m(ødm)

FÖDA Studio loves Mark Odom. His work is exploratory, provocative; he often does more with less. We enjoy a unique relationship with Mark’s practice as our role varies between being designers, photographers, illustrators, and regular collaborators. So you’ll understand why we’re proud to announce the launch of the new markodomstudio.com which shows just how many ways we can support talented young architects to develop their brand & identity.

Though we’ve done many brands and websites over the years for architects with diverse practices and scales like the urban planning firm JHP in Dallas, Edgar Papazian’s radical DOON Architecture in Portland, and in Austin, the award winning practices of ClaytonLevyLittle, Webber+Studio and MJ Neal (just to name a few). The m(ødm) brand and site is a marked departure from the norm in the field.

Mark embraced the idea of showing projects in a more content driven shell; less portfolio, more index. His work is not only divided by project, but filtered by typology, and best of all, he’s embraced speaking about the continuity between them. Some content entries are about the diversity of detailing, others about a specific space that is common to all similar projects (like a kitchen). 

What we think is most appropriate about his site and brand is its honesty. Many of Mark’s projects are diminutive in scale, he’s not afraid to use simple and raw materials in creative and sometimes even crude ways (and by crude we mean the béton brut definition). In his thinking he appears to make no distinction between the value of executed work and the value of concepts unrealized. The site does the same. A simple and direct interface makes no apologies about displaying content openly. Clean monochromatic illustrations do not pretend to be photo realized.

In his brand and identity we have also followed the same direction, pairing understated simplicity with tiny yet radical interventions. His business cards are ruptured by a secondary logo based on Mark’s interest in graffiti. Four types exist, only creating the larger picture when merged. His Mark Odom Studio name as a logo is reduced to an enigmatic and hypothetical equation m(ødm) derived from null sets and null theory. His credentials package features unexpected and sometimes subversive use of typography. An “equilibrium between clean lines and chaos” is struck.

Mark says it best himself:

“I want to reach a common public that is willing to look at things in another light, direction, color, material or form… [a clientele] not afraid to experiment with form and space.”

Cheers to Mark Odom and his clients.

Clear grid system and all current content displays on site load.

Editorial area, for lectures, conceptual studies, process, etc.

The 3d city/logo form that would later become an emboss plate. When seen from above, it abstracts the letters of “mark odom studio” into architectural form.

Business cards, showing one of four interventions into the surface of the card.

Photography from three different residences by Jett Butler for FÖDA Studio.

Creative Director: Jett Butler
Primary and Secondary Logos: Jett Butler
Identity: Jett Butler v1, v2, v3*, Melissa Martin v3, and Sean Lopano v2
Web Design: Jett Butler and Melissa Martin
Front End Code development, CMS deployment: Caspar Lam
Production assistance: Sissy Emmons
Illustrations: Jett Butler
Photography: ©2009 Jett Butler for FÖDA Studio

*v1: ødm(trnr), v2: M(ØDM), v3: m(ødm)