Studio Spotlight: Elixir

Elixir is a San Francisco-based marketing firm specializing in brand strategy and corporate identity, marketing collateral, direct mail, packaging, web, and catalog design for the consumer lifestyle and arts sector.

"The team at Golden Star had taken years to develop the first-ever sparkling floral tea, tasting and testing many teas and refining their fermentation process. The result is an organic infusion that mimics the mouth-feel of champagne—without the alcohol. Through the packaging design, Elixir helped to blend tea’s rich history with sophisticated positioning as an ultra-premium alternative to fine still and sparkling wines."

"Elixir redesigned and extended Arcona’s packaging to create a unified system that both evokes and protects the company’s “signature”: active, cosmeceutical-grade ingredients, cold-processed in small batches to maintain their integrity."

Jennifer Herwitt contacted Elixir to create an identity and brochures to debut a line of jewelry inspired by her life-long fascination with insects.

More photos after the jump.

"Elixir was asked to create event materials for Yerba Buena Center for the Arts’ (YBCA) Artists Ball Six. The fundraiser supports new programs in visual art, performance and film/video, and the Center is known for showcasing work that surprises. This year’s dinner-auction and très-après dance party were themed “Stanlee’s Brain” in honor of the Center’s long-time artistic collaborator and Guru of Galas, Stanlee Gatti."

"Prograft is a medical company that engineers innovative stent grafts, devices employed to fortify collapsed arteries. Prograft needed to develop a tool for its sales force to display the Hemobahn product line to doctors and hospitals. The unit had to be durable and small enough to fit within a briefcase. A padded Gore-Tex case houses the clinical steel and lucite display, completing a design that reflects both efficiency and reliability."

"Through intensive literary research, Grandiflorum resurrected techniques historically used by perfumers. The client required luxurious, yet cost-effective designs for their product line and press kits. While the designs vary among the products, antiqued book pages bring cohesion to the system and reference the company’s link to the past. The company was eventually purchased by Naturá Essentials."

"In an effort to make an inroads in the competitive coffee industry, this identity system brought cohesion to a product line that consisted of 25 different packages. The identity references the company’s charismatic proprietor, Jeremiah Pick. The utilization of labels made for a surprisingly economical design solution."

"Tartine did not need a marketing strategy to increase its sales—it had already developed a local reputation for delicious baked goods that kept a line of customers waiting halfway around the block. However, increasing press exposure fueled a desire to elevate the graphic materials to a level on par with the bakery’s reputation. A new identity and packaging successfully mapped to these goals, using crumbs to visually represent how good the product is by how little is left on the plate."

"The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art recently instituted a biennial fundraising gala to raise critical funds for the museum’s exhibitions and education programs. Elixir created an identity for The Modern Ball to build community-wide excitement and entice a demographically broad audience. The design needed to work in tandem with the existing SFMOMA identity, to differentiate The Modern Ball from other events of its size, and to provide the flexibility to “refresh” for each subsequent Ball. Components included an event-mark, a development kit, a save-the-date card, and an invitation."

 

 

Holiday gifts from the studio:

 

Recent portfolio includes work for the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Williams-Sonoma, Lucasfilm, Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy, Sundance, Taryn Rose and the City of San Francisco.

Elixir's work has been recognized by Communication Arts, Catalog Age, Print Regional Design Annual and Graphis, and is held in the permanent collection of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

Comments

[Toshi]

Can't get enough of the "Studio Spotlight," keep them coming.

As a tea man, I am very excited about this sparkling tea and the design is just awesome.

[artwrangler]

so. gorgeous. have been a big fan of elixir's work for years now. it just keeps getting better.

[Jaime Guadagni]

I absolutely love Elixir. I went to an opening for the History of Graphic Design in San Francisco at the Musuem of Craft+Design and Elixir was one of the featured studios. The sparkling tea packaging especially caught my eye, along with the beautiful old dresser with an intimate view of their projects in each drawer. Great post!

[Smart Lipo]

The possibility that the elixir could prolong life was undoubtedly the chief reason alchemists continued their search. The aged alchemist, weary with his quest for gold, craved the boon of youth and desired renewed health and strength to assist him in carrying out his great purpose.