05.08.21
Sharing Across the Table
The Type Directors Club in New York organized Type Drives Communities, an international conference that explored the ways in which people use typography to form and transform creative communities. Partner Julio Martínez spoke about the collaboration between SJSU and La Cocina, a project that brings together emerging design students and aspiring entrepreneurs to share design solutions, business insights—and delicious food.
02.16.21
Looking In, Reaching Out
Partner Julio Martínez was one of the speakers for Design Field Notes, a lecture series organized by the UC Berkeley Jacobs Institute for Design Innovation. The series invites a dynamic group of designers, artists, and academics in design-related fields to share their work and practice with our students and public. The talk centered around what it takes to use design to become engaged in a diverse community.
08.05.20
Encouraging citizens to do their part in the fight against COVID-19
Partner Erik Schmitt designed posters to encourage mask-wearing that leverage the global message “My mask protects you. Your mask protects me.” This was a pro bono public service effort that was shared with the mayors’ offices of numerous cities. The cities of Berkeley, Los Angeles, and Oakland embraced the concept and launched efforts to put up hundreds of them in their communities. Many individuals in hospitals, businesses, and small communities have also asked for the posters to help with their efforts. The 8.5" x 11" posters were designed to be easy to print and inexpensive to reproduce using any color printer. English and Spanish versions are available. The files can be downloaded here.
08.04.20
Re-imaging design education for inclusion
Partner Julio Martínez was part of a panel titled “Re-creating the design classroom from the perspective of Othered identities.” The conversation centered around what it’s like, as othered design educators, to re-imagine the design classroom. The event was part of SHIFT 2020, the AIGA Design Educators Virtual Summit, and was organized on behalf of AIGA’s National Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion task force. Watch the discussion here.
06.22.20
Discussing how educators and designers use the Letterform Archive
As part of SFDesignWeek 2020, partner Julio Martínez was part of a panel that discussed the Letterform Archive's Online Archive. The panel featured Jon Sueda (CCA), Chris Hamamoto (CCA), and Robin Marich (Astro Studios). It covered how the site was designed, how designers partner with the organization, and how educators can use this resource.
04.16.20
A new identity for a podcast that aims to help the food industry
In an effort to help Marcia Gagliardi, founder of Tablehopper, launch her podcast On the Fly, partner Erik Schmitt volunteered his time to design an identity for the effort. The podcast covers how the Bay Area food & beverage industry Is fighting to adapt and survive during the coronavirus crisis and explores how they are pivoting, what’s working, what needs to change, what’s next, and how the public can help. Listen and subscribe to this new podcast addressing the changes in the restaurant business during Covid-19.
01.28.20
GGP 150th Anniversary Tree Planting Event
Partners Erik Schmitt and Julio Martinez participated in an event to kick off the celebration of Golden Gate Park’s sesquicentennial. The event was highlighted by remarks from Mayor London N. Breed and gathered volunteers to plant 150 new trees in the park. The San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department coordinated the effort and studio1500 has been asked to design the identity for the ongoing project. (Photo via HPA Strategies)
05.15.19
Collaboration with La Cocina enters 6th year
Partner Julio Martínez is working with SJSU BFA Graphic Design students to design identities for a cohort of entrepreneurs from La Cocina, a San Francisco-based food business incubator. Marija Istocnika, Natalie Rejas, Ngan Tran, Valerie Truong, Seth Zavagno, Robert Castellanos, Victoria Pantoja, Brittney Garcia, and Kelvin Esparza-Perez are this year's student participants. The program was started in 2013. Learn more about the project here.
02.21.19
Discussing the signs along the way
Partner Julio Martínez spoke about his career path and development as a designer to a gathering of the Jolgorio group, which aims to bring together Latino designers in the Bay Area to share common experiences.
01.17.19
Speaking to international students about the design process
Partners Erik Schmitt and Julio Martínez were invited to speak about the design process and design thinking to a group at the Stafford School. Most students were undergrads taking time to study English as a Second Language (ESL, hailing from Japan, China, South Korea, Brazil, and Taiwan. The class was taught by client Peter Esmonde.
08.11.18
Taking a sneak peek at the next generation of design talent
Partner Julio Martínez was part of a jury to determine the best young talent at the 2018 Adobe Achievement Awards, reviewing submissions from students around the world. Career advice from all jurors was recorded for participants and all students in general.
07.13.18
Gilded Cities project responds to income inequality and gentrification
As an outgrowth of work that partner Erik Schmitt completed as a fellow at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, this project responds to the fact that the San Francisco Bay Area has become an enclave for the rich—unattainable to all but the most privileged. Nine utilitarian objects throughout the Bay Area (such as sewer plates, water pipes, and manhole covers) were gilded in 23 karat gold. The project contains echos of similar events in the convulsive history of the area. Read more about the installations and the press coverage here.
03.09.18
Erik Schmitt selected as 2018 Rome Prize finalist
The American Academy in Rome awards the Rome Prize to a select group of artists and scholars, after an application process that begins in the fall of each year. The winners, announced in the spring, are invited to Rome to pursue their work in an atmosphere conducive to intellectual and artistic freedom, interdisciplinary exchange, and innovation. (Photo courtesy Alex MacLean).
11.03.17
A conversation with AIGA SF
In a profile written by AIGA SF, partner Julio Martínez spoke about the goals behind some initiatives carried out while he served as Diversity Chair. Read the profile here.
10.19.17
Assessing the Past while Looking Forward: A Conversation with Design Observer
Partner Julio Martínez spoke with Lily Smith at Design Observer about where Latinx design fits within the field, how heritage can inspire work, and what can be done about the low visibility of Latinx work in design today. Read the interview here.
09.08.17
Google Art Project Celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month
As part of the AIGA National Diversity & Inclusion Task Force, partner Julio Martínez collaborated with Jessica Arana to highlight work from Latinx designers. The online Google Art Project exhibition, titled Across Borders: A Look at the Work of Latinx Designers, is composed of selections from the AIGA National archives and various other AIGA resources.
07.26.17
Erik Schmitt named YBCA Fellow
Partner Erik Schmitt has been named a Yerba Buena Center for the Arts fellow for 2017. The YBCA Fellows program brings together creative citizens from across the Bay Area for a year-long process of inquiry, dialogue, and project generation.
06.20.17
Diseño, Food & Community
In collaboration with Paula Linares from the Mexican Consulate of San Francisco and Cuco Vega from Centro Jalisco, partner Julio Martínez helped produce a lecture by Alfonso Dominguez, owner of Oakland's Tamarindo. Alfonso's talk focused on his story and the intersection of food, design, and community.
06.15.17
Vectors
As part of AIGA SF’s 2017 Design Week, partner Julio Martínez collaborated with Facebook's Gabriel Valdivia and Michelle Morrison to produce Vectors, a half-day conference that explored identity and how it impacts work, communities, and the world at large. Watch the recorded live stream here.
05.26.17
Latinos in Design
Partner Julio Martínez was interviewed by Cha Cha Cha, a podcast created by Pablo Stanley featuring Latinos in the field design (en español!). Listen to the podcast here.
04.27.17
An International Design Award for Xerox PARC
studio1500 has been awarded the Como, Italy based A’ International Design Award for its work on the Xerox Parc Innovation Exhibit.
03.08.17
TXT Magazine on The Pages Project
Partner Erik Schmitt was interviewed by TXT magazine regarding The Pages Project. TXT is the annual magazine of the Book & Digital Media Studies MA Programme at Leiden University.
02.23.17
Drawing Workshop at UC Berkeley’s Innovation Lab
Working with MBA students at UC Berkeley’s “Creativity Kab” course, taught by Clark Kellogg, we had an opportunity to guide students in a basic drawing workshop aimed at reconnecting them with the benefits of sketching.
03.15.16
Street Sketch selected in next Market Street Prototyping Festival
Studio1500 was one of ten firms asked to participate in the Market Street Prototyping Festivals Urban Prototyping Research Lab. For six months, we worked on further iterations of our design Street Sketch at Gray Area in the Grand Theater in San Francisco's Mission District. Partnering with Gray Area, YBCA, San Francisco Planning, and Autodesk with the goal of designing a permanent installation for Market Street.
02.05.16
Judging the Webby Awards
As a member of the The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, partner Erik Schmitt served as a judge for the 20th annual Webby Awards. The Webby Awards is the leading international award honoring excellence on the Internet.
12.18.15
The Pages Wins a Webby
The Pages Project, a website exploring the marks, notations and other marginalia found in books, and the nature of the book as a transitory physical object in a digital age, has been honored with a Webby Award.
11.12.15
Valuing Diversity in Design
Along with Kimberly Bryant, John Maeda, Joelle Emerson, and Jason Mayden, partner Julio Martínez discussed Diversity in Design + Technology on a panel hosted by Inneract Project at the SF Jazz Center. Watch and read more about the event here.
04.28.15
Introducing Youth to Vernacular Typography
As part of an AIGA San Francisco Diversity initiative, a workshop was developed in conjunction with Youth Art Exchange workshop and held at Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts. A group of high school students walked around the Mission neighborhood looking for typography in the environment. They then went back to draw from the type they found and came up with their own words or phrases to silkscreen on shirts and tote bags. (Special thanks to Rod Cavazos from Psy/Ops).
01.29.15
Street Sketch selected for MSPF
studio1500’s submission was one of 50 designs selected from over 200 entries from around the world to participate in the Market Street Prototyping Festival, in San Francisco California. The festival will transform the area into a public platform, showcasing exciting ideas for improving our famed civic spine and how we use it.
08.30.14
Logo Design Love: 2nd Edition
The second edition of David Airey’s Logo Design Love is out. Among the featured projects in the book are the elemental8 and La Internacional identities designed by studio1500.
01.04.12
Signage Design Book
Three projects from studio1500 are featured in Braun Publishing's Signage Design. Our work for CHM, Xerox PARC, and Zephyr is all highlighted among many other great projects from designers around the world.