It's funny what you find on the internet...

Every now and then I get a note from someone telling me they saw Studio Picotee's work somewhere online that I wasn't expecting. I guess it's a good thing to get this unsolicited press, but it'd be nice to know it's happening!

Just the other day, a vendor sent me a note saying she saw a write up on the design of the Wag Hotels pet store on the VMSD website. That was a nice place to be featured since it's a site that focuses on exactly the kind of work we do at Studio Picotee - retail store design, graphics, and merchandising.

Then I found that a similar and more in depth write up was used on the B&N website. B&N was the fixture supplier that I specified for the Wag store because of the versatility and simplicity. I'll admit, that despite a bit of a learning curve at the beginning, the fixtures ended up being very easy to use. The cables are a bit of a hassle, but in the end they looked good and will be easier now that they're up. Unfortunately Wag hasn't really utilized the cables since then to really take advantage of the versatility, but I think Wag is suffering from the same economy woes as everyone else. I hope that once things bounce back, we'll be able to get back in there and do some more fun window displays and store graphics.


But in the meantime, it's fun to find ourselves online and the work liked enough to be highlighted as a case study!

Brighten things up!

It's been a relatively busy end of the year, all things considered. In between jaunts to various conferences around the country and a holiday inspiration trip to the Christmas Markets of Munich, I did get to see two of my latest designs up and installed before the end of the year.


The first, a window display for Endurance PTC, a gym particularly focused on biking and triathalon training was installed on Front Street in San Francisco. The gym had big empty windows, and with all the foot traffic heading to and from downtown, it was a shame not to capitalize on that space to better explain what they do in there. We did a photo shoot of their clients on bikes and used their punchy orange to call out the benefits of the gym. Hopefully people looking to prepare for their New Year's Resolutions will be inspired to walk in on their way to or from work this January!


Then, for the holiday season, I worked with the North Face again on their Holiday graphics. Unfortunately, due to the changes in the marketplace and their own internal changes, we didn't end up executing the window display that we had worked on, but the in-store overheads did go up, and added a nice layer of texture to the store.

Studio Picotee is really looking forward to 2009. As Steve Jobs always said when I was working at Apple, "It's time to innovate through the downturn." And that's exactly what I hope to help my clients do. This is the perfect opportunity to reassess marketing programs and come up with new ideas that are both innovative and cost effective. As a small studio, we are perfect to help out on both fronts.

Here's to a fresh start to a new year! Cheers!