SF Open Studios is brought to us by a non-profit organization that puts on an annual 4-week art event in October where artists open the door of their studios (or get together as a group to showcase their work at a local gallery).
Oops! We broke the rules
We started this project by breaking the rules. Because SF Open Studios is a non-profit project, the campaigns it runs are very important as they need to get maximum return on the buck, and its logo is not as important as in the case of a consumer product company that makes a very heavy use of its logo (think Nike). So we decided to design the campaign first, and the logo second.
An advertising campaign about discovering the next big thing
We did a little bit of research among SF Open Studios event attendees, and discovered that one common denominator that kept them coming to the event is to discover the next big artist. And so, we created messaging that appealed to that common thread, and because SF Open Studios showcases different types of art forms (painting, sculpture, photography, etc.), we adapted it accordingly:
- Discover the next Picasso (painting)
- Discover the next Michelangelo (sculpture)
- Discover the next Avedon (photography)
For the visuals, we created illustrations that would match the respective “Discover the next…” taglines above. We picked a bright color combination that would stand out from the city landscape around the ads, and that would attract a maximum of eyeballs to get maximum bang for the non-profit buck. We then laid all of this on a San Francisco city skyline with a sunset-colored canvas texture for the sky.
We then adapted the campaign concept to all various types of ad formats: magazine ad, newspaper ad, city wallscape ad, bus shelter ad, bus ad, taxi ad, street banner ad, etc. et voila!
An open-minded logo
The campaigns now and in the future would, most of the time, have to be quite colorful to get maximum bank for the buck, and so we designed a monochromatic logo that would contrast that. The logo is an open door, which is literal for the open door of studios, as well as, the metaphorical open minds of art lovers that come to the events.
Splénium brought the highest level of professionalism to
a crucial project for our business. In the process, we gained an education in how to think about the "image" of our brand in direct relationship to generating sales. Because they would not compromise their standards, we were forced to raise ours and our business is the better for it.
I can recommend Splénium’s work without qualification.
