Share this on

See the Signs

We talk with the principal of multidisciplinary graphics firm, Sky Design, to gain insight into the firm’s projects.

Sheila Kim-Jamet -- Interior Design, 12/7/2006 9:35:00 AM

A division of Associated Space Design, Sky Design was founded in 1991, as other design and architecture firms, as well as clients, began working with the graphics arm of ASD. Since then, Sky’s been providing services from environmental graphics and way-finding to branding, and has completed projects in every category—from hospitality to office—for such clients as Advantis, Walt Disney Imagineering, Constantine, AOL, and Turner. Although some may think of graphics as simply logos and signage, Sky Design attempts to “blur the line between where interiors start and when graphics take over,” says vice president and principal Todd Vaught. We ask Vaught to share more about a few of the firm’s projects.

How involved do you get in interior design and not just graphics or signage?

TV: We consider ourselves an integrated firm. We don’t like to do graphics that look like the space has been designed, and we’ve just come in to hang some signs on the wall. We don’t want an applied look, so most of our graphics are very invested into the space. Also, for some jobs, we do the entire space design.

Is there a usual process in planning and executing your projects?

TV: We’re a fairly unique firm in that we cover so much ground in different markets. So the process is always different. Clients usually bring us in because we can do more than hang a sign on the wall. As the plan is being developed by the interior design side, we think in terms of what the brand is all about, and how we explore that brand through the space.

So, what about, for instance, a brand that doesn’t have a tangible, physical product? Like AOL?

TV: For their product development center in Mountainview, California, we could have easily put a logo on the wall, but instead we asked “what is AOL?” AOL is the internet. We relayed that through the reception wall. There’s this grid of stainless steel standoffs, and overlapping 3form triangles, similar to the triangle of AOL’s logo. The triangles are screened with faces, subjects, names, locations, showing how the internet connects all of these random things.

How else did you try to represent the brand?

TV: AOL is built out of their users. We pulled up AOL Instant Messenger, and then picked out a hundred screen names of active users. In one part of the building, we applied some of those usernames via acrylic letters on a wall, and then painted them and the entire wall all one color to give a relief effect. It’s in the AOL blue.

Coca-Cola, on the other hand, does have a tangible product. Tell us a bit about how you presented it.

TV: We did a customer development center for them, located in an old grocery store space. We used Coke-red chairs in the entry vestibule, but wanted to transition visitors from a neutral space as they came in from outside, into the colorful workspaces. So flooring here is terrazzo, and molded LED panels form a graphic wall, featuring the brand’s logo, and morphs colors from red to green to blue and so forth.

Are there any signs of Coke bottles?

TV: We took actual Coke bottles, busted them up, and put them in the floor. You can see the circular bottoms of these embedded in the terrazzo of the entry vestibule.

What project of yours had no pre-existing brand to work off from?

TV: We designed a neighborhood eatery called Toast, located at the backside of the Biltmore Hotel in Atlanta. It’s got a pretty broad menu, from sandwiches to fresh pasta, and it’s a bit more service-oriented rather than a typical deli. It also has a bar and outdoor space.

What signage concepts did you come up with for this project?

TV: With a name like toast, we wanted it to take on the element of the toaster. So on top of the steel awning, out front, we created the word “toast” out of aluminum, and stood off a little back plate with orange LED in it to make it glow like inside a toaster.

How about inside the space?

TV: There’s a pretty large glass exposure out to the street on one side, so we wanted something to catch people as they’re driving or walking by at night. We needed to create a barrier between the dining room and the kitchen, which is located opposite this exposure, so we decided to use this as a billboard. We built a freestanding 12-foot-high wall with maple slats, then screwed large acrylic panels to the back of these slats, and applied opaque vinyl to spell out “toast.” Behind this is a moving shelving system that faces the kitchen, and installed on the back of this are fluorescent light fixtures to make the slat wall glow. This also makes it easy to change lights, as we can roll the storage unit with fixtures away from the wall to get in there.
There’s also an orange wall with a watermark of sorts. We set the word toast in vinyl on the wall, then picked a paint color to match the vinyl. It gave the wall a satin against matte finish.

Did you do anything else in the space?

TV: We designed the entire space actually, not just graphics. If there is an interiors job that is fairly small, we’ll do the whole thing. Toast was originally a fast-casual dining concept, and people were going to line up at a counter and check out the daily specials and menus that would constantly change. So we incorporated a chalk board behind the stainless-steel and concrete-block counter. Dining tables have maple butcher-block tops, and a banquette along a wall is matching maple—actually built from the scraps of the kitchen slat wall. We designed custom fixtures for the bathrooms, even, that were inspired by the ones in bathrooms at Bar 89 in New York. The whole surround, mirror, sink, and stanchions, were custom fabricated in stainless steel. The exposed brick walls of Toast were existing. Lighting fixtures are industrial lamps—they’re utilitarian but used in a creative way as sort of chandeliers.

How did you end up working with CNN?

TV: It was meant to be a renovation for CNN Center’s Turner Store in Atlanta. They basically needed a new sign behind the cash register, and wanted a lighting issue resolved. That turned into a renovation of the store, atrium, and the Inside CNN tour.

What specific design elements were implemented into the store by Sky Design?

TV: This is the world center of news, and it didn’t visually give any sense of that when we first saw it. We explored the concept of taking Times Square and pulling it inside—essentially creating a feel of energy. That’s where all the dynamic LED and video-driven graphics came from. There’s a red ticker that comes down the wall, in front of the store, and then cuts back into the store. It features a live feed of the CNN news ticker simultaneously on air. There’s also a full screen video inside the store showing a live feed from CNN. The storefront glass system incorporates nine 60-inch flat screens with live feed from the other Turner networks.

At the back of the store, you created a dynamic color wall. Why was this necessary?

TV: That corner basically faces the side entry to CNN Center, so the intention was to create almost a reception sign for anyone who enters this way.

Where did inspiration for this wall come from?

TV: The color bands came from Turner’s major networks: green was Turner South, red was CNN, Time Warner (the parent company) was blue, the grey was TNT. We started to use these throughout the space to unify all these different areas. In this area, the bands cut and turn around that corner, with colored panels that can be pulled out if they ever want to incorporate flat panel screens into the bands’ niches.

So, what types of projects make up the majority of Sky Design’s work?

TV: We’re doing a lot of everything: corporate offices, restaurants, hospitality, and hotels are all really more on interiors and environmental side. On the pure signage side, we have a lot of work with different city and wayfinding programs, as well as real estate developments. I’d say we do about 20 percent in each category.

Is there a particular type of project you enjoy working on the most, though?

TV: I really enjoy the restaurants because the corporate offices, not as many people get to see. I’m happy that we’re giving employees office environments that they get excited about, but no one ever sees it. Restaurants, you get a lot more reactions to. When you see people having fun in a restaurant you’ve designed, it’s a great feeling.