Motiska Design* was initially charged with signage system for Charlotte, the largest city in the Carolinas. However, early research indicated the need for a new visual identity and the firm took the initiative to respond. As a result, it was recommended to city representatives that the project also include the development of a new logo and guidelines for its application. The city-wide system was conceived in concert with a population that prides itself for its lush foliage, adding the need to keep the environment and cityscape foremost in the designers' minds. Between 1985 and 1988, the firm assisted the city with the implementation and application of this new image initiative to include production of a preliminary visual identity design control book, development of place brand design, signage, vehicle graphics and a comprehensive sign systems for the Parks and Recreation Department.
*work done under firm’s previous name Design/Joe Sonderman

Client City of Charlotte
Location Charlotte, NC
Services Signage System, Visual Identity, Place Brand, Logo, Branding Guidelines

Like many small-town businesses, Rudnick Jewelers had a website. The website did not represent their unique identity within jewelry store merchants. Motiska Design worked with them to find out what made their store different and capture their brand essence.

Rudnick Jewelers is a fourth-generation family-owned business. This is one key that sets them apart from any other store located within the county of Sheboygan. We wanted to capitalize on this and designed a website for them that would showcase their knowledge and brand style.

Rudnick Jewelers now has an online presence that represents who they are.

Client Rudnick Jewelers
Location Sheboygan, WI
Services Website Re-Design/ Build

www.rudnickjewelers.com

Kiawah Island Golf Resort is a carefully planned community that balances development with environmental preservation. Since its first development in 1976, it has earned a reputation as one of the nation’s top resorts—renowned for world-class golf, excellent tennis facilities, and, more recently, the addition of The Sanctuary, a luxury resort hotel.

When our firm, led by founder Joe Sonderman, first designed Kiawah’s sign system, there were few existing examples to follow. Our multidisciplinary design approach eventually became what is now called Environmental Graphic Design.

Over time, we expanded the system to include wayfinding signs that not only guide visitors but also enhance the island’s beauty. In designing signs for planned communities, we focus on two main goals:

Practical – helping visitors easily navigate unfamiliar surroundings.

Strategic – reinforcing the community’s brand.

Creatively, we aim to make every visit memorable and to create a distinct “sense of place” that sets Kiawah Golf Resort apart from other destinations.

Client  Kiawah Island Golf Resort
Location  Charleston, SC
Services  Signage System, Visual Identity, Logo, Branding Guidelines

Like many small towns in the south, Newberry was suffering from economic displacement and to stimulate the city’s economy town leaders restored their historic Opera House to attract visitors to downtown and used a marketing consultant create marketing plans to promote business in the downtown area.

A new logo was developed featuring the iconic tower of the Opera House and a new sign design utilizing a color palette that is associated with two of the city’s landmarks, Newberry College and the County Courthouse were created to enhance the downtown brand.

In addition to conventional wayfinding signs, a series of “trailblazer” signs lead visitors from major roadways to downtown; welcome signs mark visitor’s arrival and street signs help to define downtown’s boundaries.

The result is a sign system that revitalizes downtown Newberry’s identity and creating a better visitor experience to boost the economy.

Client  City of Newberry
Location  Newberry. SC
Services  Wayfinding Sign Plan, Sign Designs

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Mizzou Athletic Training Center

While the recent $16 million renovation and expansion of the Mizzou Athletic Training Center provided the University of Missouri Tigers football team with one of the nation's finest collegiate athletic facilities, the environment did not communicate the football team's unique brand or provide a platform for coaches to sell the program to recruits.

A Design Audit conducted by Motiska Design revealed that the team's success could be traced back to Coach Pinkel's nicknaming the stadium "The Zou." A name that embodies an ethos built around protecting their home field against all challengers.

Design enhancements create a visual brand identity for "The Zou" within the environment through a bold yet sophisticated use of the team's black and gold colors, graphics and multi-media technology to help tell their stories.

Client  University of Missouri
Location  Osage Beach, MO
Services  Environmental Design, Place Brand Design, Exhibit Design

Working with the city planning staff and Chamber of Commerce, Motiska Design created an inventory audit of signage needs for the area. They sought to simplify signage information for clarity and ease of recognition. The firm designed a wayfinding system that directs, informs and orients visitors and residents alike as they approach the downtown of Raleigh via six designated corridors. The unified sign system incorporates signs of various sizes, giving maximum flexibility for sign placement and function. Intended for both vehicular and pedestrian use, the system not only provides directions, but identifies selected districts by place branding, destination points and parking facilities. The program continues in its on going implementation throughout the district.

Client  City of Raleigh
Location  Raleigh, NC
Services  Signage System, Visual Identity, Logo, Branding Guidelines, Place Brand Design

The firm was retained by the State of North Carolina Zoological Park to develop the master graphics, signage and controls system for Africa, the zoo‘s first major habitat. The project was conceived as a method of creating informational and directional devices, structures and mediums which assist visitors to the zoo in a consistent and understandable manner. The program imparts specific information on the animal species, while it facilitates controlled pedestrian and vehicular traffic through the zoo environs. As these habitats range in size from 1 to 100 acres, the animals are not always close to the viewer. Hence, the need for a more detailed information system. The project completion is based on a twenty-year expansion covering 1,371 acres, making it one of the largest natural habitat zoological parks in the world. The program received the Award of Excellence for Signage from Communication Arts Magazine.

Client  North Carolina Zoological Park
Location  Asheboro, NC
Services  Signage, Graphic Standards, Interpretive Signs

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In an effort to emerge from the shadows of a declining textile industry, the City of Kannapolis developed place branding plans to transition from its foundation as a mill town to a viable center of commerce. Place brand plans included the creation of a new visual identity to signal their transformation and move their strategic plans forward.

Motiska Design was challenged to reposition the municipality while not breaking all links with their historical roots. Place brand design objectives were also focused on creating a system that could be economically implemented. Motiska Design fashioned a logo that borrows from the city center's historic colonial inspired architecture; incorporating a contemporary feel, yet speaks to the community's distinguished past. A simple color scheme and flexible guidelines provided the city with a system that was very economical to put into place and easily adapted as various needs arise.

The identity program has served as the foundation for a strategic economic and marketing plan that has revitalized the city, transforming Kannapolis into a thriving community that will soon be home to a major leading-edge bio-tech research campus.

Client  City of Kannapolis
Location  Kannapolis, NC
Services  Place Brand Design, Signage System, Visual Identity, Logo, Branding Guidelines

Approaching their bicentennial, the University of South Carolina's reputation had begun to suffer. To reinvigorate their image the school's leadership sought to establish a new visual identity that was more reflective of their goals, to help re-establish their reputation and celebrate their historic anniversary.

Market research and an investigative design audit lead Motiska Design to recommend a visual identity that would reflect the university's position as the flagship university of South Carolina, incorporate a popular historic campus landmark -- presenting an identity that is both historic and forward looking.

The solution combines a Palmetto tree, a graphical representation of South Carolina, underscoring their prominent position and the university's statewide system of institutions. Gates referring to the entrance of the venerable campus Horseshoe; while representing the school's historic roots it also symbolizes the gateway to higher education. In celebration of their bicentennial the mark incorporates the institution's founding date 1801.

The logo has met with enthusiastic support and is strongly associated with a sterling image that the university now enjoys as is moves into a third century of service.

Client  The University of South Carolina
Location  Columbia, SC
Services  Signage System, Visual Identity, Logo, Branding Guidelines

To avoid being overshadowed by the rapid growth of the neighboring city of Charlotte, 11 miles to their north, and to guide their growth -- establishing the city of Rock Hill as one of South Carolina's major cities, city leaders developed an ambitious place brand design plan entitled Empowering the Vision.

Working with city planners Motiska Design set an objective of establishing a visual identity that would reflect the energy and aspirations of their place branding vision plan while distinctly differentiating them from their “neighbor to the north” and joining their rightful place among South Carolina's major municipalities.

The mark developed by Motiska Design represents the six themes of the place branding vision plan: Business, Education, Historic Preservation, Environment, Arts & Culture, and Transportation & Utilities. Six stylized arrows moving toward a central focus, drawing strength from their common purpose. A bright color palette helps to distinguish the logo and the trademark ligature in the logotype is a visual tie to the firm's logo design for nearby Winthrop University.

The visual identity has stood at the forefront of distinguishing the City of Rock Hill and helping to achieve the growth they envisioned.

Client  City of Rock Hill
Location  Rock Hill, SC
Services  Visual Identity, Place Brand Design, Logo, Branding Guidelines