Smart Marketing During Uncertain Economic Times

Anthony Bourdain Dines at Perla's

Citizen Architect & Föda

Rarest Of Them All

The latest issue of Rare Magazine is out, their ‘best-of’ issue: Rarest Of Them All. We were completely surprised and humbled to find that their editors and readers think we’re one of Austin’s Best Design Studios.

We’re delighted to take the bronze, and pleased to see that the city might have noticed we’re here (hey, it’s only been 7 years). As to the awards: it’s great company to keep. The illustrious Decoder Ring took 1st and the veteran FD2S took 2nd.

Cheers and thank you to Austin and Rare. 

2009 Annual Report

True, Annual Reports are the purview of companies with shareholders and stocks, often stuffed with dusty numbers and percentages. We believe our clients are our shareholders; we believe numbers and data can be colorful and engaging. Clients and the community deserve a look not just at how we did, but how they did. They deserve some good news; moreover, they deserve to know that they’re amongst friends: other business owners who endured the adversity of “o-nine.”

Upon reflection—or more accurately: upon careful research—one discovers there is in fact cause for celebration. While profits were off for most companies and business owners, great work still got done both in our studio and our client’s offices. Awards were won, breakthroughs made, profits returned, new jobs began, old ones completed.

The FÖDA Studio AR09 is an act of optimism and it’s the keeping of promises: solidarity, collaboration, authenticity.

AR09 Design:
The AR09 is the result of a great deal of internal research and data collection—the sort of thing we offer clients, but here we turned the magnifying glass on ourselves. The 2009 production load of the studio was placed in a 12 segment rotation, clock-like, yet representative of the 12 months of the year. Each set of diagrams reflects different data: color trending throughout the year, color by project, environmental status by press run, total research, market sectors, etc.

The report, also being a celebration of our 7th year in business, provides cross-sections of empirical data based on return on investment with FÖDA Studio. When you have several years under your belt with a client (especially those who’ve been rebranded) one can point to how the gross profit of a business changed. This is critical to us: proper design is not overhead, it’s investment in growth. Design—when it comes from a brand consultancy—ceases to be about ‘art projects’ and inspiration. As it says in the report:

IN THE ABSENCE OF CONTEXTUAL INFORMATION, DESIGN
BECOMES AN EXERCISE RELYING WHOLLY ON INSPIRATION; UNLIKELY TO ELICIT CHANGE,
DOUBTFUL TO PROVE AN ADVANTAGE.
RESEARCH—‘KNOWING’— CREATES ADVANTAGES.

The ROI segment is followed with client profiles—a narrative on who we serve and what they’re about. This information is colored by feedback from the blog-o-sphere, editorial statements from us, and a brief history/explanation of the studio.

The AR09 has little portfolio imagery; it isn’t about us in that way.
The AR09 is us.

Each copy of the Annual Report is numbered and embossed by hand.

Excerpt of our Toward a Manifesto with multi-lingual translations.

Diagram of Collaborators.

Detail of Client Industry diagram.

Color usage by project, percentage and duration.

Color trending over the year.

Client Profile: Mark Odom Studio.

Client Profiles: Webber+Studio and I-35 Makeover Project for the City of Austin in conjunction with Cotera+Reed Architects.

Coffee Consumption by designer.

Limited to 50 prints in this first edition; price on demand. To order one of these perfect bound, 44 page reports, click here:

Client: FÖDA Studio
Creative Director: Jett Butler
Designers: Melissa Martin, Sissy Emmons and Jett Butler
Data Collection and Research: Melissa Martin, Sissy Emmons and Jett Butler. *Client ROI Provided courtesy of Larry McGuire, Ransom Baldasare, Jon Ahrens, Jason Ryan Dorsey, AIA Austin.
Photography: Jett Butler, additional shots by Sissy Emmons and Ryan Vaughn
French Translation: Florent Palluault & Kristi Stillwell
Spanish Translations: Michael French and Viviane Vives
German Translation: Berthold Haas
Chinese Translation: Google
Copy Proofing: Holly Gonzalez
Paper Rep: Jessica Philips

Black Red Black

A portrait and poster series for BlackRedBlack’s residency at Lamberts becomes an homage to Reid Miles. Ephraim Owens, Brannen Temple, Red Young and Gary Clark, Jr. as photographed by FÖDA.

Our focus is brand and identity development yet sometimes we’re fortunate enough to have that include us getting behind the camera. Herein, a portrait study that pays tribute to the renowned work of Reid Miles for Blue Note records, shot during recording sessions for the upcoming album from the trio. We hope Reid would be proud.

BlackRedBlack can be seen every Sunday night in their residency at Lamberts Downtown Barbecue.

Ephraim Owens

Red Young

Brannen Temple

Ephraim Owens

Red Young

Brannen Temple

Expanded trio with saxophonist.

Gary Clark Jr. looking during an upstairs session.

The Perna Quesada Solution

The DJ budget at Malverde allows for one poster for an event, but the project brief calls for three. Martín Perna (of Ocote Sould Sounds) DJ’s one night, Adrian Quesada (Groupo Fantasma, Brownout and Ocote Soul Sounds) spins another, some nights both. Challenge: design three posters within the budget allowed for just one.

We present to you the Perna Quesada Solution. One poster to unite them all. All you need is a real fat marker.

See these gents at Malverde.

Client: Jesse Herman for The Icon Group (La Condesa & Malverde)
Design Team
Creative Director: Jett Butler
Typography: Jett Butler
Ink-over: Brandon Gamm
background graphic: Antoly Zenkov’s IOGraphica, set to track the layout of type and correspondence with the client about the poster.

The ArtHouse Chair

In February an email showed up in our in-box. It said:

“Arthouse at the Jones Center seeks qualified designers for a freshening of its visual identity and associated media in conjunction with our grand reopening in October, 2010.”

An invited RFQ of 33 design teams, we promptly pulled together our package for the March 5th deadline. While the RFQ outlined expectations for Arthouse from their design team, project scope, etc it also included one atypical request; a design challenge. Along with the stipulation on deliverable items, the task read as follows:

“All firms who wish to be considered must complete the following task and provide a selection of completed work in print and web design. Selections must include a minimum of one print invitation design and one web site.”

Fascinating.
Who is Jason Middlebrook?

“Jason Middlebrook (Hudson, NY) will be the first artist featured in the ground floor galleries. Create a print exhibition announcement for his exhibition, Jason Middlebrook: More Art about Buildings and Food, a commissioned site-specific project utilizing detritus from the building renovation to create unique large-scale furniture. Community potluck events will take place within his gallery.”

And this quote from Jason:

“One of my favorite albums of all time is the 1978 Talking Heads album, “More Songs about Buildings and Food.” My title is a spin off on that, “more art about buildings and food”! I love it because it pays homage to a great piece of art and it says so much about the history of the Arthouse building and my project. The big hit off this album was a cover of Al Green’s “Take Me to the River” and even that is fitting for Austin.”

As there were no stipulations beyond a minimum of one print sample and one web sample, we produced several physical samples in each category including our work for the the AIA Homes Tour, Mark Odom Studio, Madrone, Lamberts, and award winning work for MAKE. A series of one of a kind posters declaring our qualifications, “5 things only FÖDA could say”, and our solution to the design task accompanied a PDF (an abbreviated version of which can be found Here.)

Whatever your feelings may be about the solicitation of spec work, we undertook the ‘task’ in the spirit it was delivered. The scope was small and provided Arthouse a clear tool for comparison. Our solution seemed appropriate and more importantly, inclusive. If the artist would work with architectural detritus for the opening to make furniture, then we would follow suit using scrap papers and various imagery to allow the public to make furniture, albeit smaller.

Thus, two dies would punch 3 usable forms from every piece of scrap paper or dead marketing material or job site waste that could be placed on the press, and some new printed material would be used to supplement the run with pictures of food or architecture. Postcards go out, extras remain at Arthouse. Chair legs and seat are popped out by hand, slotted for assembly with no glue.






Receivers assemble the chairs at home or—returning with them opening night—build collaboratively and create multiple—nearly infinite—variations on the art of their chair-as-table-setting-as-keep-sake-as-collaborative-art-piece.

Final demo chairs both, assembled and with uncut postcards, were shipped in a translucent carton along with posters, print samples, etc.

Unfortunately, they chose another design team. Them’s the breaks.

Client: Arthouse Request for Design Proposals
Creative Director: Jett Butler
Designers: Jett Butler, Sissy Emmons and Melissa Martin with assembly assistance from intern Brandon Gamm.
Task Postcard Photography: Jett Butler
Documentation: Jett Butler & Sissy Emmons
All material and concept ©2010 FÖDA Studio, inc.

Sneak Preview

Normally we sit on projects until they are totally complete before publishing them. However, when the work is a new identity on articulated .06” acrylic with two passes of serigraphy and an elaborate guilloché/morphed-hypertrochoid pattern, punched through letters, and 10 unique and different card patterns, it’s hard to hold it in. Forthcoming, the new COMPOSITE identity for LA’s own Clayt Hudson, Architect. 

AIGA Texas Show Awards

Thred Records
As an artist owned company creating a community for both musical promotion and sharing of resources, the brand is based on the “thread” that connects one musician to the next. The logo reflects the record company name while also implying the nature of the medium by showing both a spool as well as an implied equalizer in the wrapped threads. Reading as a spool when small, the logo also displays as a piece of equipment when writ large.

Creative Director/Designer: Jett Butler
Designers: JR Crosby and Nikki Lo Bue

MAKE
Make is a film pre-production company and post-production editing house. Their collateral system reflects the simplicity and work-a-day ethic associated with the labor of pre-production. The logo and business cards make use of simple geometry to create a larger form, allowing the cards to be overlapped like film frames to create a complete picture as is common in post production. The logo itself uses counter-space to invite the viewer to participate in the act of ‘making.’

Creative Director/Designer: Jett Butler
Designer Melissa Martin

Block Party 2010!

La Condesa is throwing their annual Cinco De Mayo Block Party this year with live performances by Brownout, Ocote Soul Sounds, Mariachi Tamazula, & DJ Chicken George. Party in the street, Wednesday, 05.05.2010 from 5-10pm. All of W 2nd Street between Guadalupe & San Antonio. Admission is free.

The Block Party Poster and related print material designed by FÖDA Studio.

FÖDA Brings Home Two AIGA Awards

From 507 entrants across the state (268 from Austin alone), 21 winners were selected to receive 47 awards in this years AIGA Texas Show. The jury was composed of industry luminaries Paula Scher, Karin Fong and Joe Duffy. Proudly, FÖDA Studio will bring two awards home. [If you’re doing the math, the winners are the top 4% of the state.] Read more here, attend the opening at Action Figure Friday night, and see the award winning pieces when we re-post the work on Monday, May 3rd. 

A Glossy Nod From Herr Haas

Perla's One Year Anniversary

One year ago we—having designed their brand and identity—helped open Perla’s Seafood & Oyster bar. Quickly a South Congress landmark, we’re very proud to celebrate the one year anniversary. Here’s our contribution: a colorful set of posters for their first Crawfish and Seafood Boil on April 18th. All you can eat and Free Beer for $20? A happy birthday indeed.

From Larry:

This Sunday, April 18th, marks Perla’s one year anniversary and we are throwing a huge Crawfish & Shrimp Boil to commemorate an exciting year for our restaurant’s team, its friends, and our colleagues.  We are proud of what we accomplished this year, not only opening and surviving in such a tough economy, but being named one of America’s Top Ten New Restaurants in Esquire, one of the Top Ten New Restaurants in Texas by Texas Monthly, and Newcomer of the Year in the Austin Statesman.

We hope you can join us this Sunday from Noon-5pm for great food, cold beer from Live Oak & Real Ale, and zydeco from The Dr. Zog Band.  Admission will be $20 and include all the Crawdaddies, Shrimp, and Beer you can handle.

Madrone Wins Texas ASLA Award

Jon Ahrens, owner of Madrone LDC, was awarded a 2010 Honor Award from the Texas Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects (TX ASLA) for Chris Park in San Antonio. His brand, identity and the entry package itself were designed by FÖDA Studio. Read the full press release here. 

A few shots of the work getting done follow.
*The full shot of Duncan—foreman of Jon’s award winning crew—will also appear in our forthcoming annual report.


The Madrone print identity is the 100% compostable system that was hand made with Texas seeds that will sprout wildflowers and prairie grass when planted.