announcing...affordable art fair 2009

Greetings from the Affordable Art Fair New York City 2009! The 2009 Fair has been announced to be in a neighboring building of the iconic Empire State Building. Studio TOTA will be collaborating with the folks at AAF again to design/create the concept and materials for the fair that will take place on May 7th to May 10th of 2009. Above is a promotional postcard that will be distributed to inform visitors of the new dates and new location. Plans are to take full advantage of the building's architectural elements and to be inspired by the art-deco style of when the building went up. More to come from this project...stay tuned!

moving calligraphy {betsy dunlap}

I'm working on a wedding invite design for some friends and came across the quirky but beautiful hand calligraphy of Betsy Dunlap. I love the girls' names she gives her styles: I like them all but I might be prone to befriending Jill and Amelia first. I know that I would be pretty excited to see an envelope like this in my mailbox - it would be sure to stand out in the mix of bills and catalogs that I've NEVER signed up for {how do I get rid of them?!?!?...already tried Catalog Choice. can't tell if I'm a success story}. Anyways, going off on a tangent - please enjoy Betsy's work! Turns out she has a Etsy store too...

montesbuild in the works

A recent project in the works is with MontesBuild, a design/build company here in NYC who specializes in sustainable design and building. The owner has a background in architecture with years of experience in construction and green building, allowing for a balance of well-designed, functional, and long-term beneficial spaces. Studio TOTA is working on some great business cards for them, but we have a little preview of a splash website, including some photos of their work. Stay tuned for more to come!
Have a great weekend to all~

go upcycle!

Last night I met with my former colleague and founder of UpCycle, a progressive company that is encouraging consumers and businesses to create an environmentally sustainable economy. UpCycle promotes responsible consumerism by building the infrastructure to allow people to recycle everything - especially products that go beyond paper, plastic, glass - and get rewarded. They hope to close the waste loop by giving people incentives towards new products by recycling their old product. So let's say your inkjet printer is no longer doing its job...you can go through UpCycle to recycle it (yes...printers can be recycled!) and get a discount to buy a new printer via a store that is also part of the UpCycle program. Everyone wins! Studio TOTA has been given the opportunity to create the identity for this promising program. After many rounds of decision making, above is the official logo - and we are in the works for a website and promotional materials...so stay tuned!

moving momentum identity

Studio TOTA has been working with Portland Oregon based pack-and-load moving company, Moving Momentum, for a bit now. After getting the essentials of business cards and a simple informational website up and running, we had the opportunity to develop a logo for the company. Keeping their signature colors, as well as the chevrons that point upwards to represent the positive change that Moving Momentum participates in for someone's life, we finalized the logo as above. This logo will be used on all marketing materials going forward, as well as shirts and hats for the movers!

the affordable art fair { nyc }

The Affordable Art Fair NYC is taking place next week - from June 12 (Thu) to June 15 (Sun). This art fair is for everyone - from first-time buyers to seasoned collectors to people just wanting to check out new contemporary artists. There are over 70 galleries from all over the world featuring their art from $100-$10,000.
Studio TOTA has had the pleasure of creating the look and executing all design materials for the 2008 Fair. The design concept is "art to go" - since it's all about accessible art - and since it's taking place in NYC, we took imagery of to-go coffeecups and takeout boxes and incorporated it in a clean and bold look. We gave "art to go" a neon light look reminiscent of the "fast delivery" type signs adorning our favorite takeout shops. There are ads in TimeOut, subway stations (!!!), various art publications + websites, and more...so keep your eyes peeled. And come by the Fair with a $5 discount to general admission!
Hope to see you there...

seven virtues pdx

Just in time for the Grand Opening celebration for Seven Virtues Coffeehouse, our friends out in Portland (PDX), Studio TOTA has created a blogsite for them that includes information about their coffeehouse, their events, the local artists featured on their walls, and more. Having a strong sense of community and wanting to share a warm and healthy space to neighbors, we felt as though allowing their customers add to their website through comments and feedback would be quite appropriate. So utilizing Wordpress blog software with a custom CSS upgrade, we were able to create a low-budget website that communicates essential information for their business to their existing and new customers. Something to consider for new businesses out there that may not have the budget to build out a full out customized website, but wants something that is not your typical generic template website (<-- not so pretty).
For those of you in the Portland area, Seven Virtues Coffeehouse's Grand Opening is on June 7th so go join them with a full day of free samples, live music, coffee demonstrations and more!

gifts by chris and ro

I went to a festive baby shower this past weekend. My gift for the happy couple was a beautiful gift basket by Gifts By Chris and Ro. Studio TOTA is in the works of designing a full website for this gift boutique that hand-creates original and attractive presentation for baby gifts. Each gift features a variety of infant clothing essentials (onesies, tights, leggings, bibs, etc) and decorative flowers artistically styled to resemble a floral arrangement. They also have adorable gift additions, like the handknit hi-tops (photo above), that can be added onto the baskets. There were a lot of "oohs" and "aahs" when the gift was getting opened. It's a wonderful gift solution off the beaten (baby registry) path...=)

Gifts By Chris and Ro is having a Grand Opening celebration next weekend on May 30 and 31. Details >>

please welcome moving momentum...

Moving Momentum is a pack and load moving company located in Portland, Oregon. Studio TOTA has designed business cards to help open their business doors. With energetic colors, owner Jasper Lind is dedicated to providing you with a stress-free moving experience. Looking to move anything in the Northwest region? Contact Moving Momentum at solutions@movingmomentum.com or 503-704-7008.

petie by lori fischer

Tonight, I had the amazing pleasure to hear a reading of my friend's play called "Petie". Lori Fischer is a phenomenally talented writer (as well as singer, actor, and everything else) who is a grad student at NYU for dramatic writing. She received the honor of being a runner-up for the NYU Goldberg Award for this play. It was very intense - a story about a torn family in the south who loses a son/brother, Petie. The numerous characters test the ideas of faith, the strength of the human spirit, but most importantly, hope. I was fortunate to collaborate with Lori to design postcard mailers and posters for the play. And the best reward was experiencing this reading in person. Keep your eyes and ears out for this one~ She's going to make it big.
The other runner-up, "Flat Sam" by Antoinette Nwandu, has its reading next week - you should all go check it out. Info in flyer above...

bethesda skincare website launch!

Today we have something to celebrate - the Bethesda Skincare e-commerce website designed by Studio TOTA went live! Bethesda Skincare has come up with and sells natural skincare products that promote healing and strengthening of our bodies. With the ideas of nourishment, healing, body and soul, I wanted to design a clean, refreshing-looking website that highlights their products. By manipulating photos of the cross-section of water, the changing wave patterns became the design of the site. The water also became a functional divider between the top navigation that offers information about the company vs. the left navigation that allows the user to go through the product lineup. As a new product line, we present a lot of information so that people can get to know Bethesda Skincare and what went into the development of their products.
Bethesda Skincare has a wonderful team of people and I thank them for their patience and enthusiasm! Also, this site would not have been possible without MyCommerce, the e-commerce expert.

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