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Archive for the ‘Design’ Category

Schifino Lee - 3:29 pm March 14, 2012

Florida Museum of Photographic Arts launches new website to coincide with museum’s move to new downtown Tampa location

Schifino Lee takes unusual design approach to showcase photography on website

To better capture the essence of its photography exhibits and complement its new location, the Florida Museum of Photographic Arts (FMoPA) commissioned Tampa branding agency Schifino Lee to create a new website for the nonprofit museum.

The new site, www.FMoPA.org,, coincides with the museum’s move into a new downtown location this month. The website is meant to serve as an extension of the museum and offer a flavor of the displayed work for potential visitors and donors, including the Tampa Bay area’s growing class of creative professionals.

The site also describes how the museum — in addition to its historic and contemporary exhibits of internationally known photographers — offers an array of events, classes, membership programs, and community outreach activities.

With an untraditional look-and-feel and atypical navigation, visitors open the site to see eye-catching photography take over the computer screen. “This was a different approach than what’s often used in web design, and the visual power of the site is tied to its simplicity,” said Schifino Lee Creative Director Evan Brownstein. His team creatively and thoughtfully selected big, beautiful images “designed to make the photography the star,” he said.

Founded in 2001 as the Tampa Gallery of Photographic Arts, the museum was renamed in 2006 to better describe its purpose and mission of “exhibiting important photographic art as central to contemporary life and culture.”

The museum has recently relocated a few downtown blocks from N Tampa Street to Rivergate Plaza, located at 400 N Ashley Drive. The museum occupies the second and third floors of Rivergate’s architecturally significant Cube, a highly visible location in the heart of the Downtown Tampa Arts District.

About FMoPA

The Florida Museum of Photographic Arts is a museum dedicated to exhibiting important photographic art as central to contemporary life and culture.ÊFMoPA collects, preserves and exhibits historic and contemporary works by nationally and internationally known photographic artists. FMoPA also enriches the community by operating outreach programs to educate children and adults.

Schifino Lee - 8:10 pm October 7, 2011

AM 820 News launches with new format and brand, offering Tampa Bay: “All News. All Day.”

News radio on the AM side of the dial has been long dominated by loud and angry talk.  Knowing Tampa Bay residents spend a substantial amount of time in their cars, the station owners of WBBA 820AM saw an opportunity to give radio listeners something needed, desired and different: all news, all day in a straightforward and nonpartisan delivery. 

The result: AM 820 News.  Currently in the midst of launch, several programming and outreach components are in place, while others are continuing to roll out over the coming weeks. Audience response has been extremely positive. Per Arbitron, between June-August the station’s market share of listeners 18+ increased 67% and its cumulative listenership is up 31%.

AM 820 News offers a constant stream of local stories, traffic, and weather, along with news-you-can-use and national headlines. A joint content agreement with WTSP-TV (CBS-10) will include local forecasts, local updates, and simulcasts of 10 News broadcasts. AM 820 News has a 50,000-watt transmitter that covers most of central Florida, keeping traveling locals in the loop on hometown news.

In support of the station’s launch campaign, Tampa-based branding and marketing agency was called upon to Schifino Lee create the new branding, logos, print ads, digital billboards, and social media.  Outdoor billboards began appearing last week all around the Tampa Bay area, and print ads are schedule to run in the 4th Quarter. Meanwhile, social media including Facebook and Twitter is already starting to ramp up.

Beyond consumers, a key target audience for the AM 820 News marketing campaign in this early stage is advertisers. Schifino Lee was selected partly because of its knowledge of what media advertisers want, gained from its long experience in national and local media buying. As part of its partnership with AM 820 News, Schifino Lee will also create and run its own ads on the station which is, ironically, a unique and unconventional practice for advertising agencies. Agency Principal Ben Lee said, “We are convinced the editorial environment of all-news is a smart place to advertise.”

AM 820 News is owned by Genesis Communications, which also owns five other stations in central Florida including 1040AM Tampa Bay, an ESPN station. “Our challenge for AM 820 News is to change people’s perception of AM radio and let them know that there’s a new and different option for those who desire news without all the partisan talk,” said Bruce Maduri, president of Genesis Communications.  “When you gotta know now, we hope people tune into AM 820 News.”

Ben Lee - 12:16 pm January 11, 2011

Logo Evolution

A client asked last week, “When is it time to change our logo?” Eric answered him briskly, “When your company changes.”

Your logo symbolizes your company. It stands for all your corporate values and represents the customer experience. When those aspects change significantly—that is they improve—the logo needs to be updated to capture them. That’s what Starbucks Coffee will be doing in March when it rolls out its new mark.

Among my favorite logos are AT&T, Shell Oil and Volkswagen—all old ones that have evolved over the years with their corporate ancestor. Mostly they get modernized to reflect progressing aesthetics. Shell Oil, for instance, has updated its shell and evolved it from a representational image to an expressionistic one. Volkswagen’s initials-in-a-circle have gotten sleeker, more high-tech (and expensive) looking as their cars have done the same.

Apple Computer started out with a crunchy-granola, fruit label type logo that spoke of its California upbringing and small-company, “hand selected” philosophy. It was a great way to represent food and wine and a new way to talk about technology. As Apple dedicated itself to simplicity and being the computer anyone and everyone could use it drastically simplified its logo to just the apple with rainbow. Changes from rainbow to black to white to chrome reflect contemporary aesthetics as well as Apple’s position as a technology leader.

None of the companies we just discussed use their name as part of their logo. This is partly language-neutral globalism, partly ubiquity and partly pride. Starbucks has joined this crew with a 40th anniversary iteration of their mermaid. A company spokesman said that the mnemonic refinement reflects refinement of their strategy.  The Associated Press dug a little deeper (January 5, 2011)

“The brand is now evolving to a point where the coffee association is too confining and restrictive,” said John Quelch, a marketing professor at Harvard Business School. “Starbucks is fundamentally selling an experience, but by no means is coffee the only part of the experience. It is important that they not have a logo that is too confining.”

I never did see the connection between mythical human-fish hybrids and coffee. I sort of get how she can symbolize the other-worldly, get-away-from-it-all experience of relaxing with a good cup of coffee (something Starbucks has never had). But what she has to do with students and officeless consultants sponging wi-fi, lines of SUVs snaking toward the take-out window and the pseudo-socializing of social networks someone needs to explain to me.

Paola Schifino - 3:10 pm January 4, 2011

Luxury & Vanity

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What is significant about this ad from fashion and luxury goods purveyor Hermes?
It’s not that there’s nothing the least bit vulgar or titillating about it. Or that it occupied the back cover of a speciality magazine (Opera News) with advertising focused almost exclusively on its specialty.

(more…)

Paola Schifino - 11:12 am May 27, 2010

Fresh from the kitchens of Schifino Lee

Two new websites are hot out of our creative and programming ovens.

The first is for La Segunda Central Bakery, the premier maker of Cuban-style breads and pastries in the U.S. (at least according to a  poll of diners at Columbia Restaurant). The site greatly enhances the hundred-year old Ybor City bakery’s profile in the food service industry and spearheads their expansion as a regional commercial baker. Senior Interactive Art Director Nico Gomez (an expert on the Cuban sandwich) designed and built this great-looking site. I personally quality-tested all the products before they were photographed.

Our other delicious new website is for HOPCO Food Brokers. Tampa-based HOPCO represents national and local brands to the food service industry in the southeast states. It allows the brokerage and its clients to extend their reach into the kitchens of restaurants, hotels, schools, hospitals, retirement homes and other institutions. In addition to information about the brands, the site features important resources for food managers and contact info for all of HOPCO’s offices. Creative Director Max Blevins took the lead and was assisted by Mark, Nico and Eric.

Schifino Lee - 12:57 pm May 11, 2010

Meet us in the Lounge

Two designs created at Schifino Lee will be included in Logo Lounge 6: 2000 International Identities by Leading Designers.

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The book prints the very best of 34,000 submissions sent to LogoLounge.com in 2009. In addition to compiling the best of the best, Logo Lounge is a source of inspiration to designers in need of ideas.

Sr. Interactive Art Director Nic Gomez created this icon for a revolution lead by children for Financial Literacy for Kids, a grass roots organization that hopes to make the next generation better at handling money than the current one.

studio_c_logo_RGBThis comfy design was crafted by yours truly for Studio C. That’s the interior design division of global real estate developer Corvus International. The use of the ‘C’ families with the parent company logo.

Eric Leventhal - 2:32 pm May 3, 2010

He served us well

The greatest graphic designer you never heard of has passed away. His name was Leslie Buck. He lived and worked in New York, and if sheer production volume is the measure, he is one of the greatest designers ever.

What you don’t know what he designed? But it’s an icon! It’s blue, white and gold and fits in your hands. It’s very New Yawk. Still don’t know? I’ll just cue up a re-run of Law and Order (doesn’t matter which one). Here are the detectives walking down a cold Manhattan street. One moodily sips some coffee. Okay, freeze-frame. What’s that in his hand? That’s right. Leslie Buck is the designer of the ubiquitous take-out coffee cup known as the Anphora.

As befits a gentleperson of great accomplishment, Mr. Buck, a Czech-born Holocaust Survivor, got a feature obit in the New York Times, which we are pleased to share with you.