Marc English : Design

09 VIA313

BRANDING : SIGNAGE : PUBLICATION : INTERIOR : WEB : APPAREL : EVENT MATERIALS

Another deep dive. This time, it’s a local pizzeria, and they are going brick and mortar. Coincidently, I met the owners on the second day they were open. It was late and I was hungry, and I spied their trailer. Detroit-style pizza in Austin?

When I got the call, a couple years later, it wasn’t from the owners, but from an investor who knew my work.

A year spent digging deep into Detroit and what makes Detroit-style pizza a thing. Days in the Motor City observing and understanding what made and what makes the Motown a great town. Take in a tour of the Ford Rouge River plant to understand how mechanization Made America — and in turn, that same process of development and marketing was used to make Motown Records.

Then, create a Detroit play-list, to crank up while working: Iggy, Marvin Gaye, MC5, Jackson 5, Supremes, Martha & the Vandellas, the Temptations, White Stripes, and so much more.

Then OVER-deliver. Primary logo, secondary logo, and at least a half-dozen more. Custom type design. From copywriting taglines and text, to package design and hand-stamped and hand-numbered menus and coasters, to hand-painted walls, interior design, signage, guitar picks, mechanics rags, metal VIP cards, and even placemats for kids to crayon. A year in the making, as finely tuned as any of Motown’s hits. I’ll bet you did not know that Gordy Berry, founder of Motown Records spent a year or so working in a Ford factory. He then applied some of those same principles to song- and hit-making. Dress for success. Hire the best: song-writers, singers, musicians, costumers, dance instructors. There’s a reason why Motown records was called “Hitsville USA.” Us? We’re just trying to maintain street cred.

The best mechanics anticipate the needs of the driver. We over-deliver when we anticipate the needs of our client, before they even realize them.