Studio Vitamin C

Business partners and brothers, designer sons of designer parents, Genco and Jon Cebecioglu of Studio Vitamin C joined us to talk about their experiences in the digital design industry and shared valuable tips along with samples of their work and the process leading to it's completion.

Genco remembered his time at Sheridan in the Web Design program fondly and shared the value that he found in the independent projects and the end of year grad show which led him to his job at Eccentric Arts.

He went on to talk about Studio Vitamin C and a little bit of history behind the brand name, some of their clients and what type of shop they are. The "C" of vitamin C was thoughtfully used in reference to their near impossible to pronounce last name - Cebecioglu. And "Vitamin" to Boost Your Brand. This three person boutique shop located in Toronto offers innovative, distilled, functional visual solutions for your brand’s communication needs. Platforms vary from logos, print promo materials, signage to websites & mobile applications. Their clients include companies of all sizes as well as marketing & creative agencies who need design support. They're looking forward to growing their business and expanding in 2012. Stay tuned, their could be a 2012 Web Design Grad joining their team come spring.

Part of the Vitamin C process is to provide their clients with a questionnaire to help determine objectives, better understand the business and develop the strategy. They often will start with a  concept then build around the concept.

When asked about mood boards, he shared that for larger projects and budgets, mood boards are very valuable. However, often with smaller projects and smaller budgets mood boards are skipped. There is also the challenge of the visual language for clients to understand that a mood board is not a site design, so the value can often be hidden and hard to find.

Genco often made reference to the new business development potential with venture capitalist and start up companies. These opportunities often involve new ideas/concepts/prototypes where small businesses are looking for investors and these investors are looking not just looking at the products being pitched, but the quality of the pitch and presentation of their online presence.

Like the majority of our presenters, he also spoke of the value of networking and it's relationship to success. Again, it's a small industry and everyone who's anyone knows everyone.

Samples of their work include:

Survival Tips for Graduates:

• Know where you want to go. Whether it's a small boutique or a large agency or in-house. Know what you want, set your goals and go for it. Each environment offers it's own opportunities and benefits.
• If you want to start your own business, know that it's tough work. You need to have a lot of passion and belief in your product.
• They both recommend working for someone else before you work for yourself so you can learn and grow. It will help you and your business in the long run.
• Be 100% committed.