As a studio, we pride ourselves on being outsiders, approaching each project with a beginner's mind. Doing this reduces our bias and allows us to question assumptions, seeing things just as new audiences would.

Regardless of the industry or project type, our approach is consistent. At the project's outset, we invest our time in research. Our success doesn't come from merely having prior experience with similar projects; it's rooted in genuinely caring about the the projects we work on, and our commitment to fully comprehending the task at hand and the surrounding context, so we can help others get it too.

To help illustrate this, we’ve gathered some notable “first-timers” from our past.

When we kicked off work on Serra in July 2015, the legal cannabis industry in Oregon was only medical, and the branding of products and interior design of the spaces looked quite medical as well. Most dispensaries relied on the green ‘+’ to identify themselves as cannabis shops. The aesthetic bar was low, but the amount of information to take in and make sense of was high (yes, that pun was intended).

We obtained medical licenses, visited countless dispensaries, and dove deep into research. As outsiders to this world, we had a lot of questions: Did it have to be green? What are terpenes? What about titration? Did someone say cannabinoid? How will it affect me? Why does it affect each of us differently? Didn’t that “budtender” say this was supposed to be mild? Do we have to call them “budtenders”? The list went on.

Needless to say, trying to make sense of all of this was overwhelming, and we weren’t making this brand for experts. It had to be approachable and there were a lot of the myths, stigmas, and mysteries around cannabis and its effects that needed dispelling.

So, we focused less on the numbers (% THC / % CBD), less on the strain types (Indica, Sativa, Hybrid), and more on how it would make you feel. Happiness, Relaxation, Energy, Creativity, Focus, and Relief were the six categories we landed on and much of the industry followed suit. We named the brand Serra, which is Italian for Greenhouse, and the jewelry-style display cases we designed for the interior make a nod to this. We made custom tessellating tile for the floors, had wooden boxes and ceramic dishes made to display the flower, and called the budtenders “docents” (playing off the traditional roll of a docent and the word dose being built in).

And, of course, we didn’t use green anywhere. We made an artful, high-end experience that even our mothers would feel comfortable walking into, and to say the least, it was very well received, even by our moms.

Visit Serra in Portland or see the whole case study here →

a hotel redevelopment project in Honolulu, where we were first tasked with crafting a relevant brand story, and then given the task of redoing all of the the interior design. It was a significant undertaking, as we’d never done interior design for a hotel (or anything bigger than a restaurant or a retail store), we’d never been to Hawaii, oh, and did we mention starting behind schedule? Demolition was already underway and we needed to move quickly.
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Despite all of that, we dove in deep and got to work. We got to know Waikiki, Honolulu, Oahu, and Hawaii, talking to as many locals as we could. We studied the market and found opportunities within it. We learned about the Mid Century Modern boom of growth that happened on Kuhio Avenue (where the hotel is located) in the 60s, and we studied the work of Vladimir Ossipoff (often referrered to as the godfather of Hawaiian Modern style), visiting The Liljestrand House multiple times. We worked with cultural consultants and the Bishop Museum to better understand the history and the greater context of the site and the region.
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You should know that this hotel is located a long block off of the beach and our lobby is on the second floor, not street level. It’s also worth noting that most of the locals we talked to didn't hang out in Waikiki, but rather worked there and went to other neighborhoods after work to meet up wth their friends. In fact, multiple native Hawaiians told us, "Waikiki is not Hawaii," in reference to its flashy, touristy, consumer-driven vibe. For context, at the time we worked on this project, the Cheesecake Factory on Kalākaua Avenue was the chains highest grossing location in the world, and the Louis Vuitton store down the street was their second highest.

Ultimately, our focus was on making something that the locals would love. And we designed an oasis within Waikiki, where you could escape the commerce and chaos found on the streets below. We sought out materials with organic, Hawaiian-like qualities, without leaning on the stereotypical crutches commonly used (koa wood, hula skirts, and coconuts). We identified the feelings we wanted to convey and then found ways to express them—engaging all of the senses and creating a space that people really would enjoy hanging out in. We had a custom scent designed by our friends at MaakLab, designed a modern take on a classic bark cloth print, created and installed several custom art moments for the hotel and the restaurant, delivering just the right kind of laid back vibe every step of the way. The space quickly became a go-to destination for locals’ birthday parties and gatherings, and has lead to many other projects for OMFGCO.

In April of 2019, we took a meeting with guy named Matt Plitch. We had a mutual friend introduce us and thought his idea to become the first carbon neutral foods brand sounded intriguing.  He walked us through the initial concept deck for what would soon become Neutral™ and we knew we had to be a part of it. After a little back and forth we worked out a deal to take on the branding and packaging for the project, and also to become investors in the company (we love when we’re treated like partners, even better when we are invested partners).

We had previously worked on a project doing art moments for Tillamook’s Portland office, but we’d never done a dairy-related brand or anything connected to carbon impact or offsetting. We started at the beginning, like we always do, studied dairy aisles in grocery stores, introduced Matt to Neutral Milk Hotel (no affiliation), and did a ton of research on carbon offsets and the environmental impact of dairy farming as well as raising livestock in general. While lower than meat production, dairy still accounts for almost 3% of all greenhouse gas emissions globally.

We took our learnings and blended them with the hard work Plitch had already done. To stand out on the shelf and align with the optimism of the company, we landed on a sunshine yellow brand color and an ‘N’ that plays off the % symbol, connecting to their mission to reduce the impact of all of their products to 0%.

Meanwhile, Matt and our CFO, Evan Wilson (who was also acting as Neutral’s interim CFO), were out pitching the concept with our new branding applied. The subsequent fundraising rounds went extraordinarily well, first with a major investment from The Gates Foundation and Mark Cuban, and later from a host of big names and celebrities like Lebron James, John Legend, Quest Love, and Emily Ratajkowski.