SELECTED CASE HISTORIES

Autry National Center

Services: Brand Inception, Identity Design, Naming and Positioning, Story Development, Custom Publishing

The studio created a new identity for the Autry National Center, an institution that developed from the merger of two Los Angeles institutions—The Autry Museum of Western Heritage, and the Southwest Museum of the American Indian. In the process of creating the new identity, we conceived, designed and published Convergence Magazine, a publication that carried the vision and intellectual agenda of the new institution. In the eight years we published the magazine, the American Museum Publications Association twice honored Convergence with awards for excellence.

^{“It is very hard to discuss the soul of an organization and that people are terribly
afraid of going beyond the practical. And yet, when you say, “Why do you work at a place?” What you usually try to do is articulate what the soul of the place is? Before Intersection Studio came to the Autry, we looked at everybody’s logo that we thought were good logos. So in essence, we were picking style over substance. And we literally had to find how to express the substance. The substance of the Autry really was this larger idea of convergence and
history over time in the American west. It was the connecting glue of so many efforts that we made.”}
^{— John Gray, Director of the Smithsonian National Museum of American History—Retired, formerly President, Autry National Center}

CHOC Children’s Hospital

Services: Brand Strategy and Story Development, Campaign Design, Content Creation and Production

Forty-five years into its life, CHOC Children’s found itself at a tipping point—experiencing hyper growth and a shortage of beds and doctors. The strategic transformation of the hospital and its ability to care for two million children that live within the hospital’s market footprint was a stake. The CHOC Foundation hired Intersection Studio to create a case substantial enough to raise the consciousness of citizen-leaders in Orange County about children’s health issues and in the process attract $125 million in funds. A book, two films, a website and a newspaper later, the campaign closed surpassing its fundraising goal. A new hospital tower was built and is now open to serve the public.

THE CALL

_{What's it like sitting in the hot seat running a Children's Hospital? In this film, the CEO takes a tough phone call where she must present the case for investing in the vision of CHOC. The Call takes the viewer inside the workings of the hospital and creates empathy for the organization and its reason for being.}

The Broad Stage

Services: Brand Inception, Identity Design, Story Development, Brand Communications Across All Platforms

While The Broad Stage (at the Santa Monica College Performing Arts Center) was still under construction we began to build the brand from the ground up. Collaborating with the artistic director and her leadership team, the studio helped articulate the strategy and vision of The Broad. With the vision in place as a super structure we designed the visual and verbal identity, launching with a story that established the meaning and myth of the brand. We had the opportunity to flesh out the voice of The Broad across all marketing and fundraising communications for the first two seasons. Today, The Broad Stage has become an integral part of the Los Angeles theater scene while presenting or producing 200 shows a year across all performing arts disciplines.

Oakwood School

Services: Brand Transformation and Positioning, Identity Design, Web Design and Brand Communications Across All Platforms

When we started working on Oakwood School, the leadership team was challenged to communicate the meaning of the organization and the deep proprietary value delivered by this legendary Los Angeles private day school. In short, the reality of the school experience was invaluably superior to their existing brand. We promised that success would look like a parent being able to “get” Oakwood more quickly and deeply and without having to go multiple school presentations to do so. We committed to help Oakwood establish a clear position in their customers’ minds. That is, parents would know what job they were hiring Oakwood School to do and trust that it would do it with extraordinary results. The process transformed the presence of Oakwood. With a clear brand and new admission materials telling the whole story, applications to the school increased exponentially.

Sundance Institute

Services: Brand Story Development, Design and Production

On the occasion of its 25th anniversary, after an 18-month research and consulting project exploring the dynamics of their brand, its legacy and potential future, Sundance Institute’s management team were faced with telling a story they found very difficult to articulate—their own. Intersection Studio unpacked their stacks of consulting documents and developed what came to be the first corporate statement of their identity they had ever produced. The piece was used to communicate to the national and global Sundance community.

USC Marshall School of Business

Services: Strategy, Brand Story Development, Content Creation

We worked with the dean’s cabinet to facilitate organizational readiness for an ambitious campaign to build a new undergraduate business school facility and increase scholarship funds. The work included collaborating with the leadership team to develop the school’s five-year strategic plan. The strategic plan fosters a shared vision for the organization and served as the plot line for the fund raising story. In addition, the studio re-branded Marshall Partners, the school’s hyper-effective membership organization.

United States Artists (USA)

Services: Brand Inception, Identity Design, Story Development, Web Design and Brand Communications Across All Platforms

When the Ford, Rockefeller, Prudential, and Rasmussen Foundations decided to seed a new national organization to support America’s finest living artists, they put $20 million in the bank and their trust in Intersection Studio to build the organization strategy and brand from scratch. Working with the executive director and her team, we created the brand identity, marketing, and strategic communications that took USA from kitchen-table start up to one of the most innovative grant-making organizations in the arts.

UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior

Services: Brand Strategy and Story Development, Campaign Identity Design

UCLA is one of the world’s preeminent neuroscience research and clinical centers with over 4,000 neuroscientists working in facilities spread across the Westwood campus. The challenge was to reach across a complex science organization and write a simple story advocating for the creation of a hub facility where the university’s scientists and doctors could collaborate more closely and practice team science. The Studio researched, wrote and designed the philanthropic case for a building that could become the Nexus for Neuroscience at UCLA.

ArtCenter College of Design

Services: Brand Strategy and Story Development, Content Design and Creation

Intersection Studio guided the college through a philanthropic identity and case creation process to anchor the efforts of a $100 million capital campaign. In addition to major case development and publishing work, we designed the brand strategy and identity for FullCircle, a new membership organization created to energize the alumni and the college’s community of friends. To further engage the ArtCenter community, we helped reposition its AlumNetwork and created the Gather and Storyboard brands, communication platforms designed to connect ArtCenter alums.

ACCELLERATING THE POWER OF ART AND DESIGN