Judge Perry and retired Justice Sandra Day O'Connor touring Taylor Studios' exhibits

We were honored to spend an evening with retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor for the grand opening of the Judicial Learning Center located within the Thomas F. Eagleton Federal Courthouse in St. Louis. From the get-go we were aw-struck, especially when we were personally introduced to Justice O’Connor.  All the hard work, dedication, and collaboration between the Courthouse staff and Taylor Studios proved to be impressive and successful.

The festivities began with a ribbon-cutting ceremony performed by Justice O’Connor and Judge Perry, continued with a reception on the top 28th floor of the courthouse, and eventually came to a close with dinner.  The dinner reception with the evenings honored guest drew hundreds of people.  We were privileged to receive praise throughout the evening on our exhibits and moved to hear O’Connor speak.  All in all, we left full of pride.

Posted by: Samantha

Henry Ford once said that your car can be any color - so long as it’s black.  In a design-build project at Taylor Studios, this is not the case.  Whether you are building a woolly mammoth or a car, the process is the same.  So how do we get there?  There are three phases to our design process (schematic, design development, and final design), and just as Henry Ford would build a car, each step gets you closer to building your dream.  So let me take you through our design process and you will see just how much we have in common with Mr. Ford (but we let you pick different colors!).

Any design-build project must start somewhere.  Schematic design is the first step in building your project.  Just as you know a car needs wheels, a frame, and an engine, schematic design creates the general idea of your floor space and the intent of your exhibit.  We identify the most important content areas and assign importance to each.  This guides us as we move into design development.  Just as wheels are important to making a car, every design needs schematic design to identify what is important.

Design development starts the process of seeing and knowing what the exhibit will look like.  Will it be an SUV? A sedan? A hybrid? Will the car have two or four seats?  Will your exhibit have murals? Audio/visual? A giant tree? We take your ideas and begin to create an exhibit based on the schematic design, creating exhibits within the framework of importance developed in schematic design.

Final design takes design development and gets into the features.  Will your two seat car have leather seats or cloth? Will your hybrid have a CD player or just a radio?  What will be on your mural?  What color will the graphics be? (no, black is not the only option!)  The details come out here before we begin the process of building your exhibit.

Once final design is approved, it’s off to fabrication to put the rubber to the road!  Hope you enjoy the ride!

Posted by: John T.

I just got back from a short ski trip to Jackson Hole, Wyoming.  The people I met made me think of our industry and the stories we bring to life.  Riding a ski lift is a great opportunity to hear people’s stories.  I met a guy that had written 200 humor books.  Of course, he was a writer, what a great career.  Another guy had just survived cancer by changing his diet, his activities and getting as many vertical ski feet in as possible.  Moldova (near Romania) lost an awesome citizen to another pursuing the American Dream.  This person had just come to the U.S. in the last year.  I felt kinship, as my grandmother came over from Czechoslavakia (not sure if it was the Czech Republic or Slovakia as it is known today).  She did live the American dream and what a story that is.  I rode up on a gondola with a bunch of young snow boarders.  The whole ride to the top they discussed their stock investments and how the market was doing at that moment by checking their IPhones.  This did not fit my perception of young snow boarders.  They jokingly told me they had to grow up, too.  Of course, I also found a bunch of people that happened to have horses.  One suggested I resolve my issues with my horse, Lexi, by consulting a horse communicator (people that can talk to horses).  I’m not sure I’ll go that route, but it was an interesting conversation.  Luckily our industry will never run out of stories to share and bring to life.

I am a goal setter.  For this trip I achieved two goals.  The first goal I had had for quite some time.  I have wanted to see a Moose in the wild for years.  I pursued this goal in Wyoming and Maine before and never achieved it.  Unfortunately, it did not quite meet my grand expectations.  On the bus ride back to town from the ski slopes we all spotted a moose in someone’s back yard.  My vision of this goal was a bit different.  I thought I would see a moose in a pristine natural environment in all its glory.  You never know how you’ll achieve your goals.  This one turned out to be more humorous than I expected.

The second goal was to make it to the top of Rendezvous Mountain and ski down.  This mountain is at an elevation of 10,450′ and it is a 4,139′ vertical rise.  The first day of skiing I looked up at this mountain in wonder.  I talked to many other skiers and they suggested I just go up there for the view.  On my second day of skiing I felt I had my legs under me and it was time to achieve my goal.  I rode the 100 person tram to the top.  The announcer said as we were to get off, “this is for expert skiers only, please ride the tram back down if you are not an expert skier.”  I then became concerned.  The view was spectacular.  I went for it.  My first turn was not good and I had fear to overcome.  My next turns were great and I achieved my goal!  Set those goals, you never know what you can do.

Advice from a Moose:

Think big

Spend time in the woods

Hold your head up high

Stay on track

It’s ok to be a little wild!

Posted by: Betty

This last year in the design department has been a busy year.  We were bursting at the seams last fall in our old department, so we’ve moved locations within the building.  We’re on our way to promising and even more elite creativity.  Our desks and walls are decked with our persona- photographs, action figures, a giant spider-man, a picture of an Irish cow, plants, photo-shopped imagery of each other, the abominable snow-man, oil paintings, iron monger, and other random elements – as long as it entices creativity or humor, we seem to be a fan.  The most recent addition to our inspiration are a few porcelain dolls right out of the 90’s.  Next step: give porcelain dolls a contemporary make-over.  To be continued…

Posted by: Samantha

We’re determined to put a few more awards under our belt this year.  We’ve entered materials to the ADDYs – a competition put on by AAF, the American Advertising Federation.  This year the Central Illinois chapter is hosting a 70’s-themed Gala in the Illinois Terminal in Champaign Friday, 2/27.  Since I haven’t yet attended one of these events, I’ve decided to do so and drag Kara, our marketing guru and Betty, head honcho along with me.  We’re hoping to spot some retro costumes and boogie on outta there with an ADDY, so keep your fingers crossed.  Or, even better, register for tickets online, and come meet us for cocktails & hors d’ oeuvres.

Posted by: Samantha

As Taylor Studios begins its 18th year creating exhibits, we must take a moment to reflect upon the last year.  Back in 2007, we looked into our crystal ball and saw that we were going to experience a growth spurt, so we purchased a 64,000 square foot building that would allow for all departments to work under one roof.  While I’m not sure we realized that growth would mean hiring 18 people in one year, that is what happened.  We hired people for newly created positions; we hired people to fill positions vacated by those who were promoted; and we hired people to expand departments so we could comfortably handle our growing workload.

During the first part of 2008, the entire production department moved into our new digs.  At the beginning of this year we hired an architect to help with the programming and design of the office spaces in the new building.  We hope to get through the design phase and possibly the construction phase of the office space so by 2010 we can all be together in the same building.

As all the headlines read of a worsening economy, our 2009 is off to a good start.  Our company is stable, still hiring, and is looking forward to what 2009 may bring.

Posted by: Kara

At Taylor Studios, are not all business and no fun, so we wanted to start this blog to give our clients and visitors a behind the scenes look at not only what goes on around the office and in the shop but also where we’ve been, exhibits of interest, art shows, and anything else that comes to mind.  All our designers and fabricators will stop by and share their stories about the projects in production, Betty (the boss) will join us to talk about horses and maybe some business stuff,  and I’ll be here to answer any questions that come up.

If you are a past client, we’d love to hear from you; if you have specific questions for us, please ask; and if you have a topic you’d like to discuss let us know.

Please be sure to bookmark our blog.  You never know what you’ll see or learn!