M Studio

MEEMOM’S KITICHEN

The M Studio team has been working with Meemom’s Kitchen, a home-cooking inspired breakfast and lunch joint coming soon to Wall Township, NJ. While we’re still in the process of designing the menu, we’ve just put the finishing touches on the restaurant’s logo. In designing for Meemom’s our goal has been to implement symbols that provoke thoughts of home and comfort food while steering clear of kitschy or old-fashioned imagery. The spatula over the faint diamond patterned background hints at a homey familiarity, while the over-all look remains sleek and clean, giving the logo a modern, metropolitan vibe.

Collective Art Tank

M Studio recently designed and developed the website for local art advocacy organization, the Collective Art Tank. The Collective Art Tank, or the “Tank,” is the collaboration of artist/gallery owner John “Vigg” Viggiano and Winsor & Newton, Liquitex, and Conté à Paris fine art materials.

The Tank’s goal is to support the artists and art teachers of Asbury Park’s ever growing art community. It offers an affordable space for teachers and students to work, develop, and strengthen blossoming art careers. Artists teaching at the Tank are given the opportunity to use the space free of charge and set their own fees. Plus, to help keep classes affordable, easels and other supplies are provided by Winsor & Newton, Liquitex, and Conté à Paris fine art materials.

In developing and designing the Tank’s new website, we used a dynamic grid system that allows users to see the contents of the page laid out before them in one quick glance. Working from within the creative community, we understood the need to showcase the Tank’s unique artistic talents, and this system helped in creating a landing page that keeps the featured art of the website front and center while maintaining a sleek, clean, simplistic look.

We made sure to integrate the Tank’s site with a CMS (content management system), so information on events, classes, new blog posts or videos, and additions to the gallery can be updated quickly and easily from the Tank’s own office. Also, as we worked on defining the look of the Tank’s website, we realized the need for an updated and compact logo which the Collective Art Tank has since incorporated in further brand development.

You can visit the new website at collectivearttank.com, stop by the Tank in person at the Shoppes at the Arcade, 658 Cookman Avenue, suite 20, Asbury Park, NJ 07712, or call (732)927-1317 for information on classes and upcoming events.

AP Vibe

AP Vibe is a spirited, vibrant organization, looking to help breathe life back into Downtown Asbury Park by showcasing local businesses and producing unique events. In designing their logo, we hoped to demonstrate the ideas behind AP Vibe with one simple mark. The logo we developed is meant to mimic an ink stamp, thereby recalling an image of youthful creativity. This stamp-like logo brings to mind the concept of being let in, like getting one’s hand stamped upon entry into a bar or music hall. It also demonstrates the act of leaving one’s mark, just as the businesses and people of Downtown are leaving their mark on Asbury Park for generations to come.

While the facade of the logo represents a stamp, the active and raw look of the logo are drawn from the concept of fast moving, forward development. The mark calls to mind street art and even evokes an almost cave-drawing like image. As with street art and cave-drawings, the “newness” inherent in this symbol creates a metaphor of rebirth plus ongoing growth and development. There is also a quickness to the mark which almost yells, “This is happening NOW, so you’d better get in on it!”

With all these elements in one deceptively simple design, the logo becomes more than a logo. It’s proof of existence. It’s an invitation. It’s a call to action.

As with the logo, the website we designed and developed for AP Vibe is meant to welcome users and invite them to have a look around. A scrolling gallery shows bright, lively images from an array of Downtown businesses that appeal to a variety of palates and interests. The website also works as a continuation of brand elements, so we took this opportunity to draw from AP Vibe’s logo and incorporate like colors, typography, and design throughout the site. In addition to the standard site, we developed a slimmed-down mobile version of the website geared toward the user on the go.

While we focused a lot of energy on making the AP Vibe website user friendly, we also took into consideration the need of AP Vibe to constantly update their website in order to promote upcoming events and highlight a wide range of businesses. In order to meet this need, we developed the site with a content management system so that the people at Vibe are able to adjust website content quickly and easily from their own office as needed.

Moving beyond web development and branding, we recently worked with APVibe on an advertising campaign for their upcoming event, “Vibe in the Streets.” The idea of doing something unusual in the streets stood out to us as the main intrigue of this event. In developing our ideas, we decided to work off the concept of taking entertainment to the streets and ignoring standard traffic laws, and the idea of deconstructed street signs began to germinate. After working and reworking the concept, our ideas eventually grew into the image below. In this design, black, one dimensional images, generally shown performing pedestrian acts, come to life and even emerge from their standard yellow backdrop so they can join in on the party.

HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM M STUDIO

In lieu of the new year, the M team sent out a New Year’s card to our dear friends and clients. The task was simple: each team member chose a number from “2013,” with that number we each visually interpreted it in our own way.  A creative New Year’s card to remind everyone to answer the question, Who did it? M did it.