Studio Ess

Posted on November 7, 2025November 8, 2025 by tomato

Studio Ess

Branding, Logo, Deck

Studio Ess is a brand strategy practice based in Amsterdam, focused on transformation within the non-profit and mission-driven space. A logo, identity system, comprehensive presentation deck, and brand guide were developed to build upon the studio’s already strong foundation.

A Logo of Essential Form

Given the restrained, organic nature and playfulness of the brand’s visual assets and pattern library, it made sense to establish a solid, supportive mark for everything else to lean on. A custom ligature was crafted within a geometric sans serif, and the form was adapted across various modalities as part of a holistic, responsive logo system.

A Color Made from Change

Verdigris, the color of copper after it oxidizes, was chosen as a minimally utilized yet powerful brand-enhancing color. It is both a symbol of transformation and a fun nod to the iconic architecture found around the Dutch canals and the historic city.

A Framework for Clarity and Consistency

An identity framework was developed to ensure visual and tonal consistency across mediums and presentation environments. The system prioritizes clarity and coherence, offering a modular, minimalist, yet organic and expressive pattern library that scales naturally with the brand.

A Robust & Adaptive Deck

A comprehensive presentation deck was developed to unify Studio Ess’s communications across proposals, workshops, and brand presentations. Built on the same modular grid and typographic system, the deck balances consistency with flexibility.

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The Kyoto Retreat

Posted on January 30, 2025February 26, 2025 by tomato

The Kyoto Retreat

Branding, Logo, Web

The Kyoto Retreat is a retreat for international artists, curators, and writers in Kyoto, Japan. A logo, brand guide, and website was designed and developed to launch the program.

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USDA Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Wholesale Market Prices

Posted on January 15, 2025February 4, 2025 by tomato

USDA Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Wholesale Market Prices

Design, Production

Since 1915, the United States Department of Agriculture Agricultural Marketing Service division has published Fruit and Vegetable Market News reports. Through the Department of Information, Tomato Lab lovingly (and mostly-faithfully) brought these public domain archived reports back to life to inspire and educate.

NYC, 1969

The New York City edition features USDA fruit and vegetable price indexes for 1969. The pamphlet features a screen printed cover on evergreen linen 100lb French Paper Co stock. On neon pink paper, an inside spread utilizes archival photographs from the Library of Congress and the New York Public Library of the historic Hunts Point Produce Market. Additionally, printed lettuce seed paper was bound into the book.

Los Angeles, 1972

The Los Angeles edition features USDA fruit and vegetable price indexes for 1972. The pamphlet features a screen printed cover on bright yellow French Paper Co stock. The interior spreads use accounts from archival news articles and the Los Angeles Public Library to paint a picture of market life for laborers and workers in the early morning hour shifts of the 1960s and 70s. Vibrant red tomato seed paper was included as well.

Seattle, 1971

The Seattle edition features USDA fruit and vegetable price indexes for 1971. This version features a screen printed cover on craft black French Paper Co stock. The interior neon green spreads document the flyers and advocacy work local activists and community members engaged in to successfully save the historic Pike Place Market from destruction in 1971. Carrot seed paper was included in the Seattle book.

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Collectorbase

Posted on January 10, 2025January 30, 2025 by tomato

Collectorbase

Branding, Logo

A unique mark, logo system, and initial brand identity was developed for an enterprise level art database startup.

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Hayama Artist Residency

Posted on January 10, 2025January 30, 2025 by tomato

Hayama Artist Residency

Branding, Logo

A modular logo was developed for an artist residency based out of Hayama, Japan. The concept was loosely pulled from the illustrative, eccentric, and delightful manhole covers found throughout the seaside town as well as from the rounded typography used on the iconic local post office facade.

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Department of Information

Posted on January 9, 2025January 30, 2025 by tomato

Department of Information

Conception, Branding/ID, Production/Development

Part conceptual art project, part new media organization, the Department of Information was inspired by the Environmental Protection Agency, the International Typographic Style, the Public Broadcasting System, and the multitude of bureaucratic, disfunctional, government-parallel institutions we’ve worked for in the past.

The Concept

The idea for a place to review art and design publications—mainly weird books and zines—was the starting point. With a shared interest and fascination with modernism, minimalism, and non-corporate entities; a concept for an authoritative, ambiguously-governmental brand was conceived.

From this the Department of Information (essentially an art blog) was born. It would need an engaging and comprehensive brand story and world-building schema to calcify it as a believable, respectible, and often comedically-bureaucratic, Kafkaesque entity.

The Brand

Ultimately, the Department brand is a medium for experimenting with new media, art, and design. The style, or modality, is defined through the well-worn lenses of modernism, minimalism, government-space, and bureaucracy.

Direct influences included the United Nations, the Environmental Protection Agency, governments in general, the International Typographic Style, the Public Broadcasting System, the 1960’s/70’s/80’s, and visual culture at large.

A comprehensive brand guide was developed and printed as an A4 newsprint saddle-stitched pamphlet. However, the entire brand is a living, ever-evolving and expanding world-building exercise.

A Digital Front

A brand-appropriate website (think a cross between the New York Times and an obscure blackbox government department website) was built to house articles on art books, zines, and interesting content at the intersection of public services, science, governance and visual culture. Accompanying digital applications and strategies would include social media, email newsletters, video, and audio content.

An Expansive Brand

The brand’s physical presence was intended to be just as important as it’s virtual presence. An information awareness campaign poster series was printed on newsprint and given out promotionally during the brand’s first year.

Other physical applications include and have included multiple vinyl album releases, mailable postcards, screen printed shirts and posters, a robust stationery suite, stamps, and a variety of other strange limited run editions.

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Green Star Schools

Posted on January 4, 2025January 17, 2025 by tomato

Green Star Schools

Branding, Logo

Green Star Schools is a zero-waste, recycling, and environmental education program by the Colorado-based non-profit Eco-Cycle. A new logo and identity system was developed to help distinguish the program from it’s parent brand while linking the two together for improved public awareness.

The Logo

There was a real concern that the highly visible program Green Star Schools was not being linked to or associated with it’s parent brand, Eco-Cycle—successful and well known in it’s own right since the 1970s when it was founded. The k-12 zero-waste school program also lacked a cohesive visual identity even though it has enjoyed operational success and familiarity for 15+ years as the first comprehensive zero-waste schools program in the U.S.

The end result was a new family of logos that combined the parent logo—a requirement—with a unique, k-12-vibe-friendly, and thematically appropriate mark.

Symbiotic Color Theming

The color palette was borrowed from the existing parent brand which already had six accent colors, in addition to five primaries. The accent green was the perfect choice for the brand which opened up avenues for other sub-branding opportunities amongst the remaining accent colors. Additionally, the use of a brand blue, green, and brown were mobilized for waste-stream-specific theming (paper/cardboard, rigid plastics, and compost respectively).

A New but Familiar Identity

A basic but intentional brand guide was created to outline the new logo family, typography, colorways, illustrations, icons, and layout/asset suggestions.

The strange but lovable star character that has been featured on Green Star Schools assets for years was re-drawn and vectorized. Some new Star Buddy friends were also introduced to expand the illustration family and add some variety to the character toolkit.

All Together

Example applications were provided to mix up all of the new elements together in potential real world creations and scenarios.

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Project Alpaca

Posted on January 4, 2025January 17, 2025 by tomato

Project Alpaca

Branding, Logo

Project Alpaca is a New York City based non-profit that provides students with developmental workshops and dedicated mentors who guide them through their first milestones in establishing their career. A new logo and identity system was developed based on existing brand tone and identifiable needs.

The Logo

Project Alpaca had an existing logo that was handrawn and full of character but lacked a bit of the formality and structure the organization found itself graduating into as it matured past its initial founding years.

A new logo and base identity system was needed that presented a more professional outward appearance while maintaining the organizations original playfulness and brand tone.

The Alpaca

A new logo and base identity system was needed that presented a more professional outward appearance while maintaining the organizations original playfulness and brand tone.

Custom alpacas were created to represent the diversity of the organization. Project Alpaca mentors are referred to as “Alpacas” and mentees as “Alpacees”, respectively.

While the outfits and hairstyles are interchangeable, the eyeglasses remain constant throughout the system to tie the brand together and reinforce the educational mission of the organization.

Old Meets New:
Thematic Color System

The original brand colors were (mostly) kept on, dusted off, refined, renamed thematically, and reimagined into a complimentary system based on color theory with additional scales, highlights, and lowlights.

A Flexible Identity

A brief but deliberate brand guide was established to outline the new colors, typography, logos, alpacas, illustrations, and how everything should/could play together.

In the Wild

Example applications were spun up to provide real world context and to inspire the brand caretakers to take over and have fun with it.

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FishEye Collaborative

Posted on January 3, 2025May 28, 2025 by tomato

FishEye Collaborative

Branding, Logo, Web

FishEye Collaborative is an emerging conservation technology non-profit specializing in marine conservation bioacoustics. They do research and development on non-invasive listening technologies that can help evaluate and protect ocean habitats. Their collaborators include the Cornell University Center for Conservation Bioacoustics, the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, the FORTH Institute, and the Curaçao Sea Aquarium and Substation. An inaugural website and brand identity was developed to support their first scientific publication and to introduce them to the public.

The Bedrock

While the main purpose of the collaboration was to design a beautiful new website, we used the opportunity to build a robust brand foundation on solid bedrock to support future organizational needs. Building off an existing logo, we worked backward to create a new, simplistic mark.

This helped strengthen brand conceptually and filled in gaps across mediums. Next, an appropriate and informed typographic set, color palette, pattern library, and additional ID elements were created.

The Colors Aquatic

Drawing inspiration from the shallow tropical waters of the Caribbean and the undersea environment where the organization primarily operates, an appropriate, utilitarian, and aesthetically pleasing color palette was developed.

A Harmonious Identity

A brand guide was developed to expand on the core, guiding elements to ensure all mediums and applications are thoughtfully constructed and designed.

Pockota Medium (for headlines) and Public Sans (for everything else) paired well together typographically. Together these fonts presented an appropriate balance of science-text-book seriousness, modernity, playfulness, and readability.

High resolution abstracted coral reef patterns were collected and treated with brand gradients to supplement visuals as background textures.

Additionally, an existing library of beautiful photographs was folded into the visual language.

For the species library, a celebrated and renowned illustrator of oceanic field guides was brought onboard for a licensing partnership (stand-in illustrations are used on this case study but the actual licensed ones are present on the live project/brand).

A data visualization system was developed alongside an undersea scene-building toolkit for scientific diagrams, charts, and figures.

Digital Applications

A modern website, including a fully searchable and browsable fish sound library microsite, was designed and developed. Additionally, a social suite was created to help showcase the work of the organization and make the scientific findings approachable and fun.

Physical Applications

To inspire the crew to ideate into the future, a suite of physical applications was envisioned.

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Healthy Climate Communities

Posted on January 2, 2025January 30, 2025 by tomato

Healthy Climate Communities

Branding, Logo

Healthy Climate Communities is a Hawaii-based non-profit that leverages education and community action to fight climate change on the island of O’ahu. One way they do this is by engaging with schools, community groups, and volunteers to plant native loulu palm saplings to grow a restorative forest on the watershed of Hāmākua Marsh Wildlife Sanctuary. A new mission-sensitive logo and identity system were developed to help mature the organization’s brand and community presence.

The Logo

The logo brief only had a couple of hard requirements: it should reference the beloved, endangered local Loulu Palm—which is at the core of the organization’s mission, as it regularly involves the community in planting a native forest of them.

Pritchardia kaalae (Loulu palm) via Wikipedia

And it should reference the people involved in the work. An optional bonus would be somehow including the much loved, endangered, and very recognizable Hawaiian Stilt bird.

The result was an expressive and symbolic logomark that tells the unique story of an organization using community involvement to help restore a native forest on a marsh, one Loulu Palm at a time. The mark was paired with Goji Display, a friendly but demanding, rounded sans-serif font.

Hāmākua-Informed Colorways

The color palette was directly inspired by Hāmākua Marsh and the organization’s nature-focused mission. It was also kept light, optimistic, and fun to reflect the feeling volunteers and students experience when out in the marsh planting palm saplings or pulling out invasive weeds to help the habitat thrive.

A Restorative Identity

A full brand guide was created to outline the new logo family, color system, and fonts. Further guidance was given on ways the Loulu palm silhouette could be used to crop photos, create patterns, and extend the brand through depth and continuity.

A Cohesive Social Media Vision

To inspire a forward looking social media strategy, we imagined how the new brand could inform an already robust and rich suite of content. Weaving beautiful photography, timely event announcements, calls to action, and educational awareness into a unified public-facing vision, we empowered the organization’s caretakers to grow their brand’s social media presence into the future.

Room to Grow

Further brand explorations were charted through physical buildouts and imaginings meant to inspire, challenge, and engage the organization’s custodians, gardeners, and community of foresters.

Studio Ess

A Logo of Essential Form

A Color Made from Change

A Framework for Clarity and Consistency

A Robust & Adaptive Deck

The Kyoto Retreat

USDA Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Wholesale Market Prices

NYC, 1969

Los Angeles, 1972

Seattle, 1971

Collectorbase

Hayama Artist Residency

Department of Information

The Concept

The Brand

A Digital Front

An Expansive Brand

Green Star Schools

The Logo

Symbiotic Color Theming

A New but Familiar Identity

All Together

Project Alpaca

The Logo

The Alpaca

Old Meets New:Thematic Color System

A Flexible Identity

In the Wild

FishEye Collaborative

The Bedrock

The Colors Aquatic

A Harmonious Identity

Digital Applications

Physical Applications

Healthy Climate Communities

The Logo

Hāmākua-Informed Colorways

A Restorative Identity

A Cohesive Social Media Vision

Room to Grow

Old Meets New:
Thematic Color System