Amanda Eich and Julia Kaufman
Sepia Studio_logo files
By Ed Avis
Prior to last fall, when salespeople at Cushing in Chicago perceived that a client needed design help, they often referred them an outside designer. Sometimes that meant the print job never ended up at Cushing. But since November 1, Cushing can refer such clients to its own in-house design department, Sepia Studio.
“The sales team has a history of clients asking for design work that we used to refer somewhere else,” says Amanda Eich, managing designer of Sepia Studio, which is located inside Cushing’s office in Chicago’s River North neighborhood. “Now that work is being funneled into Sepia Studio. So we have one lane of work coming from sales staff, and in another lane we’re searching for our own design work.”
Eich, a former architect and freelance designer, became a Cushing employee when Sepia launched. She is joined at Sepia by Julia Kaufman, the studio’s managing director. Kaufman has been with Cushing for seven years and is also Cushing’s graphics supervisor.
Sepia Studio has received a wide range of jobs. Most end up being printed, such as wall displays, car wraps, and signage. But some are purely digital.
“In those cases, we provide a service for someone who might need social media support or other digital work,” Eich says. “Sometimes that spills into print, but not always. So we have kind of an interesting stream of revenue.”
In addition to one-off design jobs, Sepia Studio offers a subscription service that allows a client to regularly lean on them for design guidance, similar to the relationship between a design studio on retainer and a client.
“It starts at $350 a month,” Eich explains. “For that they get a call once a month and we walk through their needs and handle a certain level of design. This lets us learn the brand really well, and it helps us plan in advance for the work they’ll have.”
Idea Three Years in the Making
Kaufman says the idea for an in-house design shop at Cushing emerged about three years ago. Cushing staff were able to handle basic design jobs, such as quick layouts or mockups, and occasionally staffers would tackle more intense jobs on a freelance basis.
“We were getting to the point where those staffers couldn’t take on new projects because there is limited time, so we came to the realization that having on-staff designers could benefit Cushing,” Kaufman says. “So myself and others had a chat with Joe (Cushing, the firm’s executive vice president) and he tasked us with figuring out how to integrate a design studio into the company. We quickly realized we needed a formal plan, but Cushing got busy, so the momentum fizzled out.”
Then, about two years ago, Joe Cushing found Eich on LinkedIn and realized that with her background in architecture and freelance design, she could help move the idea of an in-house studio ahead. They met a few times, and eventually the idea started taking shape.
“We were having monthly chats by spring of last year, and finally it was go-time in October,” Eich says.
Promoting the Studio
Cushing issued a press release about the new studio in January and got some local coverage, says Jon Davis, Cushing’s marketing manager. They also mentioned the studio in their email newsletters and sent a direct mail piece to existing customers.
“And we recently wrapped up a survey to folks who previously requested quotes through our website,” Davis says. “We did that because a lot of times, perhaps 10 percent, as they fill out the form they pull images off our site and say, ‘I like this wall graphic; can you help me design it?’ So we figured, ‘Why not let these folks know we offer design?’”
Another direct mail piece, this one to existing clients plus HR and marketing departments within five miles of Cushing, is going out soon.
Does Cushing worry that designers who are clients will feel that Sepia Studio is competition?
“We’re not looking to target the customers of our design clients,” Davis says. “And we’ve been pretty transparent with the customer base. We sent emails to them saying, ‘We are entering this space, but we are not going to compete with you.’
Big Job
A good example of the work Sepia Studio does was a recent project for a large dental office not far from Cushing. The dentist needed a complete branding campaign but was not working with a designer. The salesperson recommended Sepia Studio.
“Often times the scope has the potential to be so big, we first like to convey an overall concept,” Eich says. “Once the client is excited and ready to flesh out the details and now trusts (and understands) our vision, we get a contract in place for the design and we take it from there.”
The dentist chose the “full-service” option that Sepia came up with. They pulled some graphic elements from the dentist’s Instagram page, and created an overall look to attract attention from people walking past the dentist’s five bay windows.
“We had fun with it,” Eich says. “On three of the windows there will be a band of reflecting mirror film with a big contour cut above it that says, ‘Where Are You on the Smile Scale?’ And we created a data line that starts with ‘Smirk’ on one end and ‘Pearly White’ on the other end.”
The project, which was approved in early May, will involve a variety of Cushing’s print capabilities.
“It’s definitely going to be a mix of a lot of different materials,” Kaufman says. “Some materials will be just contour cut, not printed, on our Graphtec digital cutter. Others we’ll probably print on 3M adhesive vinyl, and some will be printed on an HP 365 Latex Printer or Epson SureColor 80600 printer. Another element is that those materials are being installed on both surfaces of the glass – some interior and exterior – so you’ll get some depth.”
The dentist job illustrates the beauty of Sepia Studio – they are helping clients with major projects from beginning to end.
“I think the whole turnkey, start-to-finish idea is really thrilling to us,” Kaufman says. “Sepia Studio allows us to do that full circle.”