway, and each year the place packs out with scores of kids and lines wrapping around the block. Last year, we had 950+ show up. No advertising, no flyers, just good ol' fashioned word of mouth.

There are plenty of ways to pitch in, but I've had the pleasure of photographing as my regular job. In 2006, we photographed all 655 kids on their way out the door, moments after receiving their loot (Some favorites are posted over at Flickr).

Seeing those faces. Sharing the joy and meaning of Christmas with a bunch of kids who wouldn't probably have much of one otherwise. Wouldn't miss it.

POSTED ON Friday, December 19, 2008
FILE UNDER: Community

We just finished up a job for Coop Italia and couldn't be more thrilled with the results. It was an honor to be selected to work on the project, since the original packaging design had been done in the mid 1990s by a multi-national heavywight agency.

Studiofluid worked within Coop's budget to differentiate the Fior Fiore line while retaining the existing package structure. The final result is a modern design that clearly communicates the high-end value while standing out from competitors while easily accommodating new products to the line.

POSTED ON Friday, December 19, 2008
FILE UNDER: News & Notable, Projects

If you're still stressing out, trying to find the right gift idea, look no further: Hippo Roller just made your life easier!

…Actually, its gonna make someone else's life a lot easier. This little contraption can help transport 24 gallons of water more quickly and comfortably then the traditional bucket or jug method. We're big fans. In fact Studiofluid is donating branding expertise to Hippo in 2009 to help get the word out, and allow more people to get involved.

You can even donate online and they'll send you one of the thank you cards that Studiofluid designed.

Just like they say: “Proof that a good idea and a simple design can change the world.”

POSTED ON Monday, December 15, 2008
FILE UNDER: Ideas, News & Notable, Projects

Chris Jordan’s amazing visualizations of some sobering American statistics: The number of plastic bags used in the US every five seconds, office paper used every five minutes, amount spent every hour for the war in Iraq… Wow.

POSTED ON Friday, November 28, 2008
FILE UNDER: Design

Very creative software, with a sweet sense of justice (or revenge?): orbicule.com. Raises some interesting privacy issues, though.

POSTED ON Saturday, November 15, 2008
FILE UNDER: Productivity, Technology

Scott Ginsberg shares a solid list of 50 networking ideas that are neither intimidating nor cheezy. (Annoying but free subscription signup, though).

POSTED ON Monday, November 10, 2008
FILE UNDER: Business, Marketing

If you’re sick of the trendy eco-movement, (i.e. supposed eco-sensibility of useless products), be encouraged that we’re in the ’spike’ which will be followed by by a ‘dip’ and then solid acceptance over time.

(Thanks, Alissa).

POSTED ON Sunday, February 10, 2008
FILE UNDER: Design, Sustainability