Switch photographer, Mike Strauss, was recently approached by the manager of our Manchester facility, Ousseynou Ba.  Ba asked Mike to take photographs as he and his fellow St Louisans from the west coast African country of Senegal gathered to observe the tradition of Mawlid.

Mawlid is a term used to refer to the observance of the birthday of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad which occurs in the third month of the Islamic calendar.  The observance is a happy occasion where families and friends gather for prayer, food, and good times.

Needless to say, Mike was more than delighted to take on the opportunity.  The images (which turned out beautifully) represent a small sampling of the hundreds of images taken during the ceremony.

In conjunction w/ the City of STL, Switch created the campaign for OPEN STREETS 2010: A concept of having 5 miles of traffic-free city streets open for people to walk, run, cycle, dance or whatever you fancy.

Switch created the flyers, leaflets and the poster below!

Variety the Children’s Charity of St. Louis kicked off Variety Week on Saturday and Switch was lucky to be part of it. Variety helps disabled children in the St. Louis area, and we’ve been a proud partner of theirs for more than 10 years. We handle lighting, staging, custom designed scenery, and production at their events each year. 

Saturday’s event was the Runway Lights Fashion Show at the Chase Hotel, and as always it featured some cool stuff. Rolls-Royce held test drives of the new 2010 Ghost, models hit the runway to show off a new spring collection from New York designer Carmen Marc Valvo, and jazz groups performed for the audience of about 500 people. But the real highlight was seeing the kids. The Ameren UE “Power Kids” graced the runway in their new power wheelchairs, and the Variety Children’s Chorus performed Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head.

Variety Week ends with the Dinner with the Stars Gala coming up on Saturday, also being produced by Switch at the Chase. Big thanks to John Nickel, Christina Wilde and Alex Gioia for helping on behalf of Switch, and of course thanks to Variety for their tireless efforts to make life better for children in our community. 

Well, it’s been a crazy couple of weeks, but the FedEx Electric Vehicle Tour is on the road.  This project went from a basic “get us a driver and a trailer and transport our new electric vehicle across the country” to that plus media/customer/employee events, video production and still photography, logistical support, interactive displays, large format printing, music licensing and a nifty internet microsite that enables folks to track the tour, tweet about it, post to facebook, watch video, listen to a custom rendition of the classic Route 66 song and learn all about the FedEx Electric Truck Tour, as well as, their green efforts and vision for the future.

The tour started in Chicago at Soldier Field this morning.  It comes to St. Louis tonight (watch Channel 5’s early news show tomorrow morning for coverage) for an employee event early tomorrow morning.  Then it’s off across the country along Route 66 to L.A. where the vehicle and our documentary video (Switcher, Adam Hecker is shooting and editing along the way) will be shown at the Fortune: Brainstorm Green conference.

Go to www.fedex.com/electric to follow the adventure!

Pinnacle Entertainment’s new, upscale River City Casino opened with a big “WIN” complements of Switch’s giant slot machine. The opening ceremonies, produced by Synergy Productions featured an 8’ tall giant slot machine created by Switch.

With Regional VP and River City GM Todd George hosting, Ozzie Smith was called up to pull the ceremonial slot’s big handle. As hundreds of excited St. Louisans looked on, Todd announced each bar lining up “chink, open, chink, open, chink, open…. Ding ding ding ding” and with a loud cheer, patrons were invited inside to see the brand new 90,000 sq ft gambling and entertainment destination.

The technology and approach powering the River City slot had been used before on previous digital touch screen promos for Switch clients allowing Pinnacle to benefit with a quick turn, cost-effective piece.

How many people can say they work for a company that truly celebrates its history?  How many people even know their company history or care?  Well, HOK (Hellmuth Obata + Kassabaum), the world’s largest architectural design firm, wants everyone to know where they came from, how they got here, and the people and projects that contributed along the way.  In fact, they just launched a “living archive”  http://www.hok.com/history/ that celebrates their 55-year legacy and allows employees to contribute as it evolves – keeping the experiences alive for current and future team members.

Switch worked with the HOK team to record “living history” storytelling segments that comprise the “spoken word” portion of their History + Lore website.  Together with video segments that illuminate the lives of the founders -George Hellmuth, Gyo Obata and George Kassabaum – the narrative story of the company journey is provided to visitors who explore the site.

Switch is excited to play a bit role in this evolving story and looks forward to its evolution.

Have you seen it yet?! Not only does it feature tons of exciting things to do in good ol’ St Louis, but on the cover is a great shot of Chuck Berry and Nelly together on-stage during the 2009 MLB All-Star Commissioner’s Gala.

Switch produced the St Louis themed event last summer…read all about it here  if you’d like to refresh your memory or see more pictures.

Otherwise, you can check out the cover and the rest of the Official Guide here.

Anheuser-Busch recently tapped Switch to redesign their Budweiser merchandise style guide for the UK. Senior Creative Director Eduardo and Senior Art Director Kristen took this challenge head on. For them it’s the perfect marriage of their passion for driving brand creative standards, consistency and application across a variety of packages/elements. The final product was so well received; we were also asked to revise the U.S. Budweiser merchandise style guide.

The Budweiser merchandise style guide basically works to provide design direction and brand standards across multiple package types for licensees using the Budweiser name. Insuring consistent branding and a quality look has always been top priority at both A-B and Switch so these projects fit right into our and our client’s wheelhouse. It’s not too often around here an art director gets to set the universal style rules for brand asset relation, white space, stroke, color, gradient, etc. It’s like being given your own fiefdom, then being appointed “ruler” of that fiefdom all while serving the King of Beers!

Switch’s Senior Creative Director, Eduardo Nieuwenhuyzen, recently designed the Michelob Ultra Big Shark Team Jersey, Big Shark’s Off-Road (mountain biking and cycle-cross) jersey, their Junior National Jersey, and their Tri-athlete Team gear.

As a present for our CEO Mike’s birthday, he was able to negotiate with Big Shark for Switch to get logo placement on all the jerseys.  Yay for Switch branding and our involvement in the cycling and design community!

Click the thumbnails below to see the designs up close and personal…van wrap coming soon!

Keep your eyes peeled or at least open for the next issue of Event Design magazine. Our Kicker Visitors Center will be in there somewhere. A half page blurb? A three page spread? The editors have been tight lipped but we’re hoping for solid coverage.

Our Exhibits and Environments group here at Switch sometimes seems to exist in another time zone from the rest of the company. Witness, this Kicker project began as an idea in 2006 and was finally completed in February of 2009! Long story. It was by all accounts a success: productive working relationship, happy client, good design, healthy bottom line. Here’s a quick look at what it was all about.

Kicker wanted to engage, immerse and inform a range of visitors from local schoolchildren to global business partners. The exhibits had to express the quality, technical prowess, swagger and fun that is the Kicker Brand. Our work needed to compliment a new steel and glass architectural addition to their headquarters in Stillwater, OK. while showcasing Kicker’s fantastically designed audio components. When we started, this new building only existed on paper. Kicker’s vibe is exuberant and muscular, more like Samurai armor than audio equipment. We gave each exhibit its own look and personality, from understated to lyrical to architectonic to downright aggressive, with Kicker’s Brand personality reflected throughout.

Once you walk through the entry doors, motion sensors trigger the Speaker Wall, an interactive sculpture comprised of 19 synchronized 15” subwoofers suspended along the wall in the form of a sound wave. Rather than immediately blast visitors with a wall of sound – wait for it – this whimsical greeting sends low voltage signals that activate the speaker membranes causing them to noticeably vibrate in a variety of pre-programmed sequences. From a few feet away the quiet air displacement actually rustles your hair!

Using graphics and multiple interactive elements the four Tower exhibits tell the colorful Kicker story – their speaker technology, company history, innovation and product development. Taking full advantage of the atrium’s height, they rise 11 feet high, radiating out from 4 tapered columns, arrayed like identical mini skyscrapers with different graphic facades.

Measuring 40 feet in length, the Art of the Install exhibit details the importance of a proper audio system installation. It follows the sweep of the window wall arc inviting leisurely exploration with its low-key presence along the perimeter.

The Wall of Boom is the elephant in the room, the biggest and loudest saved for last – of course. Part product display, part hands-on demonstration and all sound-and- fury, it is anchored on the far wall. Standing over 14 feet tall and 20 feet wide, it showcases 28 subs, 46 speakers and 18 amps. The cresting wave-like form holds the promise of a thunderous crash and with the press of the touch-screen controller, it delivers, vibrating nearby glass windows into rippling panes of viscous goo. While the design tries to respect the building, the subwoofers make no such promise.

Despite the range of work that went into this project from conceptualization, storytelling, graphic design, exhibit design, construction drawings, fabrication, printing and installation, Switch did almost all the work in house. Our outside help consisted of an AV technical specialist, an interpretive writer and an illustrator for a special comic book sequence.