January 2010
TOKY work has been nominated for 16 Addys in this year’s Ad Club of St. Louis “best of” review.
For us, the cool part is that we were nominated in so many different categories, for doing so many different kinds of things: web sites, print brochures, brand identity, photography, high-end invitations and holiday cards, posters and video storytelling.
Here’s a list of our nominations:
See you February 18th at the awards ceremony!
December 2009
TOKY’s work will be prominently featured in Rockport Books’ new “1000 More Graphic Elements.“ The book will feature our work for The Private Residences at the Chase Park Plaza, the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, The Saint Louis Public Library Foundation, EcoUrban Homes, The Laurel condominiums (oh, the rumors flying around about that project!!) and Art Fix for Rebuilding Together St. Louis.
December 2009
Two of TOKY’s brand identities have been selected for HOW Magazine’s 2010 International Design Awards. TOKY’s senior designer Travis Brown designed the logos for 100 Woodfire Grille and Art The Vote; both will be published in the 2010 Annual, on magazine stands worldwide in April. HOW awesome!
November 2009
I’ve been seeing ads around town from HealthLink celebrating their 25th year in business. I designed the logo back in 1984, while working at Eisenkramer Associates, run (as it were) by Larry Eisenkramer, who would later go to prison for scamming clients in a financial planning scheme.
I designed it around a typeface I’d seen called Jana, designed by St. Louis’ own Dick Juenger, one of the most professional (and kindest) of our town’s first generation commercial artists. Jana won Third Prize for Dick in a 1965 National Type Face Design Competition. It’s got to be one of the most lasting examples of his typeface that’s still out there.
The logo lasted far longer than Eisenkramer. Despite some of the best talents around, I was only able to make it a year working there, leaving as a 24 year old Creative Director. The firm imploded a year after I left. But it was there that I worked with Norty Cohen (the bongo playing head of marketing), Joe Bonwich (emerging technology writer), Ed Mantels-Seeker (the OCD art director), Tony Patti (beatnik production guy) and Maris Cerullis (my replacement as CD). The place was so disfunctional that I was throwing up from nervousness on my drive in every morning. 25 years later and this is all that remains of my work there. Who’d a thunk.
My oldest remaining logo is the 28 year old Plumbers Supply, which I designed in 1981, straight out of school while working for Kiku Obata.
July 2009
The neighborhood where the office is, Midtown Alley, has seen some great press in the last few years. The latest is the linked article below about recent developments, including a quote from Eric:
“It was a no-man’s land,” says Eric Thoelke, president of TOKY Branding and Design, which moved to a renovated warehouse on Olive Street in 2002. “Now it’s kind of like an urban Webster Groves. … It’s a place where everybody knows everyone else.”
Read the full article
Be on the lookout for more information on Midtown Alley Street Fest, which will be taking place in the neighborhood this fall! Here’s the logo we designed for the neighborhood:
June 2009
Shown in the picture above is the the logo for Photobooth Planet we just finished. This is a great service for parties and events, where they put an old-fashioned photobooth on the premises. Some packages include a booth that gives you prints in addition to saving the digital files for you to keep. For more info go here, or see some selections below from Tyler’s wedding a few weeks back!
January 2009
TOKY has nine logos in Quayside Publishing’s book “Really Good Logos Explained“, each with nice write-ups about each logo from judges Margo Chase, Rian Hughes, Ron Miriello and Alex White.
Of the 9 logos included, a logo we did for the Pulitzer Foundation’s WATER exhibit was given a Judge’s Choice Award.
“The swirl of ink used here to connote water has the grace of a sume-i character and is integrated beautifully with the industrial sans-serif caps—Din is one of my favorites. The designer resisted the urge to clean things up and left random splatters and blobs that enhance the feeling of artistic authenticity.”
Judge Margo Chase
Pictured clockwise from upper-left: Elizabeth Fox Handbags, Butler’s Pantry, Thinking Cap, Compton Gate, Appistry, Pointe 400 Apartments, Innovate St. Louis, Kaufman Broadcast.
