Another book with illustrations and photography by FÖDA Studio, of architecture by one of our most published clients, is now available. Amongst a myriad of other renowned designers, the book also includes Neil Denari. Small world.

We’ve just received our copies of the Best Of Business Card Design #8. Here is the back cover callout: “Culled from thousands of entries created by top designers from over twenty-five countries, this book features nearly four-hundred examples from a wide variety of professions, trades, and job descriptions, highlights special materials and innovative printing techniques to broaden a designer’s range of inspiration.” - Sibley/Peteet.
Read more, buy one.

If you mark credibility through success, then you can’t ignore failure. FÖDA Studio supplied the presentation drawings which aided Mr. MJ Neal to secure another AIA honor award this past Saturday night. Conversely, we lost big in a collaborative effort to design a new art school for an Estonian competition. ‘Ma ei saa aru’.

If we judge others by the company they keep, then certainly it speaks well of our studio that even our interns are published. Caspar Lam has his project The Red Envelope published in the Fall 2008 issue #18 of On Site Magazine. In addition, his review of Edward Wilson’s Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge. Good Company indeed. Read the excerpt…

Alli Rogers has released her third full length album—and her 5th release designed by FÖDA Studio. You & The Evening Sky uses a series of narrative elements to put a spin on the album’s title. Alli’s continued faith in FÖDA allows us to develop and refine her identity, no spin required.

For those who see our work as decadent-minimalism, focused on hard-edged international style form—suitable only for architects or airport signage—we offer you babies. We didn’t design them, just for them: an identity system for our friend Shelley Shroyer who focuses on baby and maternity photography in Wimberley. A more feminine and softer side to föda (it’s only appropriate, given our name).

Lamberts has won “Best New Club” in the Austin Chronicle Music Poll. We can’t take credit for the music, liquor or sound system. We can’t take credit for Will Bridges bringing great talent to Lamberts Downtown Barbecue. However, we can be proud of developing the Lamberts brand; designing and maintaining most of their brand vehicles; helping promote the venue with a killer poster or two and this shot of Gary Clark Jr. It’s our contribution.
Cheers to Will, Larry, and Lou.

Again, our work—on behalf of one of our most prolific and widely circulated clients, MJ Neal, Architects—has been published. This time, it’s for the Korean interior design magazine Maru. The project is of course Anthony Nak, a perennial editor’s favorite in any language.

Friday night, FÖDA Studio played David to a GSD&M and McGarrah-Jessee Goliath. Awarded a Best In Show “Johnny Jones Excellence in Printing Award” and a Gold ADDY Award in direct marketing, we squeezed into the winners circle amongst these big agencies at the Austin ADDY’s. Our diminutive print campaign for Butler Brothers Construction (VA) sat alongside campaigns from the heavyweights for household brands like BMW and Shiner. We’re not throwing stones, we’re honored to see our work recognized, even if we’re not an advertising agency. As a branding studio, we take this only as validation that critical process and design philosophy can sometimes off-set sheer size.
Cheers to the little guys.

For award winning Architect and long time client of FÖDA Studio, MJ NEAL, standard fare is never adequate. His architecture demands specificity when marketed. We’re happy that he provides us the opportunity to demonstrate his unique take on space and form; we continue to reinforce the brand we developed for him in 2004. Tribeza ad, drop cards, illustration and brand identity.

Kosmodrome: a new recording studio in Nashville. Launch Date: March 2008. Brand Concept and DIY street campaign by FÖDA Studio.

Webber+Studio has provided us yet another opportunity to demonstrate—with subtlety—who they are. The elegant execution of a simple ‘thank you’ card…

Few branding or graphic design studios carry architectural expertise in-house. We do. Our work for Endeavor’s 1890 Ranch included designing environmental graphics or wayfinders in addition to creating the brand. Thus, at 42’ tall, these pylons are the largest physical artifacts to come from our studio. Their provocative form breaks the mold of the average Austin wayfinding package…

Everyone talks about brands now. Few define them well, and fewer still are willing to hold themselves accountable to their definitions. Know this: the public will hold you accountable. This is why we (as a design studio) hold you accountable as well. If we can smell corporate doublespeak or empty claims, so can everyone else. The public is not stupid, only sometimes misinformed or uninformed.

When someone speaks and inspires for a living, presentation is everything. As non-verbal communicators, our work for Jason Ryan Dorsey is an excellent case study in the slippery nature of defining a brand. There is no tangible product (say, like a toaster); the personality is the brand. Our success can be measured in his market growth and an interview on CBS’ 60 Minutes with Morley Safer…

Photo by Nils Juul-Hansen